History Main / NamesGivenToComputers

* '''Human Names''' - used both as a source of ironic humor and as a way to indicate that an AI is truely sapient. Often overlaps with the Acronym convention.

* '''Names based off of the type of computer'''- essentially the modern form of the "Automatic Computer" name. For instance, Texas Tech's primary supercomputer is based on a Beowulf Cluster Stucture, and so was named Hrothgar after the king in Beowulf.

** Not many people remember, but his proper factory name was '''SAINT''' Number 5. SAINT standing for: Strategic Artifically Intelligent Nuclear Transport.

* Hex, the ClockPunk MagiTek computer of Unseen University in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novels. In RealLife, it's a play on "hex", meaning spell, and "hexidecimal". InUniverse, it seems to have that name because that's the sort of name a computer should have, and much of Hex's construction was based on this principle, even if the wizards didn't know ''why'', or even what a computer ''was''.
* While ''Literature/IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream'' only has one computer, he's given several names; first Allied Mastercomputer, then Adaptive Manipulator, then Aggresive Menance. Finally, it calls itself AM; I think, therefore I AM.

** Speaking of ''Franchise/MassEffect'', ''FanFic/OnTheShouldersOfGiants'' almost universally employs name without meaning, ranging from fanciful to [[ShoutOut historically significant]] to indistinguishable from an organic being's given name.

* '''"Automatic Computer" names''': A theme literally as old as ENIAC and popularized by Univac. Mostly a ForgottenTrope outside of {{Retraux}} works. [[note]][[Creator/IsaacAsimov Multivac]], ComicBook/{{Brainiac}}, KurtVonnegut's EPICAC[[/note]]

* ''Film/IronMan'' has several robots with names from Dummy and Butterfingers to JARVIS.
* WOPR is the name of the military supercomputer in ''Film/WarGames'', standing for War Operation Plan Response. It was intended by the writers to be a more amusing name than that of NORAD's real-life SIOP (Single Integrated Operation Plan), although SIOP was a series of documents rather than a computer.

* The real-life [[CthulhuMythos Shub-Internet]] was named after a joke in the JargonFile and operated as a server in the Pentagon for a number of years. Obviously a very silly name without meaning, relating to the Internet's origins as a US Defense Department project.

* {{Reddit}} allows users to name its servers if the user purchased Reddit Gold on a day Reddit hit its Reddit Gold goal. The names tend to reference pop-culture, recent news, memes, or puns.

* ''VideoGame/TheTuringTest'': The AI you interacts with is called "Tom", which stands for "Technical Operations Machine". At one point Tom claims it has a twin AI called "Michael" the ISA uses for testing.

* From ''VideoGame/{{Battleborn}}''

!!Examples in fiction:

* ''First Universal Cybernetic-Kinetic Ultramicro-Programmer'' or [[FunWithAcronyms FUCKUP]] in {{Literature/Illuminatus}}.
* Hex, the ClockPunk MagiTek computer of Unseen University in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novels. In RealLife, it's a play on "hex", meaning spell, and "hexidecimal". InUniverse, it seems to have that name because that's the sort of name a computer should have, and much of Hex's construction was based on this principle, even if the wizards didn't know ''why'', or even what a computer ''was''.
* While ''Literature/IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream'' only has one computer, he's given several names; first Allied Mastercomputer, then Adaptive Manipulator, then Aggresive Menance. Finally, it calls itself AM; I think, therefore I AM.
* RA Lafferty has the recurring character of Epiktistes the Ktistec Machine.

* Albums by the band Big Black credited their TR-606 drum machine as a member of the band named "Roland." Later when the bass player quit to enter law school the band's press release stated the band was breaking up because Roland quit due to "creative differences."

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!! Examples In Real Life

->"It's called the '''[[AC:Flint Lockwood Diatonic Super Mutating Dynamic Food Replicator]]'''. Or, for short - the ''[[NoPronunciationGuide "flihsivdefuhr"]]''.

