Name Your PC Day

Name Your PC Day, observed on November 20, is a playful occasion to give your computer a name that reflects its personality, purpose, or place in your daily life. Whether it is your trusted work companion, creative partner, gaming station, or family’s go-to device, a memorable name can make an everyday piece of technology feel a little more personal.

Celebrate by choosing a name that suits your PC and adding it through your device’s settings. You might draw inspiration from a favorite character, a clever pun, your computer’s color or design, or the tasks it helps you accomplish. It is a small, lighthearted way to bring some individuality to the technology you use every day.

Name Your PC Day, observed on November 20, is a modern technology-themed observance that encourages people to give their personal computers a distinctive name. Unlike long-established civic or religious holidays, it does not appear to have a widely documented founder, legislative origin, or single historical event associated with its creation. Its background is instead connected to the growing role of personal computers in everyday life and the habit of assigning names to digital devices.

Naming computers has practical roots in the early development of computer networks. Systems often needed unique hostnames so users and administrators could identify them, share resources, and troubleshoot connections. As computers moved from universities, businesses, and research institutions into homes, manufacturers commonly assigned model names, while owners began creating their own labels. These names could be functional, humorous, personal, or inspired by literature, mythology, science fiction, and popular culture.

Over time, the practice became more visible as households acquired multiple computers and as laptops, smartphones, tablets, printers, and other connected devices became part of home networks. Operating systems also made device naming easy through setup menus and network settings. Although a computer’s name is usually a small technical detail, it can help distinguish one machine from another and give a device a sense of identity, particularly when several systems share the same network or household.

The cultural significance of Name Your PC Day lies in this combination of utility and personalization. Observed on November 20, it highlights how people interact with technology not only as equipment but also as something incorporated into their routines, workspaces, and identities. The observance offers an informal opportunity to rename a computer, explore its settings, or reflect on the changing relationship between people and the machines they use—while also recalling the older networking tradition that made computer names technically useful in the first place.