The "simple" issue of naming your projects - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Mercator
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 31, 2012, 03:52:00 pm
content: Hi,If there is one thing I really suck at, it's naming my projects. I'm not talking about simple names like "Multimeter M1" but those which are a little catchier like "µCurrent", "MakerBot", "Arduino" etc.Do you know of methods for coming up with a good name or do you simply leave most of your work unnamed?

author: Bored@Work
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 31, 2012, 08:40:29 pm
content: I hate projects with cute names when the name doesn't say anything about what the thing does. I just don't want to have to memorize meaningless names. Arduino is such a stupid name, Raspberry Pi another. Many free software projects have stupid names, too.If you really want to find a stupid name, then the business/marketing people have unscientific methods to find a name, for a business or otherwise. Typically starting with brainstorming. E.g.http://entrepreneurs.about.com/cs/gettingstarted/ht/business_name.htm

author: Jon Chandler
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 31, 2012, 08:51:21 pm
content: if your project is something you'd like to share and post about, I'd recommend a Google search on whatever name you might consider. If you find something similar with the same name, there will be no end to the confusion that results when somebody searches for it.The other thing to avoid is a name that gets thousands of hits on Google. One product I recall looking for shared a name with a common college course number, so searching for it was an impossible task.

author: dcel
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 31, 2012, 08:57:19 pm
content: Descriptive naming convention is always best in my opinion. I tend to name my projects by function so later on when I revisit them, I know what they do or were for. For example, alot of my circuits are just modules for the larger project, like 'antsw7segf616' which stands for ' antenna switch 7 segment display driver using a Pic16f616'.Now I am of zero help if trying to come up with a cool name for a retail product. I make a list of descriptive names and ask my friends to help. A thesaurus helps a lot. It helps to use that something special that the project does to name it with. "Multimeter M1" does what? Is it capable of doing something that no other meter does? Or does it fix a problem that every meter has like Daves ?Current adapter.While typing this BaW posted and I agree with him regarding stupid, meaningless names.Chris

author: george graves
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 31, 2012, 09:43:03 pm
content: I hear the arduino guys hate it when you use the *duino name. With that said:http://www.freeduino.org/namegen.html

author: Mechatrommer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 31, 2012, 11:01:26 pm
content: ipod and macintosh is another stupid name!kidding!. how to name? find 2 or three themes related or components or items in your product. combine the first syllable of the 1st theme/item with the last syllable or the later item, or vice versa, i mean any combination, and then type in google, if it doesnt turn up, then you are good to go.like the naming i made few months ago. a stupid name "goltek" is made up of rigol and hantek. i believe dave did the same with ucurrent too. theme micro (precision) and current measurement. anyway, nothing will stop you from doing fancy name, thats human creativity. with seriousness, the name i hate most is the name i find hard to memorize, yeah, like raphebery what?! phi theta? whatever.my 2cnts.

author: Frangible
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 01, 2012, 12:38:33 am
content: What's wrong with a simple name like Fred? It may not win any awards on Madison avenue, but it's better than Souzqotrokkukigaqvolupormatduino.

author: dcel
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 01, 2012, 01:20:23 am
content: "Fred - The multimeter"There has to be a million acronyms for 'Fred' that could describe the multimeter.Freq, resistance, energy, and diode???Macintrash and Crapintosh as I have heard it called...RigTek and Hangol would have worked also.Funny...Chris

author: Mercator
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 01, 2012, 02:21:30 am
content: Quote from: BoredAtWork on March 31, 2012, 08:40:29 pmI agree in principle, but it seems to me that every popular project has a cute name. My guess is that they were chosen because Google came up with almost zero results before they were introduced to the market. Which makes nonsense names a better choice.But even names like "Goltek" return about 35.000 results. Not to mention "Fred" with over 400.000.000 results.Fascinating that almost every pronouncable nonsense name returns at least a couple of hundred results.... And that the first few pages for "Apple" aren't related to fruits.Guess, there is nothing else to do but to keep looking for a pronouncable nonsense name people can remember.

author: Neilm
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 01, 2012, 06:24:06 pm
content: Quote from: dcel on April 01, 2012, 01:20:23 amI believe that the first "multi-meter" used that exact strategy. It was the first meter that could measure Amps, Volts and Ohms. Thus was born the very first AVO meter.Neil

author: caroper
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 01, 2012, 10:28:33 pm
content: I have given up on naming devices.They always start with a fancy descriptive name and end up being referred to with a vulgar name not fit for publication on a family forum.

