Ask HN: How do you name software?
I recently released some software and it took considerable effort to name. After the public announcement, I learned there was a preexisting project with the same name. Since my software isn't at v1, I'm back to the drawing board. It is a CLI so my criteria is:
- It has to be short enough to type comfortably.
- It has to have a domain available.
- I have to feel an affinity for it.
That last point is fuzziest. How do other people name software? I name it depending on the need this software solves. I usually don't care about more absrract names.
One software i use has an name which is the polish word for hickup. It for comparing files for removing duplicates. Do you have link to the project? Name it "Funky Jon" to make it more international than Czkawka. Given that it deals with useless, dusty, files, I looked at things related to bureaucracy concepts in Polish. "Funkcjonariusz publiczny" (public official/servant), which in turn can be made into Funky Jon. "Funky Jon" is a funky public servant/official who dusts off cabinet files, removes clutter, and makes the organization run smoothly. It's "international" without losing the Polish roots. Im not the dev. Sometimes it is difficult. Sometimes I have had various ways of doing so, but sometimes I don't know. (They say, naming things is the most difficult thing in computers.) (At this time, I have an unnamed operating system design.) I use this: https://www.thisworddoesnotexist.com/ This is pretty cool. I'll have to use it for my next project.