sitename
 /si:t'naym/, n.

    [Unix/Internet] The unique electronic name of a computer system, used to
    identify it in email, Usenet, or other forms of electronic information
    interchange. The folklore interest of sitenames stems from the creativity
    and humor they often display. Interpreting a sitename is not unlike
    interpreting a vanity license plate; one has to mentally unpack it,
    allowing for mono-case and length restrictions and the lack of whitespace.
    Hacker tradition deprecates dull, institutional-sounding names in favor of
    punchy, humorous, and clever coinages (except that it is considered
    appropriate for the official public gateway machine of an organization to
    bear the organization's name or acronym). Mythological references, cartoon
    characters, animal names, and allusions to SF or fantasy literature are
    probably the most popular sources for sitenames (in roughly descending
    order). The obligatory comment when discussing these is Harris's Lament: ?
    All the good ones are taken!? See also network address.

hostname
sitename

   1. (Or "sitename").  The unique name by which a computer is
   known on a network, used to identify it in electronic
   mail, Usenet news, or other forms of electronic
   information interchange.

   On the Internet the hostname is an ASCII string,
   e.g. "foldoc.doc.ic.ac.uk" which, consists of a local part
   (foldoc) and a domain name (doc.ic.ac.uk).  The hostname is
   translated into an Internet address either via the hosts
   file, NIS or by the Domain Name System (DNS) or
   resolver.  It is possible for one computer to have several
   hostnames (aliases) though one is designated as its
   canonical name.

   It is often possible to guess a hostname for a particular
   institution.  This is useful if you want to know if they
   operate network services like anonymous FTP, World-Wide
   Web or finger.  First try the institution's name or obvious
   abbreviations thereof, with the appropriate domain appended,
   e.g. "mit.edu".  If this fails, prepend "ftp." or "www." as
   appropriate, e.g. "www.data-io.com".  You can use the ping
   command as a quick way to test whether a hostname is valid.

   The folklore interest of hostnames stems from the creativity
   and humour they often display.  Interpreting a sitename is not
   unlike interpreting a vanity licence plate; one has to
   mentally unpack it, allowing for mono-case and length
   restrictions and the lack of whitespace.  Hacker tradition
   deprecates dull, institutional-sounding names in favour of
   punchy, humorous, and clever coinages (except that it is
   considered appropriate for the official public gateway machine
   of an organisation to bear the organisation's name or
   acronym).  Mythological references, cartoon characters, animal
   names, and allusions to SF or fantasy literature are probably
   the most popular sources for sitenames (in roughly descending
   order).  The obligatory comment is Harris's Lament: "All the
   good ones are taken!"

   See also network address.

   2. Berkeley Unix command to set and get the application
   level name used by the host.

   Unix manual page: hostname(1).

   (1995-02-16)