How the name was chosen

“Dummy run” is British English for a trial run. In this project the dummies literally run your app.

We scored 88 candidate names on eight weighted criteria. Trademark strength carried the most weight (USPTO TMEP 1209.01). Ease of saying came next (Alter and Oppenheimer 2006), then fit of meaning (Lowrey and others 2003). We then searched for clashes with the top 31 names, and checked what each means in twelve languages.

Checks on Dummy Run

Nobody uses the name in software, QA or AI. Other uses are a 1985 ZX Spectrum game, a Japanese clothing brand and an Australian PPE supplier.
The GitHub name dummyrun belongs to a dormant account, so the organisation is dummy-run.
As a phrase for a testing tool, “dummy run” sits near the descriptive end of the trademark scale. The double meaning helps it count as suggestive (TMEP 1209.01(a)). A search in classes 9 and 42 is still needed before filing.

Mascot cautions

Do not reference “Vince and Larry”. It is a live US registered mark (Reg. 1801195, NHTSA).
Draw the dummy from scratch. Do not trace photographs of Hybrid III crash-test dummies.
Do not use the phrase “Crash Test Dummies”, which is also the name of a band.
The black and yellow quadrant target is a generic crash-test symbol and is safe to use.

Not yet checked

The UK, EU and US trademark registers
Native-speaker review in Hindi, Arabic, Mandarin and Japanese
App stores and social handles