Nomenclature of organic compounds
The naming of organic compounds are governed by IUPAC guidelines, specifically the way the names are formed are by some general principles, which are given on the IUPAC website at their page Guide to Name Construction: General Principles, with naming examples here.
Another rather nice summary is found on the  webpage Nomenclature (Reusch, 1999), states that a organic compound name will have the following features, based on several common chemical characteristics of organic compounds:

•  A root or base indicating a major chain or ring of carbon atoms found in the molecular structure.
•  A suffix or other element(s) designating functional groups that may be present in the compound.
•  Names of substituent groups, other than hydrogen, that complete the molecular structure.

(Specific IUPAC guidelines for different hydrocarbons are included in the link).
Another summary is found on the handout Short Summary of IUPAC Nomenclature of Organic Compounds (Dr. Jan Simek, California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo), which state that the general nomenclature principle is:

IUPAC nomenclature is based on naming a molecule’s longest chain of carbons connected by
single bonds, whether in a continuous chain or in a ring. All deviations, either multiple bonds or
atoms other than carbon and hydrogen, are indicated by prefixes or suffixes according to a
specific set of priorities.