An Apple by Any Other Name

Earlier this month I wrote about my love of organisation and systems. One such example is how I name the devices I attach to my Mac.

Macintosh has been associated with Apple since the launch of its original all-in-one computer in 1984, reportedly named after the pocket-sized McIntosh apple cultivar. So when it comes to providing names for the external devices I plug into my Mac (backup drives, iPods and my iPhone for example) it seemed like a good idea to follow this convention:

Macintosh: Internal hard drives on new Macs are labelled ‘Macintosh HD’ by default, yet I always found the HD suffix unnecessary, so I remove it.

Cameo: My back-up drive is named after the Cameo cultivar. I choose this name as it also refers to actors making short appearances as themselves in film and television, and this seemed to fit somehow.

Elstar: My iPod Nano is named after a Dutch cultivar, a cross between Golden Delicious and Ingrid Marie apples. I just liked the name in this particular case!

Fireside: The iPod I owned prior to Elstar was named ‘Fireside’, a name chosen as it evoked the idea of listening to music by a fire.

Braeburn: My iPhone is the newest device to be connected to my Mac. The description of the Braeburn cultivar on Wikipedia seemed to fit well here: ‘becoming increasingly popular in the UK’.

Discovery: Needing a name for my Mac for when it appears on different networks, I choose Discovery as it shares a name with HMS Discovery, and the idea of my Mac docking with different networks around the world.

If you’re facing a similar problem finding naming conventions for use on a Mac, why not go with this list of apple cultivars. After all, there are plenty to choose from!