# Amazon EC2 instance type naming conventions
<a name="instance-type-names"></a>

Amazon EC2 provides a variety of instance types so you can choose the type that best meets your requirements. Instance types are named based on their *instance family* and *instance size*. The first position of the instance family indicates the *series*, for example `c`. The second position indicates the *generation*, for example `7`. The third position indicates the *options*, for example `gn`. After the period (`.`) is the instance size, such as `small` or `4xlarge`, or `metal` for bare metal instances.

![\[The image shows the instance type c7gn.xlarge, with a label for each part of the instance name.\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/ec2/latest/instancetypes/images/instance-type-naming-convention.png)



| Series | Options | 
| --- | --- | 
|  [\[See the AWS documentation website for more details\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/ec2/latest/instancetypes/instance-type-names.html)  |  [\[See the AWS documentation website for more details\]](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/ec2/latest/instancetypes/instance-type-names.html)  |