Data element Naming standards Comments:

- Main point: let one person do your naming, then continue to enforce the
conventions, no matter what your opinion.

- Don't put prefixes in the object names; they just waste space and typing.
You can always get a list of objects by type by simply issuing a seelct
statement from the sysobjects table.
- Don't use mixed case names, ever.  Sybase is case-sensitive and mixed
case names (i.e. DoctorPatientRecord) will drive you crazy when programming.
- Don't let Sybase name your indexes and constraints: always give them
names manually.  Also, name your indexes/constraints logically after what
they're supposed to be: maintenance is easier.
- Don't use prefixes for common attributes by table; if you have address
in three places, name it the same in all three tables.  Otherwise, try
to give a column a completely unique name in the database.
- Completely name all attributes physically and audit names before creating
the tables.  Cross check for duplicate names and confirm they should be 
duplicate.
- Suffixes: I use _id or _key for any surrogate key/integer key.  Just
as a distinguishing factor.