this post was submitted on 07 Mar 2025
221 points (97.8% liked)

Selfhosted

46685 readers
383 users here now

A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don't control.

Rules:

  1. Be civil: we're here to support and learn from one another. Insults won't be tolerated. Flame wars are frowned upon.

  2. No spam posting.

  3. Posts have to be centered around self-hosting. There are other communities for discussing hardware or home computing. If it's not obvious why your post topic revolves around selfhosting, please include details to make it clear.

  4. Don't duplicate the full text of your blog or github here. Just post the link for folks to click.

  5. Submission headline should match the article title (don’t cherry-pick information from the title to fit your agenda).

  6. No trolling.

Resources:

Any issues on the community? Report it using the report flag.

Questions? DM the mods!

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Hi fellow selfhosters!

What hostnames do you use for your systems and services?
And maybe why if it's an interesting story.

I'll start:
Steam Deck: krax
Smartphone: krix (once I get LineageOS installed again)
MiniPC: krux
Reserved for future use: krex & krox

Creative, I know. 😅 The names have no deeper meaning. The x comes from Linux. That's it.

I know some of you use god names of certain pantheons, such as Thor. But I find that boring as a lot of people are doing that.  
 
 

Now let your pants down and tell me all about

your embarrassing host names!

(page 2) 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

I Used Gondolin for my PC but after reinstalling I didn't put it back on and left the default

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

For my ProxMox server stuff I went with Lord of the Rings. The idea being the servers would be locations and the VMs would characters.

So right now my main server is Rivendell, and my PiHole on it is Gandalf ("You shall not pass!" Heehee eventually he'll have OPNSense too...)

If I get HomeAssistant at some point, obviously that'll be Samwise!

My Klipper VM for 3D printing is Celebrimbor, and the individual printers are named after various deities or myth figures of crafting/smithing/creativity like Brigid and Eitri.

For my client devices, I name my personal hardware after BattleTech mechs and that works well. It's intuitive because I can line up various roles and weight classes.

So my main desktop is Timberwolf, and my laptops are named after light mechs like Kitfox or Mistlynx.

Phones and tablets I don't really care about, they usually just name themselves after their model anyway. :)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

Naming my devices after stars. Specifically stars in Ursa-Major

Desktop: alioth Laptop: alkaid Smartphone: alcor SteamDeck: dubhe Server: sarir

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Mine are named after the penguins from the Madagascar movie : Skipper, Private, Kowalski, and Rico.

Unfortunately there's only four so I often supplement with a suffix. For example, I've got an old windows laptop kicking around that is "rico-w"

... I should really commit to a naming scheme with a wider array of options.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

I go for the unoriginal but oh so simple: location-type-No

So HL-SRV-01 is "homelab server no 1"

HS-DSK-02 is "House desktop no2"

NA-LPT-01 is "Not Applicable" because this is my admin laptop that I expect to move around a lot so I always treat it as high-risk.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

I named mine after Rocket League cars.

  • Octane (main desktop)
  • Breakout (laptop)
  • Dominus (laptop; older, larger)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago (2 children)

localhost

Why: for privacy/anonymity concerns

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

I started with pirates of the carribean, so...

blackpearl: main PC Redpearl: raspberry pi Purplepearl: refurbished laptop. The router is ... router

The phone is zizidane ("donkey dick" in French, also playword on Zinedine Zidane).

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

So many answers!!

First it was from planets from Ursula Le Guin's Hainish cycle.

Now it's the names of birds visiting my feeder: chickadee, titmouse, mockingbird, etc.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

This is the most solar punk answer ever! XD Love it. That's really neat. I struggle so much with naming schemes.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago
[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

I have three Proxmox nodes named: acid1, freebones, and a partially decommissioned node aptly named pve

acid1 was named from a sticker I got in a big collection. I was extra sold on the name when I did some research into acid1 tests.

freebones is from an inside joke from a GPT3.5 bot I terribly finetuned using my friend groups entire chat history. At one point the bot randomly said “algebra: you get free bones” and I kind of just ran with that

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

I have node named pve too. Small world.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)
  • Knowledge - Desktop
  • Enlighten - Laptop
  • Insanity - Server
  • Madness - Router
[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Gotta say, from what I've heard from the trenches, "insanity" and "madness" sound like fantastic names for printers or print servers, but the router also makes perfect sense! Lol

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (3 children)

I've named my last few computers after planets, with disks named after moons.

When I worked at Microsoft they had all kinds of clusters - OurGang with Spanky, Darla, Alfalfa... Addams with Gomez etc, Disney with Mickey, etc.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Same, all celestial names.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago

Nice. I might copy your idea.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I'm similar, but it's internal drives are planets, while external drives are moons.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

When I run out of the solar system I'm going to move on to Star Wars.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I use the most boring names: LASTNAME-LAPTOP LASTNAME-PHONE LASTNAME-SERVER LASTNAME-ROUTER

But, living in tight suburban spaces, I'm never confused whether a device is mine or somebody else's.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Me too: firstname-device_model

alice-laptop_XPS

bob-cell_i12

I feel so boring!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

Shit. Here I thought I was creative.

