Proposal: Rename "The Internet Computer" to "Intercompute" (or a similar abbreviation)

General
1

I’ve been following this project for years now, and like many here, I’ve consistently found the name of the project to be incredibly unwieldy — every time I speak it aloud it sounds “wrong”. (And for the record: I’m a native English speaker.)

The main problem is that there are too many syllables. The—In—ter—net—Com—pu—ter is 7 syllables, which is the longest name I’ve ever seen for a project, except for projects which are intended to be spoken as an acronym (like “DARPA”). What’s more, the project name sounds like it was created using a random name generator. Here are some similar-sounding names:

  • The Helicopter Microwave
  • The Telephone Daffodil

“The Internet Computer” sounds as arbitrary as those names. As a consequence, the name is entirely forgettable. When I’ve uttered the name to other people, their response has typically been confusion — they probably thought I was having a stroke.

Many people would suggest it is “too late” to rename the project, so I’ve thought of a minimally-invasive fix: delete some of the syllables. “Intercompute” is a reasonable-sounding contraction of the original name that allows the acronyms “IC” and “ICP” to be retained, and provides a convenient transition pathway to a more pronounceable project name.

Other acronym-preserving names are also possible, like “intercalc”, “intercrypt”, or “intercloud”.

Thoughts?

3 Likes
2

Hey Nick, I actually like this idea! I’m not a dev. or on the engineering team, however, as an enthusiast, investor, and someone who learns through this platform I have had a few issues with the name.

I think you nailed the actual reason… It’s (to put it short) a mouth full. Also, changing it could have marketing implications (for better or worse).

Here’s my story to use as a real-life example/ scenario where this (may) play out, I’m an average user in the USA. I stumbled into crypto during the best and the worst of times (the bubble) when trying to learn how to self-teach myself coding, basic fundamentals of computer engineering, application design, and game development. Then one day I saw an ad on coinbase for this coin. My first initial reaction “scam”, right away I based the “book by the cover”, because well ICP could also mean Insane Clown Posse, and I instantly laughed. What real crypto project could want to ride the wave of a once popular 90’s murder rap artist (not that the music was bad, I was a fan, music is music) THEN I’m like ohhhkay let’s see what they’re trying to make a coin out of… Boy was I wrong about this “book”, and became obsessed. It actually is exactly what I was looking for/ fulfilling the desires I had in my investment venture and hobby interests (my entire life). So, I thought alright maybe they could lean with it and use it as a marketing strategy that I tried to suggest when I had a Twitter account for one month. Which seemed to actually happen/ help with NFT ideas. I was glad we were leaning into it.
Then, like many who did not truly understand what I really got myself into got burnt in the market bubble, and stayed out, studied the markets, and confirmed the validity and future of this project because I did lose a bit of cash that hurt my butthole deeply, and after I weaved past ICP I fully committed to ONLY this blockchain, because it aligns most closely with my objectives and values ( and now that the $ bottomed thankfully).

However, ANYTIME i try to talk, recommend, rant about, or hype up this project I run into the issue of the name. I now only try to refer to it as the IC NOT ICP. Although, it still is a really confusing un-intended communication issue that could be improved is as all.

Overall, I like the idea of shifting to using IC, and I’m glad I am not the only one who has thought about this. It’s not like I’m trying to knock on the foundations I just am always thinking of ways to improve the marketing schemes and economics of the coin’s long-term value through subtle community efforts that don’t require copious amounts of funds from VC’s that may pull at any time. So, they can keep dumping our money into engineering and tech. To me, that is what made me commit to this blockchain. Because despite the communities persistent screams for marketing efforts (like myself) I’m now grateful they reserved the funds for the tech. We just saw projects like crypto.com dump into marketing and poof. So…

I know this was a HUGE over-share. I’m just excited to conversate about this issue internally, with hopes to manifest more marketing ploys through community empowerment, not venture clubs

1 Like
3

Hi, I understand the reasoning and was thinking similar in the past but eventually realised that I like the name Internet Computer (also) because it stands out, and when it’s not appropriate to use (it’s too long or badly pronounced) I’ll say/type one of the initialisms below:

2 Likes
4

I like the name Internet Computer.
The name “Internet Computer Protocol” however doesn’t make sense though because it’s not a protocol, it’s a network that runs a protocol.
Also the token name ICP doesn’t make sense at all.

