A rite of passage for any new team ^[1] is generating a 100+ comment long Slack thread discussing the fundamental cultural decision in the name for a new repository. And so it was I ended up looking up what this 👇 type of naming “tradition” is technically called:

Numeronyms are a type of abbreviation using numerals.

Also called alphanumeric abbreviation. Which I find easier to pronounce. But since this is a written blog post, I’ll stick with the word used as the main entry for the Wikipedia article. That is also where I learnt there are different types of numeronyms. The type we are looking at now, is the one where for example a long word internationalization is abbreviated by counting and replacing the 18 characters between the i and the n 👉 i------------------n to end up with the shorter term i18n.

Numerical contractions

• i18n – internationalization has 18 characters in the middle of the word
• a11y – accessibility has 11 characters between a and y
• p13n – personalization has 13 characters between p and n
• g11n – globalization has 11 characters between g and n
• K8s – Kubernetes has 8 characters between K and s

Why use a numeronym?

HTTP is shorter than Hypertext Transfer Protocol. An abbreviation we can all appreciate. But wtf 😏 is the point of abbreviations that obfuscate and even make the thing your are trying to say actually consist of more syllables?! In a code base, i18n can save us all from needing to spell internasjonalaisasjon. For other uses, it‘s absolutely a valid argument against using a numeronym if the word function best in the original form. But the thing about plain words is that it can be difficult to know when that word actually represents a name or a more specific term.

A numeronym can transform a word into something that means more than the word means alone.

The word accessibility has different meanings in different contexts. On the internet, the use of the term a11y helps to identify content related specifically to digital accessibility.
— The A11Y Project

Can we make more numeronyms?

Absolutely! Like any abbreviation, you can make your own. My laptop has a sticker t12t from an accessibility meetup in Stockholm. This is from the Swedish word tillgänglighet 🇸🇪.

We named our repo a5e and this is a numerical contraction for the Norwegian word annonse 🇳🇴. Definitely not a word needing abbreviating as such, but we did need to create a term that means something other than the word itself. When someone on the team now refers to a5e, other people on the team know we are talking about this specific repository and not about something else.

— Elisabeth