Is a collective suitable for a collection in clojure?

Yes, coll

this is the common name for the collection parameter in the clojure code.

Here's a list of idiomatic names from the (unofficial) Clojure Style Guide :

in functions:

• f, g, h - function input
• n - the integer input is usually the size
• index, i am an integer index
• x, y - numbers
• xs - sequence
• m - map
• s - string input
• regular expression
• coll - collection
• pred - predicate closure
• & more - variational input
• xf - xform, transformer

in macros:

• expression - expression
• body - macro body
• binding - the binding vector of the macro

The clojure developer wiki has a similar but shorter list on the Library Coding Standards page . While not every clojure developer agrees with their content, both are good readings. Just take them with a grain of salt: "the rules are broken"