What's in a name? The reason for the name change is to comply with the SIL Open Font License (OFL), in particular the [Reserved Font Name mechanism][SIL-RFN]
Some fonts have parts of their name "reserved" per the [Reserved Font Name mechanism][SIL-RFN]:
> No Modified Version of the Font Software may use the Reserved Font
> Name(s) unless explicit written permission is granted by the corresponding
> Copyright Holder. This restriction only applies to the primary font name as
> presented to the users.
- The main goals seem to be to: `Avoid collisions`, `Protect authors`, `Minimize support`, and `Encourage derivatives`
See the [Reserved Font Name section][SIL-RFN] for additional information
## Which font?
### TL;DR
* Pick your font family:
* If you are limited to monospaced fonts (because of your terminal, etc) then pick a font with `Nerd Font Mono` (or `NFM`).
* If you want to have bigger icons (usually around 1.5 normal letters wide) pick a font without `Mono` i.e. `Nerd Font` (or `NF`). Most terminals support this, but ymmv.
* If you work in a proportional context (GUI elements or edit a presentation etc) pick a font with `Nerd Font Propo` (or `NFP`).
### Ligatures
Ligatures are generally preserved in the patched fonts.
Nerd Fonts `v2.0.0` had no ligatures in the `Nerd Font Mono` fonts, this has been dropped with `v2.1.0`.
If you have a ligature-aware terminal and don't want ligatures you can (usually) disable them in the terminal settings.
### Explanation
Once you narrow down your font choice of family (`Droid Sans`, `Inconsolata`, etc) and style (`bold`, `italic`, etc) you have 2 main choices:
#### `Option 1: Download already patched font`
* For a stable version download a font package from the [release page](https://github.com/ryanoasis/nerd-fonts/releases)
* Direct links for [Monaspace.zip](https://github.com/ryanoasis/nerd-fonts/releases/latest/download/Monaspace.zip) or [Monaspace.tar.xz](https://github.com/ryanoasis/nerd-fonts/releases/latest/download/Monaspace.tar.xz)
#### `Option 2: Patch your own font`
* Patch your own variations with the various options provided by the font patcher (i.e. not include all symbols for smaller font size)
For more information see: [The FAQ](https://github.com/ryanoasis/nerd-fonts/wiki/FAQ-and-Troubleshooting#which-font)