I Built a Microservice Name Generator Because Naming Things Is Hard 🤖🌱
Source: Dev.to
The Problem: Naming Microservices
There are two hard problems in computer science: cache invalidation, naming things, and off‑by‑one errors.
I’ve made peace with cache invalidation. Off‑by‑one errors? I’ll get to those eventually. But naming microservices? That one haunts me.
It’s 10 AM. You have a fresh service to build. The architecture is clear, the tickets are groomed, you’re ready to go. Then someone asks, “What are we calling it?”
Suddenly it’s 11:30 AM and the team is in a heated Slack thread debating whether email‑sender is too generic and outbound‑notification‑delivery‑service is too long.
The Solution: Microservice Name Generator
I got tired of this, so I built a tool: Microservice Name Generator.
You describe what your service does, pick a naming style, and it gives you five ready‑to‑copy names with README‑style descriptions.
Two Naming Styles
| Style | Description |
|---|---|
| Creative | Pulls from mythology, pop culture, video games, history, etc. The AI thinks laterally to find a clever reference that connects to the service. |
| Enterprise‑grade | Generates kebab‑case, prefixed names that are scannable in a service registry (e.g., srv-outbound-emails, api-user-auth). The README descriptions read like internal documentation. |
Creative Mode Example
You type “a service that sends emails” and get names like:
- Hermes – the Greek messenger god.
- Pidgeot – the carrier‑pigeon Pokémon, perfect for a delivery service.
- Paul Revere – the original “one if by land, two if by sea” notification system.
Each name comes with a README description written by an overly enthusiastic developer:
Hermes handles all outbound email delivery with the grace and speed of the Greek messenger god himself. Whether it’s transactional notifications or bulk campaigns, Hermes ensures your messages reach their destination without getting lost in the underworld.
Enterprise‑grade Mode Example
Names like srv-outbound-emails and api-user-auth are generated in kebab‑case, prefixed, and ready for a service registry. The accompanying README descriptions are concise and suitable for internal docs.
Immediate Usability
Every generated name includes a Copy button that grabs the markdown README description. A Copy All button lets you dump all five suggestions into a document for team voting. No reformatting needed—just generate, copy, and paste into your repo.
Try It Free
The tool is available at:
Generate some names, share the weird ones on Slack, and name your next service after a Greek god. Life’s too short for svc-data-processor-v3.
Discussion
What’s the best (or worst) microservice name you’ve ever seen at work? Drop it in the comments—I collect these like Pokémon cards.