I take too long coming up with hostnames, and using virtualization I’ve been installing lots of hosts recently. It’s hard to come up with a good name. I like them short (4-5 characters are easy to type) and memorable. A few examples of hostnames I’ve used in the past are dyad, koan, merk, zayin, alai and aeon. It would have been nice if there was a theme to these, but there isn’t one. They’re the result of random searches in dictionaries, on Morewords or wherever else. I like the idea of sticking to a theme so it’s easier to think of new hostnames when you need them.
In order to brainstorm ideas for myself and others, here’s a list of hostname categories. They work just as well for usernames too, in case you’re in the market for one.
Hostname categories
- Fish (or any animal)
- Shakespeare characters
- Greek gods
- Roman mythology
- Metals
- TV show / movie characters (e.g. Simpsons, Star Wars, Monty Python, Disney, Muppets, Loony Tunes, etc)
- Battles / Wars
- Oceans
- Rocks
- Car parts
- Pizza toppings
- U.S. Presidents
- Biblical characters
- Elements (but some are really long)
- Cities / States / Countries
- Street names
- Hobbits / Elves / Middle Earth / Fantasy / Science fiction
- Robots
- Painters
- Fruits
- Colors
- Music terminology
- Plants / Trees
- Sports teams
- Planets and other astronomical names
- Latin words
- Famous musicians / authors
- Spices
- Computer scientists
- Candy bars
- Transformers
- Peanuts characters
- Baby names
- Warcraft
- Other ideas
In case you’re wondering why they don’t all have links, I grew tired of searching for good ones 
If you already have a list of names and want to generate more, plug them in to Google Sets.
Note: Some of these ideas came from these sites.
