How do you name alien characters/species?

[Idran]

I suppose it's the Anglicized version, or the way these characters think of themselves.

But if they don't have any ability to vocalize and so no verbal language at all, then they wouldn't think in phonetics to begin with. Deaf people that have been deaf from birth but that know sign, for example, don't have an inner monologue in sounds at all, but in sign, because they have no conception of sound to have an inner monologue in. When they think to themselves, it's literally in sign.

So, like, a poetic name could make sense, something that was more a direct translation of the concepts that they associate to their species in the same manner as a name, but there would literally be no collection of sounds to Anglicize, so you couldn't have an otherwise-meaningless word like "Horta" as their name. It would actually make more sense if Spock had said they were called "the Children of the Stone" or something more metaphorical. (And this is assuming that they even have anything akin to a name at all, rather than just an abstract thought that has no meaning other than that it's the mental identification of their race or themselves as an individual.)

Edit: Oh, I found the thread. It's not about how names are chosen, though, but rather what naming conventions had been established for various Trek species, so I'm not sure it's actually relevant to you at all honestly. Just in case, though, here it is: http://www.trekbbs.com/threads/naming-conventions.266779/

 

[Christopher]

So, like, a poetic name could make sense, something that was more a direct translation of the concepts that they associate to their species in the same manner as a name, but there would literally be no collection of sounds to Anglicize, so you couldn't have an otherwise-meaningless word like "Horta" as their name. It would actually make more sense if Spock had said they were called "the Children of the Stone" or something more metaphorical. (And this is assuming that they even have anything akin to a name at all, rather than just an abstract thought that has no meaning other than that it's the mental identification of their race or themselves as an individual.)

Right. Spock said it was what they called themselves. Spock doesn't speak imprecisely, as a rule, so he wouldn't have said that if it was an Anglicization he made up on the spot. It just doesn't make any sense as written.

The best excuse I can come up with in my own mind is that "Horta" is the Vulcan word for whatever concept is expressed by their name for themselves.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Right. Spock said it was what they called themselves. Spock doesn't speak imprecisely, as a rule, so he wouldn't have said that if it was an Anglicization he made up on the spot. It just doesn't make any sense as written.

The best excuse I can come up with in my own mind is that "Horta" is the Vulcan word for whatever concept is expressed by their name for themselves.

That's an interesting idea. Or maybe he was phonetically expressing a kind of grinding sound as best he could. Like we have "boom", "crunch", etc. Onomatopoeia, anyone?

 

[Bibliomike]

(What drives me crazy are fictional aliens that are given phonetic names even though they're incapable of producing human-style phonetics. Like, how the hell can the Horta call themselves the Horta when the sounds they make resemble grinding rock?)

Maybe the same way the Vulcans ended up being called Vulcans? Surely they don't call themselves that; I've always assumed they are accommodating themselves to humans and others, since (a la Spock's first name, "This Side of Paradise") their name for themselves is probably unpronounceable by humans.

That's one detail I like about what Ambassador Kollos says when in Spock's body: "I apologize on behalf of those you call Medusans" (or something very similar)

 

[Bibliomike]

The best excuse I can come up with in my own mind is that "Horta" is the Vulcan word for whatever concept is expressed by their name for themselves.

Ooh, I like that idea, too.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

It is rather odd that so many aliens are named after Earth mythology. I guess they find an Earth equivalent word for them.

 

[Christopher]

Maybe the same way the Vulcans ended up being called Vulcans? Surely they don't call themselves that; I've always assumed they are accommodating themselves to humans and others, since (a la Spock's first name, "This Side of Paradise") their name for themselves is probably unpronounceable by humans.

That doesn't seem to be borne out by canon, though. The Vulcan characters in 1957 in "Carbon Creek" call themselves Vulcans, though that could be translated for the benefit of the audience. Then there's the fact that the Klingon word for Vulcan is vulqangan, and we know from ENT that the Klingons met the Vulcans before they met humans, so presumably they wouldn't use the human name for them. It does seem that whatever their own name is, it's similar-sounding to Vulcan. (The Tears of Eridanus posits that the names of the planet in various native languages include Minshara, T'Khasi, Vulcanis, and Ti-Valka'ain. I'd assume that's a compilation of the various "real names" proposed in fandom over the decades.)

It is rather odd that so many aliens are named after Earth mythology. I guess they find an Earth equivalent word for them.

I was so irritated when ENT: "Minefield" established that the Romulans called themselves Romulans. I mean, it's been obvious ever since "Balance of Terror" that humans must have named their homeworlds after the mythological twins Romulus and Remus because they were twin planets. It's an insane coincidence for them to come from a twin-planet system and just happen to have a name that sounds like a twin from Earth mythology, but that's what "Minefield" established as canonical fact.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Rihannsu I saw someone give Vulcans a similar name in a fanfic recently. Vulkhansu, I think.

 

[Bibliomike]

Yeah, I never said it was borne out by canon. Just my head canon. Maybe Discovery will fill in the gap.

 

[Jinn]

That doesn't seem to be borne out by canon, though. The Vulcan characters in 1957 in "Carbon Creek" call themselves Vulcans, though that could be translated for the benefit of the audience.

I always counted the 1957 scenes in Carbon Creek as just a visuilization for the audience and not as what did really exactly happen. This could explain how they identified as Vulcans. Though From History's Shadow and Elusive Salvation, which are definetly set in the past also use the name "Vulcan" so it doesn't really work...

It is rather odd that so many aliens are named after Earth mythology. I guess they find an Earth equivalent word for them.