5

Whats the difference?

6

The name makes sense when you put it next to
HTTP, TCP, IP, URL, HTML, SSL, ICP
Uniform Resource Locator also doesn’t sound nice.
When I try to explain Ethereum, I am saying something like “It’s a global computer…” And now when I got used to the Internet Computer, Ethereum sounds like a material from another planet.

3 Likes
7

The Internet Computer, ICP, and the ICP token are not the same thing. The Internet Computer (IC) is a network of computers. They run a protocol, called the Internet Computer Protocol (ICP). The network is governed by holders of a token, called the ICP token, which is confusingly abbreviated as ICP as well.

In this thread, I am stating that I have a grievance with the name of “The Internet Computer”, not the name of the associated protocol or token.

4 Likes
8

This is what happens to me a lot. Thanks for making this suggestion. To some it may not really seem that big of a deal, however, personally IMO in certain subtle ways it does.

9

I also thought about this too though… Because everyone and their mother knows IP addresses and when you put ICP in that context it does make sense. This is a randomly interesting topic for me I’m sorry in advance…

10

So, I thought perhaps “The Internets Computer” so, maybe TIC/ IC. However, i then thought it was stupid lol

1 Like
11

I guess “The Internet Computer” sounds more like a thing than a name. “Intercompute” sounds like a name.
Also “World trade organization” sounds like a thing. “United Nations” sounds like a thing and not a name.
UN as a name would be something like “Unination” (one of many) and doesn’t have the same singularity sound to it.

2 Likes
12

We should just call it “the ic”

2 Likes
13

Could not agree more. Idk why people started moving away from calling it the IC towards calling it ICP, which doesn’t make any sense. (IIRC this was because of a Dom tweet)

14

If there is any organization I wouldn’t trust with naming something it would be dfinity.

15

DFINITY itself is actually a pretty killer name, but I understand why they wanted to separate themselves from the blockchain and protocol itself.

Ethereum has the Ethereum Foundation, which seems to work out pretty well.

If there’s one thing I’ve seen through this bear market it’s that generic names don’t inspire trust in something. Look at crypto.com - they spent ridiculous amounts of money on marketing and only ever reached 8th in total exchange trading volume.

I know this is an Internet Computer name hate thread, but “The Internet Computer” has actually sort of grown on me - I’m way to close to it to give an objective opinion though…

I also really like the naming for Internet Identity and Supernova, but the Network Nervous System could have been given a better name. When I start talking to people about the Internet Computer and say the words “Network Nervous System”, I see eyes glaze over and roll backwards.

2 Likes
16

Why, what’s wrong with it?

17

You can like internet identity all you want but it’s such a bad name in web 3 it inspired conspiracy theories that icp is doing kyc. In a world where anonymity is important identity is a bad word.

Anyways I could go on forever. “The ic” is fine and that’s what I will keep calling it.

What worries me more is the UX for the nns.

18

Regarding the NNS - this is completely anecdotal, but I think it primarily has to do with that for those who are non-technical and new to the Internet Computer or crypto in general, those 3 words (Network Nervous System) together sound complex. I think about my Biology courses or a “collective hive mind”, but they don’t connect to an idea of elections, voting, or governance right off the bat.

A nervous system is an good metaphor for how the NNS works, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good name.

The voter has to jump through the hurdle of connecting why there are things called neurons in the first place and why they hold staked ICP - then after that explanation they understand the metaphor and just call it the NNS. I hardly ever hear people in this community, other than maybe DFINITY say the non-abreviated words “Network Nervous System” (not just on forums, but in calls, etc.).

1 Like
19

It’s all so esoteric dfinity desperately needs more people in the meeting with these marketing decisions.

Sns too it’s such a confusing name for a launchpad and injecting it into our governance platform. Smh

1 Like
20

Haha I spit out my water when I read this. It’s a great abbreviation though…can we just change the words behind it?

SameAs NNS Solution → SNS

Problem solved! :tada: :laughing:

2 Likes