* '''[[FunWithAcronyms Acronyms]]''': By use of {{Shoehorned First Letter}}s if necessary.[[note]][[AC:[[Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey Heuristically programmed [=ALgorithmic=] computer 9000]], [[VideoGame/{{Portal}} Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System]]]][[/note]]

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* '''[[FunWithAcronyms Acronyms]]''': By use of {{Shoehorned First Letter}}s if necessary.[[note]][[AC:[[TwoThousandOne Heuristically programmed [=ALgorithmic=] computer 9000]], [[VideoGame/{{Portal}} Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System]]]][[/note]]

* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' uses a mixture: UNSC [=AIs=] mostly have either regular names like Serina and/or history/mythology-themed ones like Cortana, named after the sword of Holger the Dane from ''Literature/TheSongOfRoland'' (thus also a nod to ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'''s Durandal). Forerunner [=AIs=] all have slightly conceptual "adjective + noun" names like Guilty Spark and Mendicant Bias.

* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' uses a mixture of names without meaning and mundane names -- UNSC [=AIs=] often have historical or mythological-themed names, with Cortana being named after the sword of Holger the Dane from ''Literature/TheSongOfRoland'' (thus a nod to ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'''s Durandal), but the Forerunner [=AIs=] have "adjective + noun" names like Guilty Spark and Mendicant Bias.

* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' uses a mixture of names without meaning and mundane names -- Cortana, the UNSC AI, is named after the sword of Holger the Dane from ''Literature/TheSongOfRoland'' (thus a nod to ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'''s Durandal), but the Forerunner AIs have rather mundane, vaguely religious names like Guilty Spark and Mendicant Bias.

* In {{VideoGame/Marathon}}, there doesn't seem to be a theme: among them, Durandal (Roland's sword from "Song of Roland"), Tycho (presumably after the astronomer), Thoth (Egyptian mythology), and Leela (pre-dates Futurama by nearly a decade)

* The first ISP in Russia, demos.ru, went online in 1989 and was used, among other things, as a news relay during the August Coup in 1991. It shares a name with DEMOS, a Unix clone developed at the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy in the early 80s; if demos.ru was actually a DEMOS system at the time, that would make it a rather lame mix of acronym and functional name. (But one with one hell of a history behind it.) [[note]]But even then, Soviet hackers always had a better sense of humor than their bosses; the original name for DEMOS was UNAS, which translates to "at ours" in Russian; see, "at theirs" in Russian is [[IncrediblyLamePun u nix...]][[/note]]
* NASA's Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers were [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Exploration_Rover#Naming_of_Spirit_and_Opportunity named in a student essay competition]]; the winner was a third grader, originally from Russia, named Sofi Collis.

[[RealityIsUnrealistic While it initially wasn't prevalent in fiction]], writers and producers soon realized that naming computers was common practice, and proceeded to ramp it UpToEleven it to make computer and robot names substantially more dramatic than groupings like [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Cleo, Tony and Jules]] [[note]]mail servers at Boston College during the mid-1990s[[/note]].

