Naming servers is one of the underrated dark arts of sysadmin life.  In a work environment, there are often dull corporate standards like “3-digit accounting code + P for prod + V for virtual + four-digit number” and you end up with unexciting names like “aqfpv0001” or “drsea12” or “pvstl1412”.  Ironically, sometimes servers live so long and become so famous/infamous that even decades later I can remember a couple names.  Good old “ml014” and “hscs126″…I’ll never forget you.

I remember when I worked at the University of Michigan, we had some servers named after Alfred Hitchcock movies, and another named after arcade video games.  A new sysadmin joined and she asked why we didn’t just call things “server1”, “server2”, etc.  She didn’t last long.

In your hobbyist life, you don’t need to limit yourself to boring beige names.  You have the freedom to use any standard you choose.  Why go with “server1” when you can use a little wit to come up with something that will entertain you every day?

Let’s embrace a bit of chaos and explore some possible (and possibly terrible) naming conventions for your infrastructure.

Cheese Names

Because nothing says “mission-critical” like brie.

Examples:

• cheddar01

• camembert-staging

• gorgonzola-db

• velveeta-prod

✅ Pros: Smells better than your logs.  Wait, isn’t cheese log a thing?

❌ Cons: Makes you hungry and confused

80s Action Heroes

Ideal for devops environments where everything is always “in production.”

Examples:

• ripley

• rambo

• mcclane

• deltaforce-vpn

✅ Pros: They never die

❌ Cons: None.

Random IKEA Product Names

Perfect for minimalists who like to suffer.

Examples:

• flugbo

• kallax-auth

• smörgås-prod

• lövbacken-cache

✅ Pros: Looks like you’re managing a furniture empire.  Or a Spinal Tap reunion.

❌ Cons: You’ll never spell them right twice

UFO Sightings Database

Your servers are already mysterious and hard to explain.  Lean in.

Examples:

• roswell-logstash

• area51-build

• kecksburg-web

• lights-over-phoenix-staging

✅ Pros: Encourages plausible deniability

❌ Cons: FOIA requests

Star Trek Redshirts

For containers you know won’t live long anyway.

Examples:

• ensign-ricky

• lt-disposable

• deck12-vm3

• awayteam-proxy

✅ Pros: Highly realistic uptime expectations

❌ Cons: You should purge your wardrobe of red shirts.

Childhood Juice Boxes

Every server is a sip of nostalgia and risk of sticky disaster.

Examples:

• caprisun-prod

• hi-c-db

• ecto-cooler-auth

• squeezit-logs

✅ Pros: Sweet naming convention

❌ Cons: OK, Gen Xer

Discontinued Microsoft Products

For that truly cursed, enterprise-grade chaos.

Examples:

• clippy-ai

• zune-player

• encarta-db

• kin-phone-cache

✅ Pros: Satirical gold

❌ Cons: Like you won’t get sued

Terrible Reality Shows

Because every server cluster is a drama series waiting to happen.

Examples:

• flavor-of-nginx

• vps-bachelor

• server-swap

• keeping-up-with-kubernetes

✅ Pros: Makes outages entertaining

❌ Cons: Someone will create server-bigbrother

Commands You’ve Mistyped

Great if you want every terminal tab to be a psychological attack.

Examples:

• sl (not ls)

• grpe

• sudo-susdo

• pinglocalhsot

✅ Pros: Comedy gold

❌ Cons: You’ll never type anything right again

Things That Sound Techy But Aren’t

Perfect for impressing nobody.

Examples:

• quantum-jelly

• hyper-toast

• crypto-burrito

• elastic-taco

✅ Pros: Vaguely buzzword-compatible

❌ Cons: Might accidentally get funded

Honorable Mentions

• Weapons from Doom (bfg9000-prod, plasma-gun-staging)

• Biblical Plagues (locusts, darkness, frogs)

• Real Cities But Misspelled (seaddle, losangles, tusla-b)

Not Happy With These?

Head over to Naming Schemes to see even more!

raindog308

Raindog308 is a longtime LowEndTalk community administrator, technical writer, and self-described techno polymath. With deep roots in the *nix world, he has a passion for systems both modern and vintage, ranging from Unix, Perl, Python, and Golang to shell scripting and mainframe-era operating systems like MVS. He’s equally comfortable with relational database systems, having spent years working with Oracle, PostgreSQL, and MySQL.

As an avid user of LowEndBox providers, Raindog runs an empire of LEBs, from tiny boxes for VPNs, to mid-sized instances for application hosting, and heavyweight servers for data storage and complex databases. He brings both technical rigor and real-world experience to every piece he writes.

Beyond the command line, Raindog is a lover of German Shepherds, high-quality knives, target shooting, theology, tabletop RPGs, and hiking in deep, quiet forests.

His goal with every article is to help users, from beginners to seasoned sysadmins, get more value, performance, and enjoyment out of their infrastructure.

You can find him daily in the forums at LowEndTalk under the handle @raindog308.