Is 'name' an xray supported attribute?

[max-sixty]

If it is, a Dataset constructor should take a list of DataArrays, and use their names as keys? (and anywhere else you need to provide a dict-like mapping with names)

If it's not, we potentially shouldn't be using it in the internals.

I think it's the first, given it's in the docs (although not throughout the docs).

[shoyer]

DataArray.name is a valid attribute -- it's filled in with the key corresponding to DataArrays in Datasets. Dataset.name is not valid. This is analogous to the situation on DataFrame and Series.

Converting a list of DataArrays into a Dataset does sound like a useful thing, but to me that functionality is would be a closer fit for a hypothetical merge function (#417). I was envisioning as taking a list of Dataset objects, but it would be straightforward to merge in DataArray objects, too.

[max-sixty]

Great, that's clear, cheers @shoyer