Naming ships after people

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

What's the prevailing practice? Last names or full names? Are the okudagram ships generally the ones that get the full names?

For ships like this, http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/USS_Niels_Bohr, calling it simply the "Bohr" sounds like "bore" as in boring.

 

[Sgt_G]

It can go either way. Take the US carriers for example. The USS Nimitz was named for Admiral Chester W. Nimitz but only bears his last name. On the other hand, the USS Carl Vinson and all the ones named for US Presidents have full names. My guess is that it depends on the importance of the person it's named after, and how well it rolls off the tongue. As you pointed out, the USS Niels Bohr just sounds better than the USS Bohr.

 

[Captain Rob]

The USS Gerald Ford sounds a lot better than the USS Ford.
You don't want the lead ship in the newest 21st Century class of aircraft carrier to have the nickname "USS Fix Or Repair Daily".

 

[Tenacity]

I would imagine that in everyday use the Gerald Ford is referred to simply as the Ford.

 

[Ithekro]

Sometimes a ship is given the full name of a famous person because there are more than one famous person with that person's last name. A far as I know there is only one really famous Nimitz, but there are multiple famous Roosevelts, Washingtons, and even Lincolns. Also sometimes it is to specify when someone is not exactly famous in all circles. Most people like have no idea who Carl Vinson or John C. Stanislaus even are, and yet we have Aircraft carriers named after them among a lot of Presidents names. Since USS Enterprise (CVN-65) and USS America (CV-66) all the fleet carriers have been named after people...until the next USS Enterprise (CVN-80) is commissioned.

Starfleet seems to specify for famous people if they need to be more specific, or if the name sounds better in full as oppose to a short version. You will tend to find British ships named after Admirals and Generals that only use their last names, since they