* Over its long run, ''Series/DoctorWho'' has been all over this trope, from a war computer called [[Myth/NorseMythology WOTAN]] to the utilitarian Matrix (Gallifrey's equivalent of Franchise/StarTrek's Memory Alpha) to mastermind AIs like BOSS and Mentalis and functionally-named robots like Kamelion and K-9. Ironically, arguably the most important AI in the series, the Doctor's TARDIS, has no known name at all.
** According to series 6, it's [[spoiler: "Sexy".]]
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' uses a mixture of names without meaning and mundane names -- Cortana, the UNSC AI, is named after the sword of Holger the Dane from ''Literature/TheSongOfRoland'' (thus a nod to ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'''s Durandal), but the Forerunner AIs have rather mundane, vaguely religious names like Guilty Spark and Mendicant Bias.
* As mentioned above, ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' is based around a human's dealings with the master control computer of a giant laboratory complex, who is named [=GLaDOS=]. [=GLaDOS=] is obsessed with conducting science experiments and has a skewed sense of morality. It is implied that she killed all other humans in the complex, though likely as a self defense measure to prevent them switching her off.
** In addition to [[spoiler:[=GLaDOS=]'s return]], ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'' also features a major AI character named Wheatley, who is no more than a robotic ball who relies on transport rails or the player to take him where he needs to go.
* ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'''s [=AnthroPCs=] generally have personal names (like Winslow and Momo-tan), though Pintsize is a somewhat jocular functional name and one-shot character [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1105 PT410x]] (likely a serial number or, since [=PT410x=] was owner-constructed, a fanciful model number) eschews the very idea of a "slave name".
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'', in general, tends to be surprisingly mundane -- AIs tend to have personal names (Data, Lore, Vaal, Landru) or bear legacy names (Nomad, V[[spoiler:oya]]ger), and non-intelligent computers seldom have names at all. There is a scattering of model number, such as M-5 from the TOS episode "The Ultimate Computer". The Borg, though not computers, tend to have names/designations related to their location and function such as "Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix 01."
* The most intelligent IA in ''Webcomic/{{SSDD}}'' is called The Oracle, he has two purposes: predicting the future and improving his performance predicting the future.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheJetsons'' had a computer/robot named UNIBLAB and George's work computer, RUDI.
* Albums by the band Big Black credited their TR-606 drum machine as a member of the band named "Roland." Later when the bass player quit to enter law school the band's press release stated the band was breaking up because Roland quit due to "creative differences."
** Naming drum machines as if they were band members was not uncommon in bands of a certain vintage. Sisters of Mercy named theirs "Doktor Avalanche," and there's a persistent rumor (denied by the band) that "Echo" of Echo and the Bunnymen also refers to their electronic drummer.
* ''VideoGame/{{Half-Life 2}}'' and its expansions feature the burly robot "Dog". As the name implies, Dog was built to be a pet of Alyx Vance's. He understands human commands, but can not speak himself, communicating mostly through head gestures. Like a playful dog, Dog sometimes gets over excited and carried away and has to be told by Alyx to stop whatever he's doing.

* Doctor Blight on ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'' had MAL.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' has KAREN, Plankton's computer wife.

* In the classic computer game VideoGame/SystemShock, the villain is a corrupt AI computer named SHODAN, Sentient Hyper-Optimized Data Access Network. After being corrupted by the player character and developing a malevolent AI, SHODAN eliminates her human masters and begins a scheme to escape her space station home and transmit her personality into the computers of planet earth.

* EDI in ''Franchise/MassEffect'' is an acronym, with her name standing for Enhanced Defense Intelligence.
** [[spoiler: Legion]], meanwhile, is both a fanciful-but-appropriate functional name. Since Geth had no concept of individuality, EDI contrived the MeaningfulName from Biblical mythology. While it is indeed an [[AwesomeMcCoolname awesome name]], it was intended to draw the parallel as a way to understand the Geth's gestalt consciousness.
** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', [[spoiler: Dr. Eva Core]] is named after a deceased companion of The Illusive Man, with the implication that she was something of a ReplacementGoldfish for the original.
** Speaking of ''Franchise/MassEffect'', ''FanFic/OnTheShouldersOfGiants'' almost universally employs name without meaning, ranging from fanciful to [[ShoutOut historically significant]] to indistinguishable from an organic being's given name.
* Creator/{{IBM}}'s first famous TabletopGame/{{Chess}}-playing computer, Deep Thought, was named after the computer that designed Earth in ''Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy''; IBM's later Deep Blue, the independently-developed Deep Fritz, and IBM's Blue Gene supercomputing products carried on the naming theme.
* WOPR is the name of the military supercomputer in ''Film/WarGames'', standing for War Operation Plan Response. It was intended by the writers to be a more amusing name than that of NORAD's real-life SIOP (Single Integrated Operation Plan), although SIOP was a series of documents rather than a computer.
* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'': The main AIs are named after the Greek alphabet. The first to be created is named Alpha, but the others' names are seemingly picked at random from the list, including Delta, Theta, Omega, Sigma...
** There's also F.I.L.S.S., Freelancer Integrated Logistics and Security System, pronounced "Phyllis." [[spoiler:Otherwise known as Sheila.]]
* There are not a lot of [=AIs=] in the Literature/WhateleyUniverse because of the ongoing threat of The Palm, but Loophole has an illegal [=AI=] named Carmen. Most disturbingly, the voice and holographic image for Carmen are modeled after [[spoiler: the mutant who raped her.]]
* CABAL ('''C'''omputer '''A'''ssisted '''B'''iologically '''A'''ugmented '''L'''ifeform) in ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianSun'' and its expansion. As its name implies, it uses PeopleJars to power it and at the Nod ending of ''Firestorm'' it shows that [[spoiler: it's keeping Kane alive]]. There's also LEGION from the [[{{VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberiumWars}} third game's]] expansion ''Kane's Wrath'', with the acronym standing for "'''L'''ogarithmically '''E'''ngineered '''G'''overning '''I'''ntelligence '''O'''f '''N'''od".
* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': The three NERV mainframes are called Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar after the [[Literature/TheBible Three Wise Men]].

