A series of trademark applications Apple filed in Cambodia and the Philippines may point towards the name we can expect to see used for macOS 10.14, the next-generation version of macOS that Apple will unveil at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June.
In the two countries, using a presumed shell company, Apple has filed several new trademarks on a series of California landmark names that originally surfaced in 2014. In the Philippines, Apple has filed trademark applications for Mojave, Sequoia, Sonoma, and Ventura, while in Cambodia, Apple has filed a trademark for Mojave alone.
It is not clear why Apple is filing new trademarks for these names in these specific countries, but these new filings suggest one of these four names could be used for macOS 10.14. Given that Mojave is the name that was filed in both locations, it could be Apple's frontrunner.
Other California landmark names that were trademarked alongside these back in 2014 have not seen any new trademark filings by Apple, with trademarking activity limited to Mojave, Sequoia, Sonoma, and Ventura.
With trademark filings, Apple is required to continually file extensions to hold on to a name because trademarks must be used. Apple has kept several of the names from its original 2014 filing active, including Rincon, Grizzly, Farallon, and Monterey. All of these names could also be used for future versions of macOS. Mojave, Sequoia, Sonoma, and Ventura are the only four names where Apple has filed new applications, however.
Other names from 2014 have been abandoned by Apple and are likely out of the running as future macOS titles. Diablo, for example, was marked abandoned by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in October of 2015, and Apple failed to renew several other names last fall that were marked abandoned this spring, including Redwood, Big Sur, Pacific, Miramar, Redtail, Condor, Tiburon, and Shasta. An additional two names, Mammoth and California, are suspended.
For the last several years, Apple has been using names related to the Sierra Nevada mountain range. We've had macOS 10.10 Yosemite, macOS 10.11 El Capitan, macOS 10.12 Sierra, and macOS 10.13 High Sierra, and with few other available names in that vein, Apple may be planning to move on to a new location at this time. California landmarks have been Apple's naming scheme of choice since the release of OS X Mavericks in 2013.
Mojave is a desert in California, while Sonoma and Ventura are cities, one located in Northern California and popular as a wine country destination, while the other is Southern California and famous for its surfing spots. Sequoia is meant to represent the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, located in the southern portion of the Sierra Nevada mountains. The Sequoia National Park is home to giant sequoia trees.
