Almost everyone keep the default “Roomba” name for their Wi-Fi connected vacuum cleaning robots. However, many also give their Roomba a proper name. Here are some fun ideas and inspiration based on iRobots’ top list of the most popular Roomba names.
It’s hard not to anthropomorphize your robotic vacuum cleaner like its the new household pet. It can be kind of cute when it’s whizzing around on your floors and gently bump into things.
Whether you’ve got a smart or a rather stupid model of robot vacuum cleaner, you’ll want to give it a good solid name of its own. You’ll probably want to give it a fun and meaningful name too.
The following is a list of the 15 most popular names given to Wi-Fi connected Roomba models vacuum cleaners, according to data collected via the iRobot Home app for Android and iOS.
- Roomba
The default name. Call a spade a spade. - Rosie
After the robotic housemaid from the 1960’s TV show The Jetsons. - Alice
After the maid in The Brady Bunch, or an early-2000’s chatbot capable of responding to many queries, or a programmable microbot from the same era. - Hazel
After a popular 1940’s comic strip about a maid, or the 1960’s TV show based on it. - Alfred
After Batman’s trusted butler and father-figure. - DJ Roomba
After an actual Roomba that appeared on the 2010’s TV show Parks and Recreation. - Wall-E
After a beloved Disney character commissioned to clean the entire planet Earth in the movie of the same name. - Ruby
Possibly after a chatbot known as Agent Ruby, or the slightly useless maid in the 1970’s British TV show Upstairs, Downstairs. - R2D2
After Anakin Skywalker’s astromech droid in the Star Wars movie series. - Robbie
After the clunky robotic character in the 1950’s movie Forbidden Planet. - Dusty
A very utilitarian name. - Bob
- Jeeves
After the arch-British valet of the Jeeves & Wooster books, or one of several characters based on Jeeves — like the Ask Jeeves search engine’s butler figurehead, “the perfect gentleman robot butler” from the videogame World of WarCraft, or perhaps Hugh Laurie’s Jeeves from the 1990’s British TV show based on the books. - Maria
After either or both the heroine or the False Maria robot in the 1920’s movie Metropolis. - Rhonda
After a robotic character in the videogame Fallout.
There are some really good Roomba names on this list! People clearly like to name their robotic aid after beloved maids and butlers in pop-culture and after science fiction robots.
I’d expected people to choose funnier names and more puns for their Roombas. Although, none of the obvious ones have made it onto the iRobot list.
If you’re looking for more robot vacuum name suggestions, here’s my list of names that I’ve given to my robot vacuum cleaners over the years:
- Skippy
After Skippy The Magnificent, the artificial intelligence housed in a shiny beer can in Craig Alason’s Expeditionary Force series of books. - CL4P-TP
After the annoying little robot in the Borderlands videogame series. - Dustin Bieber
A pun based after a Canadian musician. - Niles
After the sardonic butler in the 1990’s TV show The Nanny. - Zero Credibility
After an artificial intelligence in The Culture novels.