* Erwin from ''Webcomic/UserFriendly''. Overall benevolent, unless you're Steff the marketing VP. But, well, Steff's an asshole.
* ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob'' has a functional name: [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20070519.html Roofus the roof-repairing robot.]] And although it was nonsentient, there was also the [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20111101.html Ultra-Ballistaroid:]] a [[SteamPunk steam-powered]] [[TransformingMecha transforming]] [[SiegeEngines ballista]] [[{{Snowlems}} made of snow.]] [[SmartPeopleBuildRobots Molly built and named them.]]
* In {{VideoGame/Marathon}}, there doesn't seem to be a theme: among them, Durandal (Roland's sword from "Song of Roland"), Tycho (presumably after the astronomer), Thoth (Egyptian mythology), and Leela (pre-dates Futurama by nearly a decade)
* W.O.T.A.N. in ComicBook/LutherArkwright is the supercomputer used on parallel 00.00.00 to keep track of events on other parallels in TheMultiverse.
* The supercomputer ''Pinball/{{Xenon}}'' is a Type VI and has no meaning other than sounding exotic.
* RA Lafferty has the recurring character of Epiktistes the Ktistec Machine.
* T.W.I.T, the on-board computer of Fluff Catt's shuttle transporter in ''Radio/TheSpaceGypsyAdventures''. Ostensibly, the name stands for ''Terminal of Waveline Interception and Transmission''. In reality, Fluff calls it that because it ''is'' one!

* ''WesternAnimation/DefendersOfTheEarth'' has Dynak-X and Octon, both of whom regularly keep the Defenders or Ming (accordingly) informed of what is happening in the opposing camp.

* CABAL or '''C'''omputer '''A'''ssisted '''B'''iologically '''A'''ugmented '''L'''ifeform in ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianSun'' and its expansion. As its name implies, it uses PeopleJars to power it and at the Nod ending of ''Firestorm'' it shows that [[spoiler: it's keeping Kane alive]]. There's also LEGION from the [[{{VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberiumWars}} third game's]] expansion ''Kane's Wrath'' though it's never stated what the acronym means.

** '''[[FluffyTheTerrible ironically cute]] and/or [[{{Bathos}} completely absurd]]''' names like SesameStreet characters, brands of beer, and anime characters.

* Over its long run, ''Series/DoctorWho'' has been all over this trope, from a war computer called [[NorseMythology WOTAN]] to the utilitarian Matrix (Gallifrey's equivalent of Franchise/StarTrek's Memory Alpha) to mastermind AIs like BOSS and Mentalis and functionally-named robots like Kamelion and K-9. Ironically, arguably the most important AI in the series, the Doctor's TARDIS, has no known name at all.

* '''"Automatic Computer" names''': A theme literally as old as ENIAC and popularized by Univac. Mostly a ForgottenTrope outside of {{Retraux}} works. [[note]][[Creator/IsaacAsimov Multivac]], {{Brainiac}}, KurtVonnegut's EPICAC[[/note]]

* '''"Electronic Brain" names''': somewhat of an UndeadHorseTrope, possibly on its way to full resurrection by tropes like OrganicTechnology and WetWareCPU [[note]]{{Brainiac}}, [[Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy Deep Thought]], [[Franchise/{{Metroid}} Mother Brain]][[/note]]