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[Dutrius]

At one point, I had a system going based on profession (Miner Alpha, Miner Beta, Farmers Alpha through to Theta, and so on).

Then I realised it was too much effort, especially if they changed jobs repeatedly.

[Baffler]

I never change my dwarves' names anymore, it just seems too Orwellian to me. I do give profession names though, and have a fairly complex system for it. Dwarves are assigned to a series of custom sets of labors designed to pair uncommon jobs with related common ones to ensure I don't have any specialists who never do anything and that there's at least somebody who'll do any job that might come up.

What category they're in depends on their highest skill when they arrive. A siege engineer for example would be given the profession "Engineer" and assigned mechanics and siege operating and architecture. An otherwise relatively useless lye maker would become (probably the only) "Chemist" and given soap and potash making as well. The exception is craftsdwarves, who just continue doing whatever crafts they had on arrival regardless of relative ability, and get manual jobs turned off. I only ever reassign relatively unskilled dwarves, and certain professions have part time military service attached to them.

Dwarves who distinguish themselves in various ways get titles and benefits added to their profession as such:

artifact maker = Blessed: gets a 3x3 tomb with their artifact put in it when they die, and a silver statue in their room.
legendary skill = Master: gets a private dining room, and a silver statue in their room.
combat decoration/serious injury = Veteran: gets a display case containing their weapon, and a silver statue in their room.
Player discretion = Hero of the Fortress: gets a suite equal in value to a mayor's, a 3x3 tomb, and a gold statue in their room. This title overrides all others, including profession name.

To save space, titles are also given for different combinations of the above. Dwarves just get the benefits as though they had no other titles.

artifact maker + legendary skill = Renowned
legendary skill + combat decoration = Honored
combat decoration + artifact maker = Chosen
combat decoration + artifact maker + legendary skill = Hero of the Fortress

[Chief10]

I name the most talented or interesting dwarves. The (living) ones are:

General Sherman
Head Chef
Sous Chef
Glass Cannon
Miss Smith
Leonardo DaVinci
Cloth Master Flex
Obama
Weaver
Doctor Joy
Nurse Joy
Jewel Sheriff
Racer 5
Urist Soaper
OG
Tom Sawyer

Some of their professions/achievements are kind of obvious, some of them not. See if you can guess

[FallenAngel]

I don't usually name them, but I prefer the (descriptive thing)smith pattern for their jobs. Typically, the descriptive thing is something relevant to their official job, such as Minesmith or Woodsmith, but with nobles and such, it gets silly.

[Baffler]

How'd I do?

General Sherman = Militia Commander
Head Chef = skilled chef
Sous Chef = slightly less skilled chef
Glass Cannon = goblinite miner
Miss Smith = female legendary metalworker
Leonardo DaVinci = legendary mechanic
Cloth Master Flex = legendary clothier
Obama = Mayoral shoe-in
Weaver = Weaver
Doctor Joy = doctor
Nurse Joy = dedicated patient caretaker, possibly suturer
Jewel Sheriff = sheriff and legendary jeweler
Racer 5 = minecart jockey
Urist Soaper = soapmaker
OG = noble
Tom Sawyer = dwarf who survived being swept along by lots of rushing water

[TheFlame52]

Oh right! In succession forts, I usually name dwarves based on preferences, achievements, or attributes. Like Zasit the Dwarven Machine Gun or Urist Titanslayer.

[Chief10]

How'd I do?

General Sherman = Militia Commander
Head Chef = skilled chef
Sous Chef = slightly less skilled chef
Glass Cannon = goblinite miner
Miss Smith = female legendary metalworker
Leonardo DaVinci = legendary mechanic
Cloth Master Flex = legendary clothier
Obama = Mayoral shoe-in
Weaver = Weaver
Doctor Joy = doctor
Nurse Joy = dedicated patient caretaker, possibly suturer
Jewel Sheriff = sheriff and legendary jeweler
Racer 5 = minecart jockey
Urist Soaper = soapmaker
OG = noble
Tom Sawyer = dwarf who survived being swept along by lots of rushing water

Hehe, pretty good
Glass Cannon is a military dwarf with 20+ kills, but he's missing an arm and a leg (and a nose and an ear, etc.)
Leonardo DaVinci is legendary in many crafts (mechanic, mason, carpenter, stonecrafting)
Racer 5 is my legendary brewer (google Racer 5...)
OG is another top military dwarf and one of the original 7 (Original Gangster)
And Tom Sawyer is actually just a good farmer...I like your idea better

[Sadrice]

I never change my dwarves' names anymore, it just seems too Orwellian to me. I do give profession names though, and have a fairly complex system for it. Dwarves are assigned to a series of custom sets of labors designed to pair uncommon jobs with related common ones to ensure I don't have any specialists who never do anything and that there's at least somebody who'll do any job that might come up.

