Naming servers is one of the few jobs in tech where nobody can tell you that you are doing it wrong. Well, almost nobody. Somewhere out there a machine called test-final-2 is running payroll, and it stands as a warning to us all.
This list is for developers, sysadmins and IT teams naming servers, clusters, virtual machines, databases, repos, sprints, internal projects and release codenames. Hostnames are written in lowercase with hyphens, the way they would appear in a terminal, while codenames get Title Case.
Inside you will find full naming schemes, funny one-offs, database and repo names, staging and production pairs, and a short list of cursed names to keep far away from your infrastructure.
Funny Server Names
For the machines with personality: the one that hums, the one that runs hot and the one that lives under somebody’s desk. Add a number to the end and they are ready for a real network.
- hamster-wheel
- toaster-prime
- space-heater
- the-closet
- nap-pod
- cpu-sauna
- fan-club
- hot-potato
- rack-and-roll
- noodle-box
- reboot-and-pray
- sir-hums-a-lot
- pizza-oven
- cable-spaghetti
- mothership
- grumbletron
- busy-bee-02
- flaky-01
- chonky-node
- turbo-snail
- spare-tire
- under-desk
- mr-blinky
- workhorse-03
Mythical Creature Server Names
Ancient legends make a naming scheme with real range. Give hydra to the cluster that grows two nodes for every one you kill, and let cerberus guard the gateway.
- griffin
- kraken
- hydra
- phoenix
- basilisk
- chimera
- wyvern
- manticore
- kelpie
- selkie
- sphinx
- pegasus
- cerberus
- minotaur
- jackalope
- golem
- kitsune
- leviathan
Cheese Server Names
There are hundreds of cheeses, so this scheme will outlast your data center lease. The big-cheese is the primary, string-cheese runs the message queue and cheese-board is obviously the dashboard.
- brie
- gouda
- cheddar
- feta
- halloumi
- gruyere
- edam
- havarti
- manchego
- stilton
- raclette
- paneer
- burrata
- emmental
- limburger
- big-cheese
- string-cheese
- cheese-board
- fondue
Made-Up Planet Server Names
Real planets run out at eight, and then someone brings up Pluto. Invent your own solar system instead and the scheme never ends.
- zorbulon
- vexaria
- quibbleon
- marmalon
- thundrix
- pluvia-minor
- oblongus
- crumblax
- snorvia
- fizzara
- zenthra
- velmoor
- orvella
- lumbria
- plinkara
- sprocketon
- glimmerax
Short Weather Hostnames That Type Easily
Weather words are short, lowercase and hard to misspell, which makes them ideal for anything you connect to every day. Most are four or five letters, so your fingers will thank you by Friday.
- fog
- hail
- mist
- gust
- sleet
- haze
- dew
- frost
- thaw
- rime
- gale
- squall
- storm
- rain
- snow
- breeze
- zephyr
- flurry
- virga
- cirrus
Funny Database Names
Databases never forget, never forgive and always need more disk. These names give them the respect, and the puns, they deserve.
- sequel-to-the-sequel
- query-quarry
- table-manners
- null-and-void
- select-star
- join-the-club
- index-finger
- grudge-db
- memory-palace
- junk-drawer
- pack-rat
- dragon-hoard
- single-source-of-truth
- filing-cabinet
- tuple-trouble
- row-your-boat
- data-pantry
- shoebox
- the-ledger
Staging vs Production Server Names
These come in matched pairs, staging first, so nobody confuses the practice server with the one customers are using. If the names sound like a rehearsal and a performance, people will treat them that way.
- stg-rehearsal
- prod-showtime
- stg-kiddie-pool
- prod-deep-end
- stg-understudy
- prod-headliner
- stg-sandbox
- prod-fortress
- stg-training-wheels
- prod-highway
- stg-scrimmage
- prod-big-game
- stg-test-kitchen
- prod-dinner-rush
- stg-green-room
- prod-main-stage
- stg-bunny-slope
- prod-black-diamond
Release Codenames for Internal Projects
A good codename sounds exciting in a planning meeting and gives away nothing if a slide leaks. Pair an unexpected adjective with an everyday noun and you are most of the way there.
- Soggy Waffle
- Quiet Thunder
- Paper Lantern
- Tin Can Rocket
- Midnight Pancake
- Rubber Chicken
- Lucky Sock
- Borrowed Time
- Velvet Crowbar
- Almost Done
- Cardboard Spaceship
- Brass Pineapple
- Polite Avalanche
- Gentle Stampede
- Steady Goldfish
- Caffeinated Sloth
- Sleeping Volcano
- Unexpected Kazoo
- Operation Tuesday
Funny Sprint Names
Two weeks is a long time to stare at a board called Sprint 47. Give each one a name that captures the mood, the scope or the collective optimism of the team.
- Sprint Of Theseus
- Carry The One
- Scope Creep Safari
- Velocity Is A Feeling
- Burndown Barbecue
- Story Points Anonymous
- Standup Comedy Hour
- Retro Rewind
- Blocker Buster
- Definition Of Done-ish
- Backlog Bonfire
- Ticket To Nowhere
- Merge Madness
- Sprint Zero Hero
- Out Of Scope Island
- Hotfix Hustle
- Sprint Of Least Resistance
- Bug Bash Bonanza
- Estimates Were Vibes
- The Marathon Sprint
- Two Week Wonder
Funny Repo Names
Repository names live forever in URLs, clone commands and commit history, so choose wisely. Or do not, and let future you find it funny.