I have heard somewhere (best source ever... might just be fanfiction or speculation) that the Vulcan visited or at least were near enough to Earth at one point to observe Roman culture and were soooo impressed that they adopted names and stuff. That doesn't work however with the timeframe of the exile given in the Vulcan's Soul trilogy.

 

[Christopher]

I have heard somewhere (best source ever... might just be fanfiction or speculation) that the Vulcan visited or at least were near enough to Earth at one point to observe Roman culture and were soooo impressed that they adopted names and stuff. That doesn't work however with the timeframe of the exile given in the Vulcan's Soul trilogy.

It's also a blatant ripoff of "Plato's Stepchildren." And maybe Galaxy Quest.

 

[Stevil2001]

The most egregious apostrophe name in the fiction is "M'k'n'zy," which is just an excuse for Peter David to name an alien character "Mackenzie."

(The Tears of Eridanus posits that the names of the planet in various native languages include Minshara, T'Khasi, Vulcanis, and Ti-Valka'ain. I'd assume that's a compilation of the various "real names" proposed in fandom over the decades.)

T'Khasi is said to be the planet's real name in Worlds of the Federation.
Vulcanis is from "Unimatrix Zero" (Tuvok's birthplace of the Vulcanis Lunar Colony), though it fits well with those Season One Star Trek references to "Vulcanians," in my mind.
Ti-Valka'ain is from a LUG sourcebook, The Way of Kohlinar. I suspect it's meant to be an alien-sounding word you could imagine lazy humans pronouncing as "Vulcan" or "Vulcanian." (Maybe that's the one they're using in "Carbon Creek" et al.).
Minshara was our own coinage, based on Enterprise's use of "Minshara-class" to describe what other Star Treks call "Class-M." My thought was that it was analagous to how we refer to "terrestrial" planets based on an old name for Earth being "Terra"-- in the Prime timeline, "Minshara" is an old name for Vulcan that only lends its name to the planetary classification system.

 

[Christopher]

The most egregious apostrophe name in the fiction is "M'k'n'zy," which is just an excuse for Peter David to name an alien character "Mackenzie."

I put some egregious apostrophes of my own in the name K'chak'!'op (Chaka) from Titan. In retrospect, I should've just made it K'chak!op. It would've been easier to type. (And that's a name that's meant to be an onomatopoeic spelling of a series of chitinous clicks and pops.)

Ti-Valka'ain is from a LUG sourcebook, The Way of Kohlinar. I suspect it's meant to be an alien-sounding word you could imagine lazy humans pronouncing as "Vulcan" or "Vulcanian."

That's what I figured.

Minshara was our own coinage, based on Enterprise's use of "Minshara-class" to describe what other Star Treks call "Class-M." My thought was that it was analagous to how we refer to "terrestrial" planets based on an old name for Earth being "Terra"-- in the Prime timeline, "Minshara" is an old name for Vulcan that only lends its name to the planetary classification system.

And this. It's their version of Latin or Greek being used in science.

 

[Stevil2001]

And this. It's their version of Latin or Greek being used in science.

Exactly.

 

[Greg Cox]

I put some egregious apostrophes of my own in the name K'chak'!'op (Chaka) from Titan. In retrospect, I should've just made it K'chak!op. It would've been easier to type.

One trick for dealing with hard-to-type names: use a placeholder name like "Boris" while actually writing the book, then search-and-replace "Boris" to "K'chak'l'op" before delivering the manuscript.

Yes, I have been known to do this.

 

[CaptainDonovin]

I put some egregious apostrophes of my own in the name K'chak'!'op (Chaka) from Titan. In retrospect, I should've just made it K'chak!op. It would've been easier to type. (And that's a name that's meant to be an onomatopoeic spelling of a series of chitinous clicks and pops.)

Forgive me for this but every time I see K'chak'!'op I think ketchup, mostly because when I first read it I was eating a hot dog.

 

[Christopher]

One trick for dealing with hard-to-type names: use a placeholder name like "Boris" while actually writing the book, then search-and-replace "Boris" to "K'chak'l'op" before delivering the manuscript.

Yes, I have been known to do this.

I'm trying to remember if I've ever done that. I have occasionally mass-changed a proper name in revisions, but I don't know if it was for that reason. And you have to be careful that the name you're replacing doesn't appear as part of a word in the document, like, say, "Simon" in "parsimonious" (or else that you have your search function set to be case-sensitive). I had that happen just recently (can't remember what the name was), but I caught it in time.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I wonder why you don't see more Federation ships being named for alien scientists; I'm guessing it has something to do with the audience getting the historical reference without having to explain. ("USS Valtornik? Who's Valtornik?" "She was a Vulcan biochemist who lived in Earth's 19th century.)

Species names so often end in -ian, -an, etc. In a throwaway line in one of my fics, I gave the name "Thab Meera" to a race of people.

 

[Christopher]

Species names so often end in -ian, -an, etc.

That's something I generally try to avoid in the species names I coin. I hate the tendency to assume that all alien languages are basically Latin. (Giving alien female characters names that end in -a is another annoyance.) So I prefer to come up with names like Choblik, Irriol, Pa'haquel, Vomnin, Fethet (plural Fethetrit), Manraloth, Mabrae, etc. I only use the -an suffix if it's clearly the Federation's rendering of an alien name rather than their name for themselves.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I did use the -ean suffix for the Agapeans in my fic "The Best Robe". But that was because it was a re-telling of "the prodigal son", and the word "agape" has a special meaning. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agape

But for "Image Of The Invisible", I called the made up species the Rave'el, breaking the mold.