A message from Anonymous

Sorry if you've answered this before, but how do melliferians get their names?

The worker bees are named by the queen, who gives them whatever six digit number she felt like giving them, and this number is followed by her initials, which is also the hive’s initials. The queen chooses her own name/the name of the hive. The drones also choose their own names when they leave home, though many of them never get around to doing so and their new queen names them when they arrive.