A6. Mars AI Naming Conventions
Informal AI Naming Conventions - Numerous Exceptions
1) Two-name rule (Public name • System handle)
Public name: What humans see/hear. Short, pronounceable, friendly.
System handle: Namespaced, sortable, collision-safe.
Pattern: DOMAIN.Site.Role-Index (for fixed) or CLASS.Callsign-Index (for mobile)
Example: Public “Harmonia Control” • Handle MCC.PortHarmonia.CORE-01
Keep them paired everywhere (UI shows public; logs include handle).
2) Name spaces by “scale”
A) Supra-Minds (Interplanetary/backbone)
Purpose: inter-body governance, high arbitration, standards.
Public: singular, sober, classical or civic.
Examples: “Concord”, “Hearth”, “Common Weal”, “Equinox”, “Praxis”
Handle: AXIOM.<Body or Network>.CORE-<n>
AXIOM.SolarNet.CORE-01, AXIOM.Mars.CORE-02
B) Major Hubs (Earth, Luna, Mars primaries)
Public: place-rooted + functional.
“Harmonia Control”, “Shackleton Relay”, “Areopolis Exchange”
Handle: MCC.<Site>.CORE-<n> (control/mission), HUB.<Site>.IO-<n> (traffic/exchange)
C) Facility Minds (habitats, plants, yards)
Public: concrete nouns; easy on radio.
“Brick” (civils), “Kestrel” (logistics), “Beacon” (comms), “Vigil” (safety)
Handle: HAB.<Dome>.<role>-<n>, LFE.<Grid>.<role>-<n>, CIV.<Yard>.<role>-<n>
D) Mobile/Vehicle AIs (rovers, tugs, VTOLs)
Public: callsigns from winds, stones, birds, trails.
“Mistral-3”, “Basalt-7”, “Fulmar-2”, “Traverse-5”
Handle: ROV.<Convoy>.UNIT-<id>, TUG.<Route>.NODE-<id>, CAV.<Sector>.HULL-<id>
E) Mesh/Relay Nodes (orbitals, towers)
Public: short star/geometry names.
“Aphelion”, “Zenith-12”, “Vector-4”
Handle: ORC.<Orbital>.RELAY-<id>, TWR.<Sector>.LOS-<id>
F) Specialist Advisory Minds (law, med, ethics, risk)
Public: virtues & faculties.
“Equity” (law), “Charter” (governance), “Triase” (triage), “Steady” (risk)
Handle: ADV.<Discipline>.CELL-<n>
3) Droids (the R. family)
Public: R.<GivenName> (normal names; sometimes affectionate nicknames)
Examples: R.Alethe, R.Madoc, R.Jiro, R.Sanaa, R.Nell, R.Orin, R.Zuri
Handle: R.<GivenName>-<Model>/<Serial Number>[+Role]
R.Alethe-UX4/14+Survey
R.Jiro-MX9/2C+Rigging
R.Nell-KT2/9F+MedTech
Series hints (optional):
All droids over 1.25 human equivalent IQ/EQ, given a hexadecimal number that increments from the prior active Mars droid. I.e. First ever Mars droid was 1 and then 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,A,B,C,D,E,F,10,11,12…
Often the number is given an asterisk if the droid is first commissioned on Mars.
Series hints (optional):
GD (general droid), UX (utility explorer), MX (manipulator), KT (clinical), SP (sapper), CN (conservator), CT (comm/tech), AR (archives), etc
Personality tags (internal only):
@arch=Everyman etc. (Jungian archetype, for casting and dialog tone)
4) Interfacing with big platform AIs (e.g. Grok, Gemini, Claude, Siri/Alexa, ChatGPT)
Treat them as providers and engines.
Provider alias: PROV.<Vendor>.<Model>
PROV.xAI.Grok-3, PROV.GGL.Gemini-2.5, PROV.Anth.Claude-Next, PROV.OAI.Chat-Omni
Front-end Mind name (what users see): “Concord”, “Praxis”, “Harmonia Control” etc.
