( REFS · 004 )

Software Naming Scheme

Companion to the Hostname Naming Scheme. That doc names the machines. This one names the things that run on them.

Why exoplanets

Every named exoplanet comes with two identities: a catalogue designation like 51 Pegasi b, and a proper name like Dimidium. That is the software model exactly — a formal identifier you type into a manifest, and a friendly name you say out loud in a standup.

Better, the IAU names the host star too, and the star and its planets are almost always named from the same theme. Solaris hosts Pirx — both from Stanisław Lem. Muspelheim hosts Surt, who rules it. Komondor hosts Puli, both Hungarian dog breeds. That parent/child pairing is the same shape as the planet/moon nesting in the hostname doc, and it means a project and its components can be named as a set without inventing anything.

So:

Thing	Gets	Example
A project, suite, or monorepo	Host star proper name	`cervantes`
A component, service, or library inside it	Its planet proper name	`rocinante`
A standalone tool	Any planet name, no parent needed	`poltergeist`

Rules

Simple, knowable names only. If you cannot spell it after hearing it once, or pronounce it after reading it once, skip it. Roughly two thirds of the IAU list fails this — anything carrying diacritics, glottal stops, or four unfamiliar syllables is out. The tables below are already filtered.
Lowercase ASCII is the real name. Poltergeist is the display name, poltergeist is the package, the repo, the binary, the container tag.
Check the registry before committing. Several of these are ordinary words elsewhere — bran, puli, banksia, petra are plausibly taken on npm, PyPI, and crates.io. Check, then scope it if needed.
A name is spent once. Reusing a name across two projects defeats the entire point. Record it in the tables below when you claim it.
The star names a project, not a machine. Keeping software on exoplanets and infrastructure on the solar system means a sentence like “regoc is down on argonite-2” has exactly one reading.

Suites - stars with more than one named planet

Five systems have multiple named planets. These are the only real suites available, so spend them on things that genuinely have components.

Copernicus - `55 Cancri A`

Astronomers and lensmakers. Five slots, the largest suite available.

Name	Designation	Eponym
`galileo`	55 Cancri b	Italian astronomer
`brahe`	55 Cancri c	Danish astronomer
`lipperhey`	55 Cancri d	Dutch lensmaker
`janssen`	55 Cancri e	Dutch astronomer
`harriot`	55 Cancri f	English astronomer

Cervantes - `Mu Arae`

The author, hosting his own characters. Four slots. The nicest fit for a monorepo where one component clearly leads.

Name	Designation	Eponym
`quijote`	Mu Arae b	Don Quixote
`dulcinea`	Mu Arae c	Don Quixote
`rocinante`	Mu Arae d	Don Quixote
`sancho`	Mu Arae e	Don Quixote

Lich - `PSR B1257+12`

Planets orbiting a pulsar, named for the undead. Three slots. Reserve for security tooling, chaos testing, or anything that reanimates state.

Name	Designation	Eponym
`draugr`	PSR B1257+12 A	Norse myth
`poltergeist`	PSR B1257+12 B	German folklore
`phobetor`	PSR B1257+12 C	Greek myth

Titawin - `Upsilon Andromedae`

Muslim astronomers. Three slots.

Name	Designation	Eponym
`saffar`	Upsilon Andromedae b	Muslim astronomer
`samh`	Upsilon Andromedae c	Muslim astronomer
`majriti`	Upsilon Andromedae d	Muslim astronomer

The fifth system, Chalawan (47 Ursae Majoris), holds Taphao Thong and Taphao Kaew. Both are two words, so both fail rule 1. Listed for completeness, not for use.

Pairs - one star, one planet

Single-planet systems where the star and planet are thematically linked. Take both when a project has exactly one main component, or take just the planet.

