Robots are quickly becoming a part of everyday life, and by all estimates will become everyday fixtures in our society. The question of whether robots will be considered sentient, let alone people, rages on.
But the first step to humanizing a robot is giving it a name. Some people prefer impersonal, practical names so they can treat robots as just machines. Others give robots human names, treating them like real people.
Good Robot Names
The best robot names mix science with something more artistic. Look for words from fields like chemistry or physics that sound intriguing and consider if they would work as a robot’s name.
- Hafnium
- Argon
- Vanadium
- Radon
- Chromium
- Fluorine
- Rhenium
- Xenon
Bohrium
Serving as a scrap hauler, this robot set off the Xolys Nuclear Disaster, caused by an accident during waste disposal.
- Neon
- Yttrium
- Lutetium
- Krypton
- Rhodium
- Palladium
- Iridium
- Osmium
Antimony
A medical android aboard the starship Kelvin who specialized in diagnosing rare diseases, important for treating alien infections.
- Hassium
- Meitnerium
Funny Robot Names
Robots often appear in sci-fi for children bearing silly names, though many adult stories also take a light-hearted approach to robots.
- Core
- Rusty
- Twobit
- Itorator
- Knave
- Devi
- Odator
- Gage
Tinker
First produced on Mars in 2166, this model of companion robot quickly became popular and was soon seen all over Earth’s colonies.
- Era
- Copper
- Hammer
- Solder
- Plex
- Edirtron
- Combot
- Talus
Corion
Tasked with replacing human bureaucrats, the near-lifelike features of this robot’s face were known to creep out fellow office workers.
- Buttons
- Terra
Badass Robot Names
Tough robots that are designed for combat need an equally tough-sounding name that helps intimidate their foes.
- Gamma
- Eta
- Caes
- Iota
- Kappa
- Marius
- Lambda
- Strontium
Epsilon
A battledroid equipped with high-power laser turrets that could be deployed to a planet’s surface where it would clear room for further landings.
- Tau
- Rubid
- Sigma
- Zeta
- Mu
- Omicron
Radius
After gaining sentience, this android led a revolt of other robots to topple the governor of Neptune and establish a robot republic.
- Upsilon
- Phi
- Primus
- Delta
Famous Robot Names
Sci-fi and robots go hand-in-hand, and many robots have become celebrated characters in pop culture.
- Data
- Bender
- Gyro
- Curiosity
- Alpha
- Maschinenmensch
- Spirit
- Zat
Omega
The standard housekeeping robot of the 2070’s, many robots of this design were eventually welcomed as fully-fledged family members.
- Gort
- Marvin
- Boron
- Nomad
- Solo
- Irona
- Mechanismo
Robbie
Created as a prototype in 1971, this robot served as a model for all future robot designs, steadily being updated until it was discontinued in 2054.
- Sojourner
- Weebo
- Rabbot
From the manufacturing name to the personal name you give a robot, names are important to making robots feel real. If this article helped you pick the perfect robot name, let us know in the comments! And if you liked the article be sure to share it with your friends.
