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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?
- stop50 3y agoI 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.
- thekashifmalik 3y agoDo you have link to the project?
- stop50 3y agohttps://github.com/qarmin/czkawka https://github.com/qarmin/czkawka
- Jugurtha 3y agoName 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.
- stop50 3y agoIm not the dev.
- DerekBickerton 3y agoI use this: https://www.thisworddoesnotexist.com/ https://www.thisworddoesnotexist.com/
- thekashifmalik 3y agoThis is pretty cool. I'll have to use it for my next project.
- zzo38computer 3y agoSometimes 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.)