Standard host names
A proposed standard for eight-character host names on the ARPA Network.
Postel, J., "Standard host names", RFC 229, DOI 10.17487/RFC0229, September 1971, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc229>.
@misc{rfc229,
series = {Request for Comments},
number = 229,
howpublished = {RFC 229},
publisher = {RFC Editor},
doi = {10.17487/RFC0229},
url = {https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc229},
author = {J. Postel},
title = {{Standard host names}},
pagetotal = 3,
year = 1971,
month = sep,
} RFC text
Network Working Group Jon Postel
Request for Comments: #229 UCLA-NMC
NIC 7646 Computer Science
Categories: D.3 22 September 71
Related: #226
Obsoletes: None
STANDARD HOST NAMES
I suggest 8 character names and the following list:
Site Standard Name Alternate Name
---- ------------- --------------
1 UCLA-NMC SEX
65 UCLA-CCN CCN
2 SRI-ARC NIC
66 SRI-AI
3 UCSB
4 UTAH
5 BBN-NCC NCC
69 BBN-A BBN
133 BBN-B
6 MIT-MLTX MULTICS
70 MIT-DMCG DMCG
7 RAND-65
71 RAND-10
8 SDC
9 HARV
73 HARV-1
137 HARV-11
Network Working Group Jon Postel
Request for Comments: #229 22 September 71
Site Standard Name
---- -------------
10 LL-67
74 LL-TX2
11 STAN
12 ILL
13 CASE
14 CMU
15 BUROUGHS
16 AMES-67
144 AMES-TIP
145 MITRE
18 RADC
146 RADC-TIP
19 NBS
147 NBS-TIP
148 ETAC
21 TINKER
22 MCLELLAN
23 USC
151 USC-TIP
152 GWC
Network Working Group Jon Postel
Request for Comments: #229 22 September 71
Site Standard Name
---- -------------
25 NCAR
153 NCAR-TIP
158 BBN-TIP
[ This RFC was put into machine readable form for entry ]
[ into the online RFC archives by BBN Corp. under the ]
[ direction of Alex McKenzie. 12/96 ]
AI ELI5
On this page
§1The Need for Standard Host Names
By September 1971, the ARPA Network included dozens of host computers at research institutions, government sites, and contractors. Each site had its own local name or identifier, but there was no agreed-upon standard for referring to them across the network. Users and programmers had to remember and use different names depending on context and communication method.
Jon Postel, of the UCLA Network Measurement Center, proposes a standard eight-character host naming scheme. Eight characters was a practical length—short enough to type easily on typewriter-based terminals, yet long enough to be mnemonic and descriptive.
Different places called their computers different names, making it confusing. Postel suggested a standard list of nicknames so everyone would use the same names.
§2The Proposed Names
Postel's list pairs each network site number with a standard name and sometimes an alternate (shorter) name. For example, UCLA's Network Measurement Center is UCLA-NMC (alternate: SEX, presumably an acronym). Stanford Research Institute is SRI-ARC (alternate: NIC). BBN has multiple sites: BBN-NCC, BBN-A, and BBN-B. Other sites include MIT, RAND, UCSB, the University of Utah, and MIT's Multics system.
The names are geographically or organizationally descriptive, making them easier to remember than bare numbers. The list documents site numbers ranging from 1 to 158, showing the scope of the early ARPA Network.
You could look up a site's number and see what name to use for it, like UCLA-NMC for site 1, or SRI-ARC for site 2.
§3One of Several Competing Proposals
The RFC notes that this proposal is related to RFC 226 (another naming proposal) and mentions debates about how to standardize host identification. RFC 236 (Standard Host Names) superseded this RFC, suggesting that the naming question remained unsettled even as standardization efforts continued. Eventually, the Domain Name System (DNS) and later internet naming conventions would replace these early ad-hoc schemes.
This was just one idea among several about how to name computers. People didn't agree on a single standard right away.