I think I started naming my computers sometime in high school. If memory serves it was probably something I picked up from my computer networking friends.1 I think it started with Linux servers but has carried over to my desktops and laptops.
Even today my servers have names (Chorus is Melody, the Forum is Overture, the headless Mac Mini in the closet is Harmony).
And my personal computers are named as well. However, it was only in the last, I dunno, ten years or so, that I also started giving them custom icons to go with their names. I heard John Siracusa talk about this on a podcast at some point and I realized I had not actually changed my hard drive icon in years. I remember doing it on Classic Mac OS and one of my earliest computer memories was making my 3.5 floppy disc have a custom Bart Simpson icon. And I change quite a few of my dock icons2 to be, to me, more aesthetically pleasing and similar.
Now I not only change the name of the computer, I also change the hard drive icon.
My desktop, the big beefy boy that he is, is named Optimus:
And the sleek black laptop is named The Batmobile:
The IconFactory has a lot of awesome icons.3 And so does Louie Mantia.
It’s fun. I recommend it.