Star	Planet	The link
`solaris`	`pirx`	both Stanisław Lem
`aniara`	`isagel`	Isagel is a character in Aniara
`absolutno`	`makropulos`	both Karel Čapek
`sterrennacht`	`nachtwacht`	Starry Night and The Night Watch
`komondor`	`puli`	both Hungarian dog breeds
`muspelheim`	`surt`	Surt rules Muspelheim
`tuiren`	`bran`	Bran is Tuiren’s son
`amansinaya`	`haik`	Haik succeeded Aman Sinaya as god of the sea
`lerna`	`iolaus`	Iolaus helped Heracles at Lerna
`gnomon`	`astrolabos`	ancient instruments; IAU writes Astrolábos
`tonatiuh`	`meztli`	Aztec sun and moon
`xihe`	`wangshu`	Chinese sun and moon
`noquisi`	`awohali`	Cherokee star and eagle
`danfeng`	`qingluan`	two Chinese mythical birds
`dilmun`	`tylos`	two ancient names for Bahrain
`uruk`	`babylonia`	Mesopotamia
`ebla`	`ugarit`	two ancient Syrian cities
`moriah`	`jebus`	two old names for Jerusalem
`petra`	`wadirum`	two Jordanian sites
`wattle`	`banksia`	two Australian plants
`mpingo`	`tanzanite`	Tanzanian tree and gemstone
`helvetios`	`dimidium`	the first planet found around a Sun-like star
`libertas`	`fortitudo`	two Latin virtues
`veritate`	`spe`	truth and hope
`musica`	`arion`	Arion was a poet and musician
`edasich`	`hypatia`	star of Draco, and the astronomer
`stribor`	`veles`	two Slavic deities
`tangra`	`bendida`	two Thracian/Bulgarian deities
`kaveh`	`kavian`	kavian means “relating to Kaveh”

Singles - standalone tools

Planet names worth using on their own, when there is no suite and no pairing to honour.

Name	Designation	Eponym
`dagon`	Fomalhaut b	Levantine fertility god
`caleuche`	HD 164604 b	ghost ship of Chilote mythology
`hiisi`	HAT-P-38b	sacred places and evil spirits, Finnic myth
`trimobe`	HD 153950 b	rich ogre of Malagasy mythology
`boinayel`	WASP-6b	Taíno god of rain
`aumatex`	HIP 12961 b	Taíno god of the wind
`smertrios`	HD 149026 b	Gallic deity equated with Mars
`thestias`	Pollux b	Greek myth
`arkas`	41 Lyncis b	son of Zeus and Callisto
`eburonia`	HD 49674 b	the Eburones, a Celtic tribe
`viculus`	WASP-32b	”little village” in Latin
`equiano`	HD 43197 b	Olaudah Equiano, writer and abolitionist
`finlay`	BD−17 63 b	Carlos Finlay, Cuban epidemiologist
`onasilos`	HD 168746 b	oldest recorded doctor in Cyprus
`krotoa`	WASP-62b	translator and educator, early Cape Colony
`alef`	HAT-P-9b	first letter of the Hebrew alphabet
`lete`	HD 102195 b	Lethe, the underworld river of fog
`beirut`	HD 192263 b	capital of Lebanon
`bagan`	HD 18742 b	ancient city in Myanmar
`tadmor`	Gamma Cephei Ab	old name for Palmyra
`eiger`	HD 130322 b	peak in the Bernese Alps
`halla`	8 UMi b	highest mountain in South Korea
`levantes`	HD 95086 b	easterly Mediterranean winds
`vytis`	HAT-P-40b	national symbol of Lithuania
`tryzub`	HAT-P-15b	trident on Ukraine’s coat of arms
`guarani`	HD 23079 b	the Guaraní people
`sissi`	HAT-P-14b	character from the 1955 Austrian film
`magor`	HAT-P-2b	ancestor of the Magyars
`iztok`	WASP-38b	character from a Fran Saleški Finžgar novel
`viriato`	HD 45652 b	Lusitanian leader who resisted Rome
`mastika`	HD 179949 b	”gem” in Malay
`baiduri`	HD 20868 b	”opal” in Malay
`khomsa`	HD 192699 b	palm-shaped amulet, Tunisia
`ramajay`	HD 96063 b	”to sing and make music”, Trinidadian Creole
`fold`	HD 109246 b	”earth/soil” in Old Icelandic
`abol`	HD 16175 b	first round of the Ethiopian coffee ceremony

Retired names

Two named planets turned out not to exist. Good slots for software you have archived rather than deleted.

Name	Designation	What happened
`orbitar`	42 Draconis b	2025: the signal was the host star, not a planet
`dagon`	Fomalhaut b	2020: a debris cloud from an asteroid collision

dagon appears in the singles table too. Use it either way, not both.

Notes

A good number of the 2019 names come from living languages and cultures — krotoa, awasis, guarani. Worth using for something you would put your name on, not for a scratch script you will delete on Friday.

The full IAU list runs to 164 names across the 2015, 2019, and 2022 NameExoWorlds campaigns. The tables here are the subset that survives rule 1. If you need more, go to the source — but the bar stays the same.

Software Naming Scheme