Filed under: OS, Odds and ends
Silly Survey Sunday: What's in a name?
Whenever I get a new Mac, one of the first things I do is change the name of Macintosh HD to something with a bit more personality and Laurie A. Duncan's Computer (the network sharing name) to something that more uniquely identifies that particular machine. I used to name my Macs after my unborn children (Zach and Zoe), but once it became clear that I would always have more computers than kids, I ditched that naming scheme. Now I pretty much just pick names based on nothing but whim.Since I think anthropomorphising computers is cool, I have a burning desire to know... What's your Mac's name? Do you name only the hard drive(s) or do you spend hours deciding on what name you want your Mac known as on your network? Almost as important - is your Mac male, female, or gender-neutral?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
Callum Alden said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
"Macintosh" - because I like using the speakable items and yelling "Macintosh play me some Jazz"... just like that ad from '88. Makes my Windows friend's crazy angry - "Shut Up" they scream.
I was sad when I noticed in 10.2 they dropped the default "Macintosh" for "Computer" in speakable items.... tisk.
Although - on names - I let myself go with my iPod - which is known as "der iPod" - all the playlists are in German too, for kicks.
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Bill Eccles said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
I've used the very generic in most cases--it helps me remember where they are or what they do. Here's the complete list: PBG4, PBG3, iBook G4, Cube 1, Cube 2 (yes, two), Centipede (one oddball), iLuxo (my 15" FP iMac--another oddball, but it was an "obvious" name), PMG3, 6100AV, BarnCam, 6400, mini, eMac, and Dell Piece of Crap.
I had, at one time, named them after cartoon characters, e.g., Bill the Cat, Oliver, Milo, etc., especially since cool icons were available. But I never could remember which one was where, especially as the collection of Macs I was managing got larger. (The collection includes my wife's office Macs--that's four of the above right there.)
I tried various "award" names: Oscar, Emmy, etc., except that I ran out very quickly and still had the same problem as before.
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Alister said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
My ibook g4 is called "Slimpy" (which is means slim stimpy), and my wintel box is called "Stimpson" (which isn't slim, and isn't abbreviated).
My external hard-drive is called "Homer" (after my favourite super-sized cartoon character), and my ipod is called "pod-i", because my non-techno 30 year old brother asked me when i first got it "where do i get one of them pod-i things?". the name stuck.
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habi said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
with the two macs i owned up to now i sticked to manga names:
my first ibook was called akira, my powermac now goes under kaneda.
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Bryan said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
Each computer in my Macintosh collection has a girl's name. Generally I chose a name based on 1) the name of the person from whom I've received the computer, or 2) the name of the person I've first spoken to after restoring the computer.
Macintosh Plus: Stephanie
Macintosh SE: Kate (after my girlfriend)
Macintosh SE/30: Nina
Macintosh SE/30 (another): Debbie
Macintosh Portable: Lafawnda
iMac G3 (333mHz): Donna
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Small Paul said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
So far, I've only got the two Macs. (Although a third should be here in a matter of days! Oh, the excitement!)
My naming scheme is members of Radiohead. My strawberry iMac is Ed, and my 17" iMac G4 is Thom. The PowerBook, when it arrives next week, will either be Jonny or Colin, I've yet to decide.
I figure with the five band members, plus producer Nigel and artist Stanley Donwood, I'm good for 7 Macs.
Oh, and my iPod is Googly Minotaur. (Ask Google, not me.)
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Michael said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
My Mac G3 (B&W) is named Ares, my desktop PC is named Prometheus and my laptop is named Epimetheus.
Also, my iPod mini is named Io, and my two USB flash drives are named Phobos and Deimos.
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fra said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
my old nokia - Alex
my old Winbox - Argon
my new O2 X1i cell phone - Travis
my ipod (which is getting repaired) - Kurt
my macmini - Cobain
... I need a life...
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Michael Maclean said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
My computers are named after cartoons most of the time. My first laptop was Marvin (the Martian, or the Paranoid Android), and my iBook is Morbo (from Futurama). Marvin is now Gonzo, and I have desktops called Zaphod, Animal and Zoidberg. And my workstation at work is Weebl. I also used to have a server called Kermit, though he's now a bedside table.
