Do not use reserved words, special characters, or start names with a number. Try to avoid the use of abbreviations.
Abbreviations make it very difficult for other people to determine what an object does.
Naming conventions are neither right nor wrong. They will simply provide a standard way of referencing objects in the database and should eliminate a lot of questions as to the function of a particular object if used properly. If abbreviations are used, they must follow the set of standard abbreviations set specified elsewhere in your set of standards. As you can tell from most of the naming conventions, I like lower case names and dislike underscores as well. This is simply because very few people type in all caps or touch type.