Home setup is pretty bizarre but my kids kind of like it
Each kids computer is named based on a Frank zappa song Andy, Alley-Cat, Cheepnis, Valley-girl, envelopes, bow-tie-daddy, black-beauty, waka-jawaka, alien-princess (rather than Jewish princess), print server is known as Fr-oblivion and serves print jobs to st-alphonso, pancake and breakfast, other printers have been known as gregary peccary, etc, another print server was named nanook, some firewalls are known as calvin, hitchhiker-1 and hitchhiker-2, the webserver is known is known as megaphone-of-destiny and the hardrives on my main machine are known as peaches-en-regalia, pygmy-pony, big swifty, billy the mountain and uncle remus. Older machines, since passed on to silicon heaven, have had hds named zomby woof, the slime etc. Still over 200 names available if I use the entire Zappa catalogue.

I used to collect people's old machines left by their garbage, all before the economic downturn. All pretty crappy machines with bare minimum memory and no harddrives ....

First there was Timmy then Kyle etc etc

"Big Girls Blouse" is my all time favourite name, not a theme sorry.

Main system - FX55, 2gb, dual 6800 Ultra in SLI : Rasputin
backup system - openfiler in iSCSI mode - AMD 2800+, 512mb, 520gb of drives in RAID0 : Stalin

Other systems : Lenin (Stalin's twin, repurposed for my GF's use)
Kerensky = retired laptop
Zinoviev = retired desktop
Trotsky = repurposed Intel 800EB w/512mb, random HD assortment - it's a media-access server with 2 different types of DVD-RAM, a Syjet, an EZFlyer, a Superdisk and other of my assortment of old hardware.

Last place I worked at we used states for the distributed servers... the bigger the state, the beefier the box... made it fun to keep track of things.

When we brought in our NAS and had to name it we went with countries... put a big ole maple leaf sticker on the side, played 'Oh Canada' and welcomed Canada into our mix. it was a riot.

I am almost sure I missed it (among more than a hundred comments), but has anybody named their servers with names in Klingon? It would be fun to name the servers over the phone... :-)

My work machines are named after Star Trek:

Kirk - webserver
Spock - backup webserver
McCoy - database server
Scotty - web testing
Uhura - greylist/anti-spam
Chekov - Snort
Sulu - Work Desktop
Picard - new webserver
Riker - new testing web

The windows boxes are:
Vader - SQL
Palpatine - web

I used names from a cartoon called Invader Zim.

Gir = Router
Dib, Zim = Desktop computers
Roomwithamoose = File Server

you get the Idea

spike, willow, giles ...

Definitely not signs of a mid-life crisis, my home setup is:

mousetrap (router)
kerplunk (file server)
buckaroo (laptop)

When I get permission to add another one, it'll be hungryhungryhippos or yahtzee. Or maybe I should just accept adulthood...

Computer naming scheme:

Primary Desktop (Ubuntu latest stable) - Herc
Primary Laptop (Windows Vista, yuck) - Atlas
Linux Laptop - Hind (Ubuntu latest test)
Linux Server/NFS - Hydra (Fedora 10 Server)
Guest Laptop - Izzy (Windows XP)
PS3 - Daedelus

I have a dual-boot PC. The Linux side is Ariel (it's magic). The WinXP side is Loki (the Trickster). My wife's laptop is Stevie, the wireless gateway is Lindsay, so my second PC is Green.

~~ ScienceMikey

So I am not alone. My co-workers find it strange that my primary work laptops are Kermit and Gonzo and that there are machines dotted around the office with names such as Animal, Beaker, DrHoneyDew and SwedishChef.

Beats workpc or owens-work-office-machine!!

At work we name our servers/machines after Family Guy characters:

Stewie: Our local dev server, since it's cute and fun to play with
Brian: Our main dedicated server, since it's nice and reliable
Quagmire: Our Windows VPS, since it's a mess and keeps going down on us :P
Chris: My dev machine, since it looks fat and slow, but hides a sharp wit and intellect

I fly fish so I have servers called Trout(testing) and Panfish(production oddities). Guppy1 and Guppy2 are two older servers that are being re-porpoised for a quick "can we do it" test. Initial buildout of some database servers last winter were named Brook, Brown, and Redband - I had just gotten a new 7ft 4wt and wanted to be on stream somewhere casting Kennebec Wulffs and Wooly Buggers to hungry trout but instead was in the server room building out boxes.

