When creating custom fields in Salesforce, having a strong naming convention is important. Here is my convention, which you can copy.
Proper capitalization
Always use title-style capitalization. This means most words are capitalized. Exceptions are words like “a”, “an”, “the”, “but”, etc. unless they they are the first word.
- E.g. “Do Not Automatically Create Payment”, “Product Line Name”
Use front-loaded wording
The first words are the most important, and allows users to understand them while scanning quickly.
- E.g. “Donation Type”, not “Type of Donation”.
- E.g. “Personal Benefits Description”, not “Description of Personal Benefit”
Other
When a picklist includes the value “Other”, it should always be the last choice. Then add a text field with the same name as the picklist, appended with ” Other”. Add a validation rule to ensure a value is entered in the text field when the picklist value is “Other”.
- E.g.: Picklist is “Availability”, with values “A”, “B”, C”, and “Other”.
- Then the text field “Availability Other” is underneath.
Be wary of jargon and acronyms
Not every user will be versed with internal wording and acronyms. Unless you are sure they will know, it’s better to be more explicit.
- E.g.: “First Response Time” is clearer than “FRT”.
Numbers and dates
When creating a date or datetime field, append ” Date”. The word “Date” should not be the first word.
- E.g.: “Start Date”, “First Contact Date”.
For number and currency fields, use ” Number”, ” Amount”, or just be descriptive. If it’s a rollup, append ” Count”.
- E.g.: “External Number”, “Receipt Amount”, “Available Spaces”, “Opportunity Count”
The takeaway
Having a strict field naming convention helps train users on what to expect for each field type.