I definitely agree on the Orwellian aspect.  Ever since I first tried it and realized assigned names erase natural names, I've never renamed any dwarves.  I may not be kind to my dwarves, per se (though I make every effort to make their often brief and sometimes miserable lives as comfortable and luxurious as possible), but I let them stay their own selves, at least.

That and I like dwarven names, and have developed a fairly good memory for them.  I use custom professions occasionally, but mostly
i find it's not worth the bother, because by the time I actually care much about a dwarf, they have a relevant profession name.  The main exceptions to this are military dwarves (because sorting through combat reports when soldiers aren't on active duty can be a pain) and hauler/peasants I haven't found a use for yet, since they won't ever get a "peasant" profession if they didn't start with it.  Fisherdwarves and potash makers etc are often relabeled as peasants, just to simplify finding a spare dwarf if I happen to want one.

[Iapetus]

I normally name my starting seven - either calling them all "Founder" or "Pioneer" (or "Reclaimer" if reclaiming a fort), or giving them a nickname relating to their main job (e.g. "Bossman", "Gears", "Digger", etc).

I don't normally bother renaming the others, unless they do something particularly noteworthy, or if I need to identify them separately from their profession.  For example, if I have a mason that is also in the militia, I might nickname him "Private" or "Captain" or "Axedwarf" (as appropriate), and change his profession name to "Mason", so regardless of whether he is on or off duty I can see what his roles are.

[TheFlame52]

Next fort (which may well be in the next version) I'm going to name all my dwarves. Males will be their favorite stone, females their favorite gem.

[SimRobert2001]

I may start using custom professeions now that ihavee had issues telling dwarves apart. Master waeponsmith would be appropriate.

[Magistrum]

I only give custom professions to my dwarves, and only for those in the military. Since I conscript all the men(and some of the women) naming them can get pretty difficult... I once had a full army of 147 dwarves, each and every of them named after something I found in their z-screen, plus their weapon:
Cruel Axedwarf
Might Axedwarf
Weak Axedwarf
Calm Axedwarf
...
Angry Speardwarf
Peaceful Speardwarf
Troubling Speardwarf
Lovely Speardwarf
Merciful Speardwarf
...
Stylish Swordsdwarf
Hasty Swordsdwarf
Depressed Swordsdwarf
Lustful Swordsdwarf
Stressful Swordsdwarf
...
Greedy Hammerdwarf
Stubborn Hammerdwarf
Careless Hammerdwarf
Polite Hammerdwarf
Brave Hammerdwarf
...
Friendly Macedwarf
Modest Macedwarf
Curious Macedwarf
Intolerant Macedwarf
Perfectionist Macedwarf


Those are some of the ones I remember...

[Dunamisdeos]

My naming conventions used to be limited to the starting 7. I always name them with the name of the fortress they are founding. For instance, we have Urist Risenerush, Lokum Risenerush, etc etc at the current fort.

However, 3 years ago my now-fiancé named a dwarf "Mr. Beard".  Mr. Beard ended up as the Captain of the guard, and the most badass dwarf I've ever had, in the most successful fort I've ever had, with over 500 kills to his name solely in fort mode (including dragns, co. He founded the military for his entire civ (dawn of time game).

Since then, there has always been a Mr. Beard throughout every version change and new world-gen. There must always be a Mr. Beard, and he is usually captain of the guard. It has also inspired my other half to name other dwarves. William is always a speardwarf, for instance, and works with Mr. Beard.

To my fiancé, dwarf fortress is the adventures of Mr. Beard and his adorable dwarven friends, told and retold eternally.

[NullForceOmega]

I never rename dwarves, If they are exceptional they may get a custom profession (Medtob Wadedbarricades, The Alchemy of Clouds, Grim Fucking Reaper), children are sorted into apprentice (apprentice stone, apprentice smith, apprentice engineer, etc.) groups before they reach adulthood so I can rapidly assign them a skillset.

[Saiko Kila]

I'm a pragmatist. My dwarves have to:
- distinguish between genders. Females get "a" at the end of their first name, so Urist becomes Urista, As becomes Asa and Tun becomes Tuna. I do it with rare exceptions, like Nordic sounding names (like Gudrun or similar, I don't remember the exact one, it doesn't end with vowel and it stays that way) or Romance sounding names.
- distinguish between good shots, good melee, and good at nothings. Melee get "+" in their name, legendaries can have "++", marksdwarves get something else
- distinguish between migration waves. So Urist 2 McGreedy comes from 2nd wave.
- distinguish between "children waves". So Urist THIRTEEN McChild is older than Urist XXIII McBaby.

I also need to distinguish the starting seven, but I only change their first names to capitals, so Urist McPioneer becomes URIST McPioneer.

And that's all which is important. Apart from that some notable skills get their distinction, like "Urist McArmorer arm" ("arm" stands for "armorer", since his profession doesn't always reflect his most important skill), but that is rather less important in older forts. Also some dwarves with peculiar habits or likes get a slight change in name.