Had a database management server for years named in honor of a former DBA and enjoyed getting status emails from Emily. I use a Greco-Roman scheme for our contractors servers. Another bunch follow my agency's grand naming scheme(boring), leaving the fun stuff for use as user acct names and passwords that only SysAdmin or DBAs see.

I have a handful of virtual machines with their OS in their names because it annoys some staff that I don't use Windows. My work DT and LT have my name so our HelpDesk will stay away from them. And at home I have a G1G1 XO I bought last November named Finch (small, cute, colorful).

Of my machines at work only my DT runs Windows (with Xubuntu and Fedora guests), others are mix of Red Hat, CentOs, and Ubuntu(with a WinXP guest). And come January that WinXP DT is getting transformed into a Linux OS with a WinXP guest!

My servers are named for penguin families:

Rockhopper
Royal
Emperor
Macaroni

with network name: PenguinHome.ca

Being a big fan of cooking, I've used herbs and spices.

rosemary (file server)
clove (TS server)
mint (AD server)
basil (proxy - linux - depriciated in favor of OpenDNS for filtering)
chili (firewall) har har
ginger (VMWare host machine - linux)

I've also used Tolkien characters and locations in the past, but I always chose the more obscure ones.

finduilas (web - linux)
tuor (file)
glaurung (firewall) har har again (Glaurung was a dragon)
erkenbrand (AD)
ugluk (proxy - linux)
feanor (TS)

Well, I went through the whole list thinking I had a unique naming convention until I read Rollins' post. I use mineral names primarily because in university I studied Geology. So, here's my current list of names:

Server:

  Topaz

Desktops:

  Platinum (my XP box)
  Opal (kids)
  Diamond (wife's)
  Beryl (my Linux box)
  Jade (firewall)

Speaking of mineral names, there was one specific mineral we learned of which caused the entire class to roar with laughter (given that most of the students were guys). It was called "cummingtonite". REALLY!! Clearly, I wouldn't use that name in my home!

I have used several naming schemes over the years. When I first started building a network at home, I decided to go with cartoon characters, and I named my first Linux machine "opus" for obvious reasons. When "The Matrix" came out, I changed naming schemes and called my desktop neo, my wife's desktop trinity, etc.

With time and experience, I have gotten a little less original (okay, the "Matrix" scheme wasn't that original...) and now prefer names that actually have something to do with the services my servers provide, using such catchy and inspiring names as "www", "ns01", "samba" and "mail". We do, however, still have "stan" and "cartman" where I work, and I proposed "kenny" for one of our few Windows servers ;) Our Windows desktops follow a standard naming convention of 3-letter city code, primary user's user name, "XP" (since almost all of them are XP machines) and a two digit sequential number, as in ancjschmoexp02.

At home I use elements.

hydrogen - personal laptop
radon - work laptop
krypton - server
neon - PS3
carbon - private side of router
silicon - public side of router
iron - modem
oxygen - web server

At the office we use a Location/Environment/Code designation

HOUTS600 - HOU - Houston, TS - Test, 6XX - fire servers. The numbers breakdown roughly by 100s to differentiate the services provided. It is a pretty good system that provides a lot of information and still maintains the 8 character, alphanumeric hostname for legacy support.

Hihi, I don't think I need to explain:

Firewall is Kit / Kitiara
Fileserver (Samba) is Flint
Snort is Raistlin
Web Server is Sturm
SMTP server is Caramon
XEN server is Tanin

I'm keeping Tass for something special .. and he shows up sometimes on test machines, but always gets into trouble!

Workstations have minor names from the books!

Raist

p.s. the web site is a friends, I didn't actually do it.

All my names take on the characters of the comic strip "Bloom County"

• Milo - Laptop
• Trapper - PDA
• Opus(the penguin is appropriate here) - Linux File server
• Oliver() - 2nd laptop
• Bill(Old CPU's ready to die) - Compaq desktop
• Binkley - Desktop PC
• Portnoy - Network HP printer

My home workgroup is "BloomCounty"

blacksheep - My Win2k server... har har

I typically name my machines after Greek mythological figures from the list on wikipedia.

ixion - my workstation
apollo - backup workstation
daedalus - laptop
thanatos - windows workstation

Chronos, Zeus, and Hera are names I've used in the past.