An Apple by Any Other Name
==========================

  By Paul Robert Lloyd
  <https://v2.paulrobertlloyd.com/2009/02/apple_cultivars>
  Friday, 27 February 2009

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][1] 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:

<img class="left" src="/_assets/2009/02/iconmacintosh.png" alt="Macintosh hard drive icon"/>**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.

<img class="left" src="/_assets/2009/02/icontimemachine.png" alt="Time Machine device icon"/>**Cameo**: My back-up drive is named after the [Cameo][2] 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.

<img class="left" src="/_assets/2009/02/iconipodnano.png" alt="iPod nano icon"/>**Elstar**: My iPod Nano is named after [a Dutch cultivar][3], a cross between Golden Delicious and Ingrid Marie apples. I just liked the name in this particular case!

<img class="left" src="/_assets/2009/02/iconipod.png" alt="iPod icon"/>**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.

<img class="left" src="/_assets/2009/02/iconiphone.png" alt="iPhone Icon"/>**Braeburn**: My iPhone is the newest device to be connected to my Mac. The description of the [Braeburn cultivar][4] on Wikipedia seemed to fit well here: 'becoming increasingly popular in the UK'.

<img class="left" src="/_assets/2009/02/iconnetwork.png" alt="Network Icon"/>**Discovery**: Needing a name for my Mac for when it appears on different networks, I choose [Discovery][5] as it shares a name with [HMS Discovery][6], 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][7]. After all, there are plenty to choose from!

  [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McIntosh_(apple)
  [2]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameo_(apple)
  [3]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elstar
  [4]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braeburn
  [5]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_(apple)
  [6]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Discovery
  [7]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_apple_cultivars