It seems to me that the emerging way to reference the Evo line is by the unique attribute that it possesses.
Evo Shift = Shifting/slideout keyboard
Evo 3D = 3D capability
Evo 4G = .... No longer unique, because both the Shift and 3D have 4G. So then, what DOES make the HTC Evo 4G unique?
Answer - 4 things
1) It was the original. However, the point of this thread is to buck the idea of referring to it as the Old Generation or Original Generation. So... no go.
2) It truly was an Evolution in phone technology. The Shift was just a copy, and the 3D is incremental progress over the original, and not much better than anything else out there. But referencing the Evo as the Evolutionary Evo, or the "Evo Evo" in short... well, there's really nothing I can say about that that you haven't already thought from reading that...
3) The Evo was originally called the SuperSonic. We could go back to that, but then it might tend to remove the Evo from its rightful place as the well known evolutionary beast. So "Evo" must stay in the title.
So I guess what I am getting at is suggestion #4.
4) The thing that really makes the Evo unique from the 3D and the Shift is... the kickstand (you guessed it right from the start didn't you?).
So I submit to you that it be referenced as the "Evo Kick"
It has a Kick stand, it Kicked off the Evo line, and it still Kicks Ass.