- definitely-not-a-monorepo
- yak-shaving
- temporary-forever
- hello-world-2
- spaghetti-factory
- dotfiles-of-shame
- infra-as-regret
- big-ball-of-mud
- legacy-lasagna
- scripts-that-work
- do-not-fork
- copy-paste-kit
- not-a-framework
- weekend-project-47
- config-graveyard
- abandoned-but-loved
- rewrite-of-the-rewrite
- one-more-microservice
- wrapper-for-the-wrapper
- yet-another-cli
- todo-app-v9
Names for the Legacy Server Nobody Dares Reboot
Every team has one: a beige box with an uptime counter older than some interns. Each name here comes with a note on why nobody is touching it.
- old-faithful — up since before the office moved
- house-of-cards — pull one cable and everything falls over
- the-elder — runs a cron job nobody can explain
- sleeping-giant — let it lie, for everyone’s sake
- here-be-dragons — the map simply ends at this rack
- untouchable — the change freeze is permanent
- fossil — still running an operating system from a museum
- heirloom — passed down through four generations of sysadmins
- haunted-rack — reboot it and the lights flicker
- do-not-reboot — the sticky note became the hostname
- load-bearing-box — like a wall you cannot knock down
- mystery-box — nobody knows what it does, but everything needs it
- sacred-cow — too important to question, too old to fix
- stonehenge — nobody remembers who built it or why
- barnacle — permanently attached to the network
- grandpa-01 — naps every afternoon, never misses a backup
- dinosaur — has outlived three migration projects
Cursed Server Names to Avoid
Consider this a public service announcement. Each of these has caused real confusion somewhere, and the notes explain exactly how.
- prod-test — is it production or a test? Yes
- new-server — it was new in 2016
- temp-01 — temporary for eight years and counting
- localhost — resolves to whoever is asking, which is everyone
- server-final-v2 — there is also a server-final-v3
- backup — it is not a backup, it is a hope
- l1ll1l — lowercase L and the number one, pure chaos
- o0o0o — letter O and the number zero, endless tickets
- delete-me — someone eventually will
- the-server — which one? The server
- asdf — the keyboard smash that went live
- test-do-not-use — now handles all checkout traffic
- steve — named after a coworker who left and took the context
- undefined — the error logs will be very confusing
- null — breaks every form that checks for empty values
- drop-tables — every database admin just flinched
- swiss-firewall — full of holes, as advertised
- your-name-here — a placeholder that made it to production
How to Pick the Perfect Server Name
A few ground rules keep a fun scheme from turning into a support ticket.
- Keep hostnames short, ideally under 12 characters, because you will type them into terminals, dashboards and incident chats hundreds of times.
- Stick to lowercase letters, digits and hyphens, since underscores are not valid in hostnames and a hyphen cannot start or end one.
- Avoid characters that are easy to misread, like l and 1 or o and 0, so nobody connects to the wrong box at 3 a.m.
- Choose a theme with hundreds of members, such as cheeses or mythical creatures, so the scheme keeps scaling long after the ninth machine.
- Put the role and environment in a plain prefix or suffix, like db-gouda or prod-kraken-02, so the function is obvious at a glance.
- Save fun names for long-lived machines and use numbered names for autoscaled instances that come and go every hour.
- Write the scheme down in your team wiki before someone names the next server after themselves.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good naming scheme for servers?
A good scheme has a clear theme, plenty of members and names that are short and easy to type. Mythical creatures, cheeses, weather words and made-up planets all work well because you will not run out. Pair the fun name with a role prefix, like db-brie or web-griffin, and everyone knows what each machine does.
Should server names be funny or descriptive?
Both, ideally. A descriptive prefix tells people what the machine does and where it runs, while a memorable name makes it easy to talk about in standups and incident channels. Many teams give fun names to long-lived servers and plain numbered names to short-lived cloud instances.
What characters are allowed in a hostname?
Hostnames can use the letters a to z, the digits 0 to 9 and hyphens, and they are not case sensitive. Each label between the dots can be up to 63 characters and cannot start or end with a hyphen, while the full name can run to 253 characters. Underscores and spaces are not allowed, even though some software will quietly accept them.
How do you come up with a project codename?
Pair an unexpected adjective with an everyday noun, like Polite Avalanche or Caffeinated Sloth, and make sure it says nothing about what the project actually is. A good codename is fun to say in meetings, easy to search in chat and harmless if it leaks outside the team.
What are some funny sprint names?
Sprint names work best when they poke fun at the process everyone shares, like Scope Creep Safari, Story Points Anonymous or Sprint Of Theseus. Let a different teammate pick the name each sprint so the running jokes stay fresh.
Final Thoughts
You now have more than two hundred server names, codenames and repo names to debate at your next planning meeting. Pick a scheme that scales, pair it with a sensible prefix and write it down before the next machine gets racked. Remix a few favorites, share the list with your team, and never, ever name anything temp-01.