I've been naming my escorts after mythical creatures:
A defiant called
Basilisk.
A patrol escort called
Manticore.
My current main ship is a fleet blockade escort called
Banshee.
The heavy escort broke this a little and was called the
Bonehunter, which is from te Malazan fantasy book series, a well I went to a few times for my KDF ships.
All other Fed ships, on the other hand, are named after people or places.
Tier 2 cruiser was the
Nathanael Greene, American revolution general.
Exploration cruiser is the
Edward Cope, a paleontologist.
Runabout called the
Brandywine, a creek in Pennsylvania where a revolution battle was fought.
Assault cruiser called the
Valley Forge.
For KDF ships and characters, I mined names from fantasy novels.
Icarium, Barghast, Semirhage, Shaidar Haran.