Phoenix needs a new name

[rickmccl]

I guess "The Phoenix Web Browser" will not cut it, nor "the browser formerly known as Phoenix".

Short, pronounceable, nonesoteric, descriptive, yet still mythological:

WebZeus

"King of the Internet." Or, if you prefer technical accuracy, "King of the Gods of the Internet."

[echu888]

Vôlgenzæn

That's awesome! Vôlgenzæn for president ... and as for the rest of the post, well, i agree.

No, it's not. But it's not GOOD either (sorry).

yeah yeah i know. it was offered up in jest.

[scratch]

No offense is meant by this post, and I know a lot of you realise this already, but it seems to me that Phoenix is the first Mozilla-based browser that really stands a chance of getting adopted by Real People (as opposed to us geeky tech people who try every half-baked open source app in existence.)
Because it's so newbie-friendly, I'd really really really hate to see it get renamed to something incredibly geeky and esoteric, such as Leetnix, WVX3, Mozillionairo, Vôlgenzæn or what-have-you. Unfortunately, what makes these names attractive to developers (uniqueness, difficulty in comprehension, 1337ness, whatever it is, that is exactly the kind of 'vibes' which will stop the average person from even trying the product, or remembering its name for more than two seconds. I do not want to have to SPELL the name of the browser when i recommend someone use it. I don't care what the name actually ends up being, (tho my vote so far is for Firebird)... just please make it easy to pronounce, obvious spelling, and have at least somewhat relevant web-connotations for Joe Six-Pack. I think Firebird meets all these requirements, and I suspect it would be quite a while before GM notices the trademark conflict, if they ever did and or cared.

just my 2¢

-gyo

How about suxorzj00? ;]

[feepcreature]

How about we pick a name like salamander, register the trademark, then use the UDRP to grab the name from the cybersquatters who are pointing it at their generic search engine? It's not like the name is actually being used for anything useful.

Just a thought...

Or we could just ask the owners of salamander.whatever nicely - you'd never know

--
P.

[emvious]

"Mojo"? Keeps the Mo from Mozilla.
"Echo"? Kind of like Gecko, and kind of goes with "ping"...

"Mariner" is probably my favorite so far. "Firebird" sounds bland to me. I also think it is too strongly associated with the car, at least in NA. Of course, "Phoenix" was also the name of a car by Pontiac, but no one remembers that one.

[ehume]

No offense is meant by this post, and I know a lot of you realise this already, but it seems to me that Phoenix is the first Mozilla-based browser that really stands a chance of getting adopted by Real People (as opposed to us geeky tech people who try every half-baked open source app in existence.)
Because it's so newbie-friendly, I'd really really really hate to see it get renamed to something incredibly geeky and esoteric, <snip>. Unfortunately, what makes these names attractive to developers <snip>, that is exactly the kind of 'vibes' which will stop the average person from even trying the product, or remembering its name for more than two seconds. I do not want to have to SPELL the name of the browser when i recommend someone use it. I don't care what the name actually ends up being, (tho my vote so far is for Firebird)... just please make it easy to pronounce, obvious spelling, and have at least somewhat relevant web-connotations for Joe Six-Pack. I think Firebird meets all these requirements, and I suspect it would be quite a while before GM notices the trademark conflict, if they ever did and or cared.

1. Here here!

2. When I checked the trademark list for Firebird, it appeqred GM had trademarked the name for cars, toys and jewelry, not browsers. There are tens of Firebird trademarks, live and dead, all very specific. I doubt this browser would conflict with anything on that list.

Ed

[Radiowriter]

I think I could get behind Firebird. The more you hear it, the better it sounds. And, it does seem the *logical* replacement to Phoenix.

[nrm]

I suggest "Magpie".

My suggestion rests on the following arguments:

- everyone, even end users know what a magpie is.

- magpie has some standing in the world of fable and myth, so it
continues the phoenix tradition in that respect (its an archetype).

- The phoenix and magpies are both birds.

- the way people dart around the Web looking for shiny objects bears
some relation to magpies.

- the way people collect email and bookmarks and chatter away bears
some relation to magpies.

- locally (near me), magpies are famous dive-bombers and will take out
an eye defending their nests in spring. They have credibility as radical
defenders of their point of view, and they're black and white about it.

Here's what dictionary.com has to say on the subject:

"1. Any of various birds of the family Corvidae [ ... ] widespread in the Northern Hemisphere.
2. Any of various birds resembling the magpie, such as the Australian bell magpie.
3. A person who chatters.
4. One who compulsively collects or hoards small objects."

- Nigel.

[djnr]

Echo, Mojo, Firebird, Magpie, Mariner.

I think those are all pretty solid options.

Echo comes from Greek mythology:
Echo was a beautiful nymph. She had a love for the woods and hills and especially of woodland sports. Despite her beauty and playful nature, Echo had one little flaw... (see http://spiffyentertainment.8m.com/narcissus.html

Mojo is just cool. But maybe a little esoteric too.

Firebird - ? not sure.

Magpie - I read a book once about how amazingly smart these birds are. However, they are often regarded as pests too.

Mariner - sounds cool. Reminds of Navigator. But still cool. It would lend itself well to design - anchors, boats, swarthy sea-captains, maps, compasses, submarines, water...

I think Echo and Mariner are my favorites of the ones that are getting tossed around here lately. Strong votes for both of those...

[altruistic]

I can see it now...

"There's a new version of Mojo out..."
"Magpie v0.2 is rock stable. It never crashes."

Actually, I can't see that happening.

Just remember, these are names for a BROWSER. People will think it's a joke if you give it a name like that. Sure, the definition and symbolism for "magpie" can be fine, but I just don't think it's very suitable for a browser.

[djnr]

What about Mariner and Echo though? They are my favourites...

[Thumper]

Actually, I think Mojo's a great name. My vote's still with Swoop. I've went off Firebird, the -bird bit gets me for some reason.

- Chris

[flycatcher]

I've been thinking about Pteryx.

Greek for "wing".
Looks/sounds like Phoenix.
Archaeopteryx was a Jurassic bird having reptilian characteristics.

[mcbridematt]

"Mozilla Gecko Technologes: Phoenix"

Fallback:
"Mozilla Gecko Technologies: Gravity"

If you hate that:
Gravity
Phozilla
Eagle
Apollo

[keir]

Ok, here's a crazy thought:

Why not just use <b>Gecko</b>? I know it's already used for the layout engine, but, why not? You can go to Mozilla.org and download Mozilla or Gecko Standalone (which is really just Phoenix)

It sounds good and it's already recognized. It's not tradmarked in this context (or they couldn't use it for the name of the layout engine).

Best of all I don't need to tell people how to spell it. It's easy to make spiffy logos. Marketing counts.