The TeX Directory Structure (TDS) standard, available at
(https://tug.org/tds and CTAN:/tds) specifies a
directory tree for all TeX library files. The directory names
given in Suppliers and Typefaces are intended to mesh with
that standard.
The modes.mf file (ftp://tug.org/tex/modes.mf)
contains recommended mode names to use as directory names.
The Fontinst distribution (https://tug.org/applications/fontinst
supports quite general creation of virtual fonts, named according to the
scheme given here.
The Dvips translator (https://tug.org/dvips) supports resident
and downloadable PostScript fonts. Dvips was the first place where
Fontname became widely known. Dvips also includes Afm2tfm, another
program that can create virtual fonts.
The Dviljk processor (included in TeX Live) contains TeX support
for the fonts built into the LaserJet 4.
‘Designing New Typefaces with Metafont’, by Richard Southall,
Stanford Computer Science Department Technical Report STAN-CS-85-1074,
September 1985, for a comprehensive terminology of font design.