Sweet NJayzus, there be a lot of tools out there for a .NET developer. And the Coding NHillbilly has finally gotten around to doing an ninventory of them on his machine and collecting them into one place for quick and easy nmanipulation on his nlaptop.

And might I suggest to fledgeling tool developers that you forego the apparent nstandard when naming your gift to the nworld.

I...errr...mock but this is something I've given some thought to. Down in the Bahamas, acronymic company and product names are the norm. Which in some sense is good because the actual names are so generic, you need an acronym to tell one from the other. Some examples: Data Systems International (DSI), Computer Information Services Ltd (CIS), Micronet, International Private Banking Systems (IPBS), Custom Computers. These names may be somewhat descriptive but frankly, they're boring as hell. I tried for eight solid months to get the creators of IPBS to change their name to Flamingo but they weren't having none of that.

So put some thought into your company/product name. But don't get hung up on any hidden meaning of the actual word(s). It's not like people will even think about the company name past the end of your introduction. If you're good enough, the name will eventually come with its own connotations apart from the word's underlying meaning. To wit: Java, Sun, Amazon, Google, eBay, and almost any car name you can think of (what exactly does "civic" mean anyway?). I installed Rhino.Mocks over NMock based on its name alone.

Various members of my family have long owned companies named Suvius. It's a name I love. Yes, it has some relation to Mt. Vesuvius and if you want to draw connections to the power of volcanos, go blow it our ear. I like it because it rolls off the tongue easily, it's a (semi-) made up word, it has lots of round letters (which makes for nicer logos), it starts with the same letters that it ends with (bonus: they're reversed), and if you want to get REALLY touchy-feely, it ends with "us". Eventually, I'll get the name of the company in lights but until then, it's just a cool-sounding word to me.

Semi-related sidenote: My dad and brothers are now the owners and operators of a fast-growing land surveying company called Trilogy Surveys. The reasoning behind the name? We liked the sound of it. As luck would have it, they've bought out another company called Lennon Surveys so now they get to call themselves Lennon Trilogy. Here's hoping they don't get the wrath of Yoko descended upon western Manitoba...