Title: after pouring lots and lots of hours into your project, how do you decide the name for it?
I tend to think of synonyms and combine them, and follow loose conceptual connections. Might end up cheesy, or super fitting. My most recent project is a webui for the openai api, and I called it Mindloom.
AI - smart, think -> Mind!
API - create requests, chain them, chain, weave, fabric, threads -> Loom!I am boring; I just name projects like I’m naming a variable.
DailySpreadsheetUpdateScript, KoboldCardGame, TestTeamListUpdate… I am not fun at parties, either.
I’m not a programmer, but I have quite a few non-programming related projects. Sure, it’s not a programming project, but maybe some of the rule could apply.
I usually name my project as:
- Literal description of what it is (i.e. “raccoon story” for a story about raccoons)
- The first point but in a foreign language, usually German (i.e. “Waschbär Gesichte”) just to make it more spicy.
- More likely than above, random words or phrases, usually the first thing I think.
- Random gibberish.
- And best of all: Untitled [number]
- I also name some of my projects like I’m naming a variable.
Usually, I name it quite literally, or whatever my superior has already planned to name it. If I’m working on a team, I cede to someone else. If I can’t think of a name, it gets a ambiguous name and a date. This goes for my programming projects and not programming projects alike.
If I can’t think of a good name within a few minutes, I just name it like I’d name a child.
“Yes this is my current personal project: Jerry. I also have Samantha, Richard, and Jacob. I haven’t touched Richard in a while but have been wanting to go back to him for a while”
Now, picking good names is an entirely different subject. I rarely get a project to the point of releasing it, so can’t help you there
Something short and relevant to what I’m doing until I have a snazzy name.
Most of mine just randomly come to me at some point during the design phase (before I write any code). In the rare event that I still don’t have a name for a project after the design phase, I’ll name the project after what it does (ex: File Verifier, Memory Watcher, etc).
Unless I have a cool fancy marketable name for something, I usually just do “hw-thing-that-does”, with “hw” standing for “hare_ware”.
For games though, it’s usually the genus or family of the main character or just the genre until I get an actual name idea.
Usually something with a pun or something that will be cringed at. I deserve a reward for finishing a project.