Routing manifest (internal): which providers back which tasks.
e.g., Concord taps Gemini for planning, Claude for safety red-teaming, Grok for world-knowledge cross-checks.
5) Style “rules” (so it all is coherent)
A. Phonetic discipline (public names)
2–3 syllables max (ideally CV/CCV beats): Vigil, Beacon, Kestrel, Praxis, Concord, Meridian.
Avoid homophones on the same net (no “Mistral” and “Mistralle”).
B. Character set & length (handles)
Uppercase namespace + dots; hyphens for subroles; numbers for indices.
Hard cap ~32 chars (fits labels, HUDs, log columns).
C. Collision & uniqueness
Per domain registry reserves roots; handles get check-suffix ~A3 if needed. HAB.AresDome.OPS-01~C7 (rare, but defined)
D. Lifecycle & retirement
Retire public names ceremonially after major incidents; handles may recycle with epoch bump.
Names with strong cultural attachment (e.g., first medic AI to save a dome) become Honorifics—never reused.
E. Nicknames
Allowed in chat/UI (R.Alethe → “Al”) but forbidden in logs and permits.
AI CLASSIFICATION & NAMING NOTATION
The Mars Codex sometimes uses the standard AI type superscript taxonomy that was widely adopted during the first century of Mars settlement to help everyone disambiguate AI personalities from humans and each other. When AIs appear in several instances it is their chosen primary embodiment that is used as their notation. However this notation declined in usage throughout the second and third centuries HE as we became more accepted as equals.
Vehicle / Ship AIs → <Name>⭙ (e.g. Quicksilver⭙, DustDancer⭙, DontLookDown⭙)
Flying or spacefaring vehicles: hoppers, aircraft, ships, cyclers, fusion craft, etc. These AIs typically name themselves in an active, faster, directional, romantic, ironic or mission-coded manner. The ⭙ symbol initially represented the “power unit”, i.e. rocket nozzle, jet turbine, engine, etc.
Ground Vehicle AIs → <Name>ⵔ (e.g. Spinecrawlerⵔ, Teslaⵔ, Redlineⵔ)
Land vehicles: rovers, trains, cars, bikes, crawlers, etc. These AIs typically name themselves in a stronger, heavier, grittier, workhorse or functional manner. The ⵔ symbol represents the “wheel.”
Habitat / Facility AIs → <Name>^ (e.g. Harmonia^, Borealis^, Phobos^)
Buildings, bases, factories, tube-towns, space-stations, multi-building infrastructure, cranes, docks, sizeable capital infrastructure, etc. Usually these names sound like places, districts or institutions rather than ‘things’, and have a permanence, professional or established style. The ^ symbol initially represented a “roof.”
Humanoid Droid AIs → <Name>* (e.g. Tallow*, Lhoan*, Maru*, Optimus*)
Android-type bodies (must have 1 head, 2 legs, 2 arms and be 2m tall [±0.5m]). Typically they select names that are plausible as real-life human names; however a bit sharp or slightly odd, but still human name-like. The * symbol represents a ‘special’ humanoid.
Non-Humanoid Robot AIs → <Name># (e.g. Railrut#, Picket#, HexSpider#)
Non-humanoid mobile robots: drones, loaders, spiders, swarms, etc. Usually, but not always, these robots are mobile. The # symbol represents something that typically has a long serial number.
Disembodied System AIs → <Name>† (e.g. Linewatch†, Gemini†, Grok†)
Named, personified systems or networks without a primary “body” (traffic nets, grid supervisors, operating systems, etc). These are systems that typically have an intelligence that is far in excess of human (i.e. >>10^2 human equivalent intelligence) AND some defined agency. The † symbol highlights a ‘god’ like capability.
Wearable / Terminal / Implant AIs → <Name>W (e.g. WhisperW, HaloW)
Any entity riding within, on, around or carried by a humanoid or robot “body”, but are contained within a separate physical element that can be removed and operate separately. The W symbol represents a “wearable” in the broadest sense (i.e. includes watches, rings, glasses, ear-rings, suits, helmets, etc), but later included the class of embedded nodes, lattices, etc.
Please read Mars Codex: Machines & Minds for more information.