From the beginning of me looking at bitcoin, to the comments that I've heard people over and over talk about, I've wondered about why we call the file that keeps your keypairs "wallet.dat". A wallet is something you put money into, but your money is not stored there, and so people ask about synchronizing their wallets. Many people end up confused by having to diassociate the definition of "wallet" from what they've believed all their life, to the new definition. I've done it myself, instead of realizing that it's more like a key to Fort Knox.
The blockchain contains all of the money. Everything that exists is stored there. Your "wallet.dat" key gives you access to the amount of BTC that is available to it. No money is stored in the "wallet", it just exists to let you look at the little money you own. In that regard, it's more like a silver/gold certificate, or a stock, than a wallet.
Even now, I'm not sure what a good, one-word summary of this concept is. But maybe we would have less confusion about how to "synchronize clients/wallets" if we stopped calling that file the "wallet" and called it something else. Perhaps "deed", or "voucher", or "credentials"? I like credentials, because it is easier to say "just apply your credentials to the Bitcoin program, and it will show you your balance". Credentials already has the connotation of something that you carry to get access to it, so then if you "lose your credentials" you lose access to the money that you had access to.
What are other's thoughts on this? I just know that in my short 1.5 months around this, I've seen lots and lots of people asking about their wallet file, and how it stores money. When many people are confused, I've learned that frequently the easiest thing to do is to change the terminology.
I think wallet fits. If you lose your wallet you lose everything in it. Also btc is essentially cash and you put that in your wallet.
I agree that technically credentials or something else sounds better but I personally like wallet and you are sort of storing your btc in it.
Edit: keychain makes sense too, so does making a copy of your keychain. Also it's hard to shake the term wallet when it's what we've been hearing constantly.