author: Frangible
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 03, 2012, 01:51:46 am
content: "blargnotz" returns no results on Google.

author: robrenz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 03, 2012, 02:47:18 am
content: I came up with a good name (at least I think it is)for my improved (IMO) version of an existing lab tool. Believe it or not the name does not exist on a Google search.I will be sending Dave one for his mail bag and be posting videos on how it was designed and built in about a month. I am making a run of 25 units so they will be for sale. I won't disclose the name untill Dave gets his.

author: MrPlacid
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 03, 2012, 03:25:09 am
content: Project name are very hard. I have a project and it took me forever in span of several years to come up with a decent name. Since my project is also a website, most of the names I came up with are already taken, so back to the drawing board every time that happen.I betcha most projects had decent names until they went online and names were already in use. That's when they resort to crappy names.

author: PeteInTexas
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 03, 2012, 03:54:26 am
content: I hate project names the begin with "my" or "i".

author: Ajahn Lambda
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 03, 2012, 04:42:01 am
content: Are you selling aprojector aproduct?For theprojectsthemselves, I typically organize things in electronic and physical folders with common names and possibly a version number, e.g. 'Linear Power Supply v2.80'. There's usually enough in those records to find out when they were created; I write as much down as I put into the PC, it seems.I like to go with "Brand Name", "Model Number/Name", "General Description" as a formulaic way of presentingproducts. That's pretty much what we're used to anyway, isn't it? For instance, theFluke 87-V Digital Multimeteris a product name and description with which we're all familiar. It's notThe Super-Duper Volt-O-Matic 9,000,000.9546.716s.s5.8a1 by Electro-Fiends Inc., or something equally non-descriptive or unhelpful.The model number or name should be short, simple, and elegant; you shouldn't mind having to hand-stamp or carve it into the name plate. lol But be sure to incorporate a one- to three-word description in there after it. You only use the model or part number by itself when you're talking with people familiar with the product already, i.e. colloquially, like with the Fluke mentioned previously, or maybe a Rigol DS1052E.For people who have no idea what your product is or does, that short description isCRITICALto catching your target audience's interest. We're typically skimmers of information, myself included, so if I don't know what you're selling within a matter of a second or two, tough shit Charlie, I'm moving on.Many in the industry have told me that attaching a brand name isn't important, but I think it is, especially if a random person (NOT the original purchaser) picks up your product years from now and wonders who made it. We're in the information age, and nothing truly goes away. It may be hard to find information on a particular product, like some of the old amplifiers I end up repairing, but it's still out there. Even if the company goes under, the brand name changes, you sell it to a larger company, etc., there's still a record of under whose banner the product falls. You can never know where, nor in whose hands, your product will end up, or when.Ah, but back to the naming of our product. . . or project. . . whatever it is. I surely don't use any typical or regular means of coming up with a name. That's part of thecreative process: letting things come to you as they are, letting go, doing the exact opposite of 'hyper-focusing', etc. For me personally, if I'm feeling the need to be particularly creative, I'll lay off of the AD(H)D medications for a day or two, take a drive through the countryside, talk to random people, walk the beach, etc. It seems only then do I have the clarity I need for those creative thoughts to come to the surface again. One of my close friends said it's much like stepping back from a much larger picture, and finally seeing it all as one instead of a million things; "see the forest for the trees" I suppose.Don't beat yourself over the head with the product name or anything. If you can't come up with one now, don't worry. You can always attach it later, then say "NEW AND IMPROVED!"Slight side note:Thepackagingspeaks volumes to me. Or rather, it shouldn't. Nothing cute or fancy belongs there, IMHO. I expect a rather plain but sturdy box, minimal wrapping and other crap I just have to throw away, and a small amount of documentation. Bonus points for using entirely-recyclable materials. There's little I hate more than product packaging or branding where their sellers try to be clever, and you can sit back and say, "a business major came up with that, right?"Hell, look at Dyson. Theyalmostgot it right with their vacuum cleaners, then the marketing people got their unholy, clueless paws on things. Low carbon emissions because their motors have no carbon brushes? Whoever put that on the box shouldkill themselvesget a quick education from someone who knows WTF they're talking about.

author: T4P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 03, 2012, 09:34:11 am
content: Quote from: PeteInTexas on April 03, 2012, 03:54:26 amIt must be said , it must be generally hated . It just sounds ridiculous all again . Especially that steve liar .

author: deephaven
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 03, 2012, 10:12:40 am
content: I have a product which overlays graticules on video. I thought it was a cool product so named it Graticool.