Naming computers

A new blog post is finally up. I've decided to write something that went through my mind lately: names. More specific: names for computers. I've been in names quite a lot last weeks, especially trying to invent a name for my CMS. I already have some names, and maybe I'll set up some kind of poll when it's time to decide which one to use. Naming computers then, is something I do not find easy either. For the not-informatics between you, assigning names to computers is like giving your blood-child a name. On the other hand, is it not a strictly necessary thing, but it gives them some personality.

Since most of the time, computers and servers are named to characters from soaps, movies, tales, interests from the person who manages them, ..., it's an obvious choice for me to do that as well. One of my interests is astronomy, but it is an often used subject for naming. One of my personal favorites in this area are the names for the different versions of the Eclipse IDE, the last three being Europa, Ganymede and Galileo (well, yes, they aren't computers but software versions, I know :-)). Another topic frequently used, especially in naming servers, are names of ancient (mostly Greek) gods. E.g. Athene, Zeus, Morpheus etc. As a result, I thought of what else interested me, but what'd give me some nice names to play with. A look around my chamber made my eye fell on... the Lord of the Rings. Well surely names such as Aragorn, Gandalf or Théoden are not really computer names, are they? So looking something more to the left was the book "The Silmarillion", by J.R.R. Tolkien as well, containing the whole history from the beginning (Eru Ilúvatar), through the Ainur (the Valar and the Maiar), the Quendi (the Elves), the Atani (the Men), ...

The Valar

Being quite satisfied with the topic, I was wondering which names to use for my computers. Eru Ilúvatar was out of the question, because when placed in the context, I think it is me :-). So the Valar it is; my children. Okay, maybe it is a little pathetic to be calling computers your children, but it fits nicely in the story. Having a modest MacBook C2D 2Ghz, an iPhone 3G and a quite old Athlon XP 3000+ running Vista, there's three spots open. Actually not. Two only. In the next paragraph I'll tell you why. From this point it is very simple I think. My MacBook, being superior to my PC, will be Aulë, who is given lordship over the matter that composes Arda and is a master of all the crafts that shape it. Knowing that, I called my iPhone Yavanna, the spouse of Aulë and Queen of the Earth and Giver of Fruits. She created the Two Trees, and is responsible for the Olvar and Kelvar (plants and animals).

Melkor

So we have Aulë and Yavanna. How to name my PC? Well since in the eyes of most Apple fans, I think, PC's are bad (at least the ones running Windows), I chose to name him Melkor; he was the most powerful of the Ainur, but became Morgoth, the "great enemy", after turning to darkness, the ultimate antagonist of Arda, from whom all evil in the world of Middle-earth ultimately stems. Sauron, one of the Maiar of Aulë (maybe it can be called Office for Mac or so in this context), betrayed his kind and became Morgoth's principal lieutenant.

It all fits nicely, not?

Referencing

The descriptions about the characters are not mine, but they are very good and yet short, so here's the link to where I got them: Wikipedia