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MusOX said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
All computer names are composers (Mozart, Cage, Liszt, Holst) while HDs are Guitar companies (Fender, Guild, Gretsch, Martin)
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Neil E. Hobbs said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
My PowerBook G3 got the name Ginger, for various reasons, so then my old phones all had to be called Pickles. The PowerBook was very definitely female, although her external firewire drive had partitions named Bulk and Skeleton, after members of Texas Pete's gang in SuperTed.
Now, my iMac G5's named Tranquility, with all her other partitions also called after habitats from Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn trilogy. She is very female, as I think most Macs are almost by default: a PowerMac G5 is probably the most masculine Mac I can think of, but it depends very much on their personality.
I never gave my old (but still running) Performa 475 a real name, although I did rename the hard disk to Hard Fish, since I had a set of fish icons. Ah, System 7.5...
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Mathew Hoy said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
My eMac is named Garbo (after Greta Garbo) and my tangerine iMac is named Tang. My iPod is named HellaPod.
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Andrei Smirnov said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
My first Apple computer (15-inch PowerBook) arrives in 2 days. It proudly bears the name 'Phoebe' and the name is inspired by Phoebe Caulfield, this smart and advanced personality from "The Cather in the Rye" by Salinger.
This makes the PowerBook bear female gender as well :)
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Matthew Whitley said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
All of my hard drives are named after character's from the movie "Doc Hollywood"... Jasmine, Vialula, Ben Stone, and Doc Hogue. Gotta love it!
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Chris said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
In the long ago past I resorted to Bloom County names (Oliver for the PC, Milo for the printer).
Currently I try to use clever names that describe the machine in some way. The PC I never touch anymore is Monolith cause it's just huge. My iBook G3 is Mobilus, male latinization of mobile. My Tivo is called Idol for reasons of religious devotion.
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Michael Nobbs said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
I've always named my Macs after types of apples. Currently my iBook is called Bailey and my iMac Jonathan (yes, there honestly is a breed of apple named Jonathan). Past loved Macs have been named Bramley and Melrose.
Yours geekily
Michael
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David Shirley said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
All my computers are named after Japanese places or things, such as Chuo, Asahi, Osaka and Ome. So of course, my Mac had to be called Ringo (Japanese for Apple) and my PearPC virtual Mac had to be called Nashi (Japanese for Pear).
My iPod is called Voodoo Music and I have completely forgotten why... I am sure there was some logic behind that choice, but it probably only makes sense after a couple of glasses of wine!
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Hooptie J said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
Ha ha greaaat
here we go:
Al 15 1.25 Backlit - Silver Bullet Mk.IV
iBook DVSE 466fw indigo - "DeeVi"
iMac DVSE Graphite - "dIsco"
iMac G4 17"- "dIsco" (for the girl)
Dual Drive RAID Fw800 .5Tb - "Terror-Byte"
iPod Mini - Green Meanie(mk1&2)
iPod Shuffle 1gb - "Shuffle Puck"
iPod 3g- "tuxtastic" (podzilla)
ipod 1g 5gb - "Spinner"
Ap Express - "Comsat"
Ap Extreme - "Home Station"
then .... the graveyard..
Ti400 - Silver bullet - ...
(modded to 500 + SD) - Silver Bullet Mk.II - SOLD
Ti667DVI - Silver Bullet Mk.III- RIP
Beige G3/G4 - "Jolly Roger" - RIP
B&W G3/G4 - "Jolly Roger Mk.II" - Sold
UMAX S900Dual - "Project541" (YDL Cluster)
Umax S900Dual
Umax S900DUal
Umax S900
Umax J700/G3
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Michael said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
my 1 gigger iMac G4: honky
external hard drive: stinky
previous macs and external hard drives were named after the ghost monsters in pac-man.
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Jon said 4:17PM on 6-16-2005
Titanium PowerBook: Glyph
Dual G5: Token
AMD RedHat Linux Server: Jackal
Retired Linux Servers: Wraith & Goblin
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