Question

For ionic salts why is the metal usually named first?

Answer 1

Because that is the convention that chemists have adopted........

Explanation:

And typically ionic materials are referred to as `"sodium chloride"`, or `"potassium chlorate"`, or `"ammonium carbonate"`, i.e. cation first.

When you work in your own laboratory as a director or as a gofer, no doubt you will develop your own conventions and nick-names. My favourite was calling liquid nitrogen `"juice"`. If someone bellowed `"where is the juice?"`, we knew what was meant, and if there were none, it meant that some punter (usually the junior) would have to make the trip to the liquid nitrogen store and fill the empty Dewar. And if it were not done quickly he could expect a good beatdown, and he'd deserve it.