Please help me rename my dystopian government prison to something less cliche than "the Sanctuary."

The school is joint service and it also serves as a language education facility for the armed forces of allied nations. Strangely enough, Iain and I were there at just about the same time, a few months of overlap, and our barracks were just the width of a street apart. My window looked out onto the USMC barracks.

 

Yeah, that was a strange place, service affiliation was, although it pains me to say so, almost like fraternity membership, although everyone was locked into their own little club. We even had an affiliated sorority, who lived in the building right next to @Wreybies barracks. The joke in our little club was that we were each issued one of them, along with our field jackets and linens.

Turns out they had the same joke.

Nobody knows who the Navy slept with though. Weird.

 

I picked an Army boy. La la la...

 

Don't worry, I'm sure that under current rules, Marines are patrolling the passageways of the men's side of the Air Force barracks as well.

 

"He"? I'm a girl.

I thank all of you for your ideas. Sorry I haven't checked this thread in a while.

To clarify, the setting is far-future. Most of humanity has been wiped out by a catastrophe (don't worry, not a zombie outbreak. More of a huge environmental shift like what killed the dinosaurs, except the true cause turns out to be horrifying later on). The wilderness is run by mutated large monsters, humans are small in number, and there are too few people left to operate the systems we have in today's world (like mass transit, for example). So humans aren't the top of the food chain anymore, and for their "protection," the governments have corralled them all into Sanctuaries "for their protection." Except the things that truly go on in secret at the Sanctuaries are extremely sinister.

I hope that gives more clarity on the context. Also, I'd prefer for the official name to not be satirical, although the characters would surely have their own satirical names for it.

 

I remember reading the first few chapters of your story a long time ago. Since it takes place in the future of our world, you could always give them names modern readers would recognize so they have some grounding in where the story takes place. If you called it Fort Knox, everyone would know that they're essentially hiding inside an old military base.

 

I've heard Institute suggested, but really it should be the Institution if you go that route. An Institute is an educational facility while an Institution is more like a mental hospital. If your characters are actively brainwashed with a curriculum there, the Institute would be a good name, maybe even something that people aspire to attend, but they realize it's a euphemism for a reeducation camp.

As for what I think it should be called if it's a prison, try these:

The Facility of Control and Management (The Facility, FCM or FOCAM for short)
Or the acronym could spell a cheerful word and mean something more sinister, like GOOD (Perhaps something like General Office Of Detention)
Or perhaps the acronym could spell out the action they want their prisoners (and the people) to do, like BEHAVE or SUBMIT or ACCEPT. Or maybe TOLERATE.
Or if you don't like acronyms...
The Safe Space (a jab at the alt-left of the present day)
The Palace (for irony, or maybe they pamper the people there so better to brainwash them)
The Compound (a generic term that could mean any kind of building or facility, and also suggests a network rather than a single location)
The Cleanser (Short for Institute of Cleansing and Reform, also called in slang The Sink, the Drain, the Tub, the Soaper, the Toilet, the Porcelain, anything related to washing, particularly ones that convey another meaning, for example the Drain because it drains its prisoners of something like individuality or intelligence)
The Place (Even more generic than The Compound, very euphemistic, perhaps invented by the people to avoid speaking its real name, or by the government to hide what it does)
Or, you could do something based on how many facilities there are. For example, if there are fifty facilities, the Quinqagintum, or if there are twenty, the Vingintium. This works best with cardinal numbers or multiples of ten.

 

Ooh, I love the one where the acronym spells out relevant stuff.

Since it's portrayed by the government as a refuge in which to survive the post-apocalyptic setting, maybe something like:
"the Distortion Relocation Assistance Institute: North"
The Distortion is the name of the apocalypse-causing event, and so it could be called that as a place to offer housing to those displaced (although it's really much more sinister). And "North" because there could be multiple geographic ones.

Thus, the acronym would be "DRAIN," and everyone would call it that.

What do you think? Can anyone help me improve on that acronym? I still want to go with the DRAIN spelling, or something similar in tone and meaning, but maybe the words could be swapped with something even better?

I think this is nailed down. Cheers y'all.

 

DRAIN sounds perfect! Almost. Wouldn't the North stop the one term from being used for the other locations? Or is that what you want? If not maybe Nationale/Neo-tech/Non-classified or something or other .
Another possibility for R - Realignment?

 

Distortion Recovery Agenda's Institution of Neotechnology.

Is that better?

 

Nope, sorry. That just sounds forced to me, especially the "Agenda" part. Also, remember that official acronyms rarely are constructed to have ominous meanings, the meanings become ominous over time. The USA PATRIOT Act is officially the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism. It was only once the specifics of the legislation became clear that it started sounding horrible.

 

Gotcha. Thanks for the feedback.

 

Yeah I agree with Iain, that sounds a bit forced.

I like what you had going with Distortion Relocation Assistance... maybe something like ...Institute/Icarus/Intel Network?

 

Actually, "The Sanctuary" sounds pretty cool.

 

There are so many connotations. I say keep it.

 

Reminds me of George Orwell's 1984. In the book he makes reference of the various government agencies under command of "Big Brother"; but what interesting is how they're named 'counter' to what they actually do.
Example, "The Ministry of Truth" is an organization that censors media whilst rewriting and destroying history. I assume that "The Sanctuary" was named in a similar fashion?

You could try an acronym?
Like "CARE Camp 23" CARE being (Corrections And Re-Education)???

 

That's a good one!

 

Clinical Lock-down Institutional Therapy Of Rapacious Iniquitous Scum- CLITORIS

 

I've decided I like you, Pinky.

 

No thanks. That's just nasty.

 

Did you read my novel somehow even thought it's not published yet? Pit #1 is the main prison in Angeltown for the most violent criminals. Pit #1 because their are other "Pits."
Peace, Tex

 

The Ministry of Alteration.

Sorry, you can't use that - it's from the sci-fi series Red Dwarf.