Fedora Project Taking Ideas For Next Release Name

Distribution naming schemes are one of the more humorous aspects of the open source community. Ubuntu uses an adjective followed by an animal name (Intrepid Ibex, Jaunty Jackalope), while Debian names releases after characters in the movie "Toy Story" (Sarge, Etch, Lenny). Fedora's method is a bit more obscure, but no less clever.

The Fedora Project is calling for suggestions on what to name Fedora 11. If you're a contributing member of the Fedora community and want to take a stab at bestowing a title on the distro's next release, here what you need to know.

Fedora release names follow the "___ is a ____, and so is ____" rule. For example, the last two releases were named Sulpur and Cambridge, and the link between the two is that they are both cities. Therefore, any name suggested for Fedora 11 must somehow relate to the name of it's predecessor, Cambridge.

According to Fedora's guidelines, your idea will pass the stiff test if it "[shows] how the name meets the 'is-a" test.' For example, 'Schnozz is a ____, and so is Keister.' Names for releases N and N+1 must be related, and names for releases N and N+2 cannot share the same relationship."

Naming suggestions must also include brief documented searches that the name is not already in use elsewhere or an otherwise bad choice -- that it means something undesirable in a foreign language, for instance.

Suggestions so far include, Hazzard, Occidental, Claypool, and Kalasasaya. Think you've got the perfect name for Fedora 11? Let yourself be heard.