Product naming

The pattern

One real word or a two-word compound. All capitals. Operational or tactical resonance. The name must carry the register of a fielded defense program - doctrinal, grounded, unambiguous on the procurement line.

A small number of approved names extend this pattern as doctrinal exceptions: fielded military designators (e.g. 12 BRAVO - the phonetic spelling of an Army MOS code), clipped forms with established field usage (e.g. TERP), and established multi-word doctrine terms paired with their canonical initialism (e.g. QUICK REACTION FORCE (QRF)). These are not new patterns - they’re real operational vocabulary, accepted on those grounds.

Established set (alphabetical):

• 12 BRAVO
• BULWARK
• CAPSTONE
• COUNSEL
• DEBRIEF
• GHOST GRID
• GRIDWATCH
• QUICK REACTION FORCE (QRF)
• SIGNPOST
• TERP
• THEATER

Operational shorthands

The doctrinal exceptions above split into two cases. Either form is accepted only because the underlying term has fielded military precedent - never an invented initialism.

Names that have a canonical full form alongside a shorthand. Render the full form on first mention per document, then the shorthand thereafter; the product wordmark uses the shorthand.

• QUICK REACTION FORCE (QRF) - write Quick Reaction Force on first mention, then QRF. The wordmark is QRF in Barlow Condensed.

Names that are themselves the approved form. No expansion exists or is required - the name in the roster is the canonical wordmark. The MOS code or origin term may appear in descriptive prose for clarity, but it is not a “long form.”

• 12 BRAVO - the phonetic spelling of the Army MOS code 12B. The wordmark uses the spelled form; 12B may appear in descriptive prose.
• TERP - a clipped form of “interpreter” with established field usage. The wordmark is TERP; no expansion is written.

No new initialisms or acronyms are permitted. New products do not get to invent shortened forms to shortcut the naming work.

Banned naming registers

Names drawn from any of the following are rejected outright:

• Mythology - any pantheon. No Greek (Apollo, Athena, Hydra, Cerberus, Pegasus), no Norse (Thor, Odin, Valkyrie), no Roman (Mercury, Mars, Jupiter), no Egyptian (Anubis, Horus, Ra), no other. Mythological names borrow unearned weight and break the contemporary operational register FDT lives in - they read as lazy.
• Fantasy / sci-fi register. No Excalibur, no Starfire, no Nebula, no invented compounds that sound like ship names from a space opera.
• Animals unless operationally grounded. Falcon (real weapons program) is fine; Dolphin or Panda is not. If an animal name has real military precedent (e.g., BLACKBIRD, TOMCAT) it may be considered; if it’s decorative, rejected.
• Generic project codes. No “Project Alpha,” “Initiative 7,” “Program X,” “FDT-NEXT.” These read as placeholder names that forgot to get replaced.
• Founder names, insider jokes, internal references. Not on the customer-facing wordmark.
• Numeric suffixes on existing products. GRIDWATCH 2 is not a new product; it’s a version. New capabilities get new names. If the product truly is a successor, it gets its own word.

Naming rationale check

Before a new name is approved, it passes four tests:

1. Does it carry the register of a procurement-line program? If it reads as a consumer product, a band, or a ship from fiction, reject.
2. Is the word or compound operationally grounded? It should map to a concrete warfighting concept - surveillance, fires, movement, command, logistics, decision - not a tone or feeling.
3. Is it pronounceable and typeable? One or two syllables per word ideally. No intentional misspellings (ZYNE, KRYPT) to force uniqueness.
4. Does it collide with a real existing program? Quick search of DoD program names, procurement databases, and contractor catalogs. Naming collisions in this space are embarrassing and sometimes legally costly.