How do you name your Pies?

[Mtl_Biker]

Is there any convention in common use for naming your multiple Pies? The default name is RaspberryPi and default user is Pi and of course that's fine if you only have one RPi. But when you have more than one, and want to connect to them using something like Real VNC, there's got to be a way to tell them apart.

And related to that, how do you change the name? Should I change just the user name, the RPi name, or both?

(My RPi is "out for delivery" and I'm watching the door! )

[hippy]

My Pi all have host names which reflect what they are "Pi0W", "Pi3B", "Pi3B-Plus" so I know what I'm remotely connected to. And where I have multiple I add a "-1", "-2" etc suffix. One could use "Alpha", "Bravo" or anything really.

The easiest way to change the hostname is using "sudo raspi-config", (2) network options, (1) Change hostname.

I keep the "pi" username and "raspberry" password as default but it is advisable to change those if exposed to the interent.

[HawaiianPi]

I usually name them by purpose or location for easy identification. I also have IP reservations in my router's DHCP settings for all my Pi computers (and other headless computers as well). So it's simple to access any of them by hostname or IP address.

In addition to unique hostnames, I create my own user and disable the default pi user.

[Andyroo]

Sometimes by colour of the case - really not a great idea.

Sometimes by task - watcher is a monitor, Adblock runs Pi-hole etc

Sometimes by config - dev Pi Zero boxes get called zero-usb or zero-w with the last 3B+ got named three-b-plus

[boyoh]

Label Rpi / 1 RED

“ Rpi / 2 yellow

“ Rpi / 3 Blue

“

[rpdom]

I call mine raspi1 to raspi11, plus various others that have temporary names when I fire them up.

[tpyo kingg]

Since I generally operate them headless via SSH and or UART, having a host name which identifies the task at hand makes a big difference. I've settled on using a single-word mnemonic for the particular project plus a two-digit number for the SD card's storage slot. The storage slots have some penciled notes if I need more of a reminder. I've given quite a few Pis away however.

[FTrevorGowen]

Historically along similar lines to @hippy + (for some) a "tag" reflecting the (u)SDHC card size and/or case colour (or some other "special" feature) - FWIW most of them with their "names" can be seen here:
http://www.cpmspectrepi.uk/raspberry_pi/raspiidx.htm
Trev.

[Mtl_Biker]

My Pi all have host names which reflect what they are "Pi0W", "Pi3B", "Pi3B-Plus" so I know what I'm remotely connected to. And where I have multiple I add a "-1", "-2" etc suffix. One could use "Alpha", "Bravo" or anything really.

The easiest way to change the hostname is using "sudo raspi-config", (2) network options, (1) Change hostname.

I keep the "pi" username and "raspberry" password as default but it is advisable to change those if exposed to the interent.

Exactly the kind of answer I was hoping to get! Thanks very much.

Got my new (second) RPi and I'm formatting the uSD card as I type this. I first made an image backup of it because it came preloaded with NOOBS. I'm going to install Raspbian on it shortly.

[Mtl_Biker]

Historically along similar lines to @hippy + (for some) a "tag" reflecting the (u)SDHC card size and/or case colour (or some other "special" feature) - FWIW most of them with their "names" can be seen here:
http://www.cpmspectrepi.uk/raspberry_pi/raspiidx.htm
Trev.

Wow! Quite a few Pies you've got there.

Going to be a lot easier for me, as I've only got two so far and I don't see myself getting more. Or is that famous last words? Just like potato chips I tell you... you can't have just one.

[LTolledo]

Most of my RPi's naming convention follow my usual Prefix + RPi Series + (optional) Job type + Series number. format

In some "special use-case" the names some of my RPi servers are based on some "famous computers", like the ones in:

1. the Evangelion anime series
2. some sci-fi movies

[DougieLawson]

They're named after various NASA missions and launch vehicles.

apollo
challenger
discovery
eagle
endeavour
falcon
gemini
hitchhiker
intrepid
mercury
odyssey
pioneer
ranger
saturn
tranquility
ulysses
viking

Odd one out is my weather station which is called beaufort.

[tpyo kingg]

Going to be a lot easier for me, as I've only got two so far and I don't see myself getting more. Or is that famous last words? Just like potato chips I tell you... you can't have just one.

They tend to proliferate. But even if you don't buy any more or receive some as presents, or don't give away what you thought were spares, you can always go out and get additional micro SD cards to keep messy or highly experimental projects separate. Then you effectively have more Raspberry Pis anyway, at least from a system perspective.

Even from my start with the Raspberry Pi, I've taken advantage of the fact that the cards contain the whole system and been swapping the micro SD cards around a lot so there has never been a 1:1 match between the physical RPi and the activity and thus whatever I have installed and configured. This was exacerbated by having several cheap USB-to-Serial cables which have no identifiers and thus cause the kernel to shuffle the names around when I resume from sleep or reboot my main computer. Also, I have some extra cases with different characteristics (standard, partially open on top for GPIO access, fully open for HATs, closed by screws but the card is accessible, fully closed by metal screws without access to the card, etc) and use the different form factors for different activities. So to save on guessing where I am, since I won't remember otherwise, I have the previously mentioned naming scheme of project mnemonic + global counter number.

For the cards themselves, I've taken to painting just the global counter number on the back and using the penciled notes for keeping track when they are not plugged in.

[digzuwu]

If I ever decide to get another one I’d probably start naming them after Touhou characters.

[bensimmo]

I just run a little script that changes it all to include the serial number.

Or at least that's what I would do if I was organised and could be bothered to learn how. As it is, it's much quicker to just change it to something I might remember with what it does/is/seems-funny via raspi-config.
One of my Pi does include the serial number, but that's for an city wide airquality project and it makes it easy to identify.

Though once you have a few more Pi (you probably will). you can play the game of keeping them all with the default name, then try and ssh into it using just its name.
See which Pi you end up at