Naming a typeface by combining letters and numbers

Ermin Međedović

I would like to name a typeface family using a name followed by a number, like ‘Name 10.’ This family will be expanded in the future with ‘Name 20,’ ‘Name 30,’ and so on. A friend just warned me that some software stores fonts using only ASCII characters, which could be a problem. 

If anyone has more information or advice on this, I would greatly appreciate your insights.

Kent Lew

I don’t quite follow the basis for your concern. I don’t think what you propose is unprecedented at all. You can probably find examples by searching at any reasonably large font distributor. 

And A-Z, a-z, 0-9, and space are all part of ASCII. So what’s the question exactly?

Ermin Međedović

Yes, now I see my question wasn’t clear enough. My concern is whether just one different number is enough to distinguish between two subfamilies,-- Name 10 and Name 20. I know they are separate ASCII characters, and it should be enough, but I was warned that it might not be sufficient for some software.

John Hudson

Your proposed naming should be fine. It is recommended to avoid starting a font family name with a number, as that has been found to cause problems (the details of which I don’t remember).

The term ‘typeface family’ means a number of different things depending on technical context. You will need to give careful thought to how you want the numbered elements of the family to appear in font style groups and menu listings, mostly through management of name table IDs 1, 2, 16, 17.

Ermin Međedović

Thank you John. 

Good point about ensuring the correct order in font style groups and menu listings.

André G. Isaak

I'd be curious to know which problems can occur when starting a fontname with a number, as I have quite a few fonts with names beginning with numbers. Almost the entire GLC library begins with numbers (e.g. 1456 Gutenberg, 1499 Alde Manuce, 1470 Jenson, etc.)

James Montalbano

I have a large family that has a number as the name: 718. Followed by the weight as letters ie. Thin, Bold etc. No problems reported

John Hudson

@Dave Crossland might remember the details. It perhaps had something to do with truncating of names in some situations? It was a question that came up during development of the Slabo fonts for Google, when I wanted to make sure they were okay with optical size as numbers in the name.

Denis Moyogo Jacquerye

There may be issues on macOS with some words, for example if the family name starts with "Book". It don't remember the details.

John Butler

Off the top of my head, František Štorm does exactly this with his Zeppelin family, and likely others.