I’ve been using a system for naming my devices for several years now, starting when I learned about computer naming schemes at ResTek1. I’ve taken inspiration from RFC 1178 - “Choosing a Name for Your Computer”2.
This page exists to document my current and historical names.
I name each of my computers after Washington rivers and try to group them by device type via the starting letter.
| Name | Description | Year acquired | Active |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chehalis | work MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2019) | 2019 | |
| Chelan | work MacBook Pro 15” (late 2016) | 2016 | |
| Chinook | work MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019) | 2020 | |
| Chiwawa | work MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2021) | 2022 | ✅ |
| Dungeness | iPhone 5 | 2012 | |
| Dungeness | iPhone 6S | 2015 | |
| Dungeness | iPhone Xs | 2018 | |
| Dungeness | iPhone 12 mini | 2021 | |
| Deschutes | iPhone 15 Pro | 2023 | ✅ |
| Elwha | iMac (refurbished) 21.5"/3.20/2X2G/1TB/5670/SD-USA | 2011 | |
| Glacier | DigitalOcean Debian development server | 2013 | |
| Matheny | DigitalOcean droplet | 2019 | ✅ |
| Methow | DigitalOcean droplet | 2014 | |
| Naches | MacBook Pro 14", 2023 | 2023 | ✅ |
| Nisqually | MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2019, Four Thunderbolt 3 ports) | 2019 | |
| Nooksack | MacBook Pro 13” (late 2013) | 2014 | |
| Queets | iPad Pro 10.5” (2017) | 2017 | ✅ |
| Quinault | iPad (2012) | 2012 | |
| Sauk | Raspberry Pi | ||
| Sitkum | Raspberry Pi (HomeKit server) | ||
| Skagit | Raspberry Pi | ||
| Soleduc | Raspberry Pi |
I’ve also started naming non-computers after bodies of water
| Name | Description | Year acquired | Active |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crescent | Seagate 4TB drive | 2013 | ✅ |
| Padden | DigitalOcean Kubernetes cluster | 2019 | |
| Sutherland | Backblaze B2 bucket | 2019 | ✅ |