I use my alias butter. With either the device or the OS if I'm dual booting or distrohopping.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

I use League of Legends regions. Except for one of them which is not a region but is called "lantern" after the Thresh's lantern in which souls are trapped.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

I went with Willow related naming.

My main server and NAS is Madmartigan. Proxmox server is Willow. Headless gaming machine is Sorsha. Bedroom/office laptop is Elora Danan Living room laptop is High Aldwin Then two raspberry Pi's named Rool and Franjean.

I'm not even into Willow that much, I just wanted to find a world of characters I liked.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

I don't have a whole network setup like the rest of you guys, but I've been naming my desktop pc's SHODAN ever since I built my first one. Secondary/partner's pc is named XERXES. I'll probably never change them.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I usually name my devices after Greek gods and godesses; Artemis, Hermes, Metis, Athena, Apollo etc.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

Shit I thought I was so damn novel. Blast you.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Norbert, Norbina, Morbert, Morbina, Hassio, Nassio

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

I use characters from whichever book I'm reading at the time. Examples:

  • Arya: From ASOIAF, a small but powerful Ultrabook
  • Cthulhu: From HP Lovecraft, a huge 17" laptop
  • Horus: From the Horus Heresy books, A powerful laptop
  • Binky: Death's white horse from discworld, a white desktop
  • Peaches: A rat that always carries a book with her. My home server
[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

My devices are named after planets from Doctor Who: mondas, telos, skaro, villengard.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

I use zerg units.

  • NAS is named Nydus
  • Homelab with a GPU is Hydralisk
  • Jail instance that I can use for random cron jobs is Drone
[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

"Scale with more ProxMox nodes? Don't you mean

S̸̡̗͉̰̭̬͙̲̩̖̫͔̹̓͛̓̈́̋̈́̊̂̕͡P̶̫̱̜͌́̒̐̄̈́́͐̒̅̆̎͋́͘A̴͙̬͇̐̋̓̋̇̋̒̏̀̀͒͡W̷̡̧̙̭̫̅̐͂̿̋̔̏͗͗̔̄͌̈́͝N̷̡̨̙͉̜̲̗̽͆̊̒̽̐̏̾̇̊̋̓̎͝ ̷̛̟͗̈́Ṃ̸̛͖̤̖̐̇́́̏̐́̋Ơ̶̼̤̣̊̎̔͑̈̈́̇̊͝A̸̧̢͇̣̰̫̙̼͈͈͈͉̼͙̻͑̽̿̊̌͝Ŗ̵̜̦͇̲̜̼͕̞̮̱̝̬̯̓͒̀͛̅͐̌͡͠ͅ ̵̧̺͕̖̘̟̭̥̳̪͖̗̤̞̎̈́̔͊͝O̴͓̼̥͆̈́̓̓͗̐̆̐́̀͂̕V̵̡͎͈͈̗̞̺̭̘͓̬̻̦̙͉̿̎ͅE̷̓̃̄̿̓̒̈́̇͋̑͘ͅŖ̵̛͖̣̼̘̜̹̻̜͍͉̫͍̞̉͆́̐̍̓̊̈͜L̴̛͉̜̩̞͇͕̞̟͎̱͛̇̎̓͝ͅO̸̡̧̢̯̭̟̝̺̩͔̬̜̼͚̬̽́̇̃̌̏̎̏́́̓͒̅̓͘R̷̨̫͍̹̗̮̹̯͆͗̕ͅD̶̨̡̪̼͕͇̻̲͊͑́͋̈̈́̔̅͠S̷̥̼̘̾̽̆̿̃̈́̾͆̾̏͝͡???"

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 months ago (1 children)

My phone's name is "Samsung Smart Fridge™" because I think it's hilarious if someone is looking at hotspots or network info and go "what the hell is a fridge doing here-"

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

That's hilarious. Now I wanna set up a Wi-Fi hotspot with that SSID at a local library or something for lulz.

Something like "LG Dishwasher".

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

cooking-phasers

baconaxe

foot-therapy

Are my current guys.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

Solar System objects for my local network and names of extra solar objects for my offside servers. With all the moons and named trans neptunian objects in the solar system I so far had no issues finding a hostname candidate.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

Colour + noun:

  • redbug
  • bluecar
  • yellowboat
[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

My laptop is called xontros-gatos, which in my native language means fat-cat. Similarly, my server is called server-cat, a small laptop that I have for testing stuff is called small-cat and a new laptop that I just got is called fatter-cat.

I LIKE CATS I LIKE CATS I LIKE CATS I LIKE CATS I LIKE CATS I LIKE CATS I LIKE CATS I LIKE CATS

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

I bet your whole network is connected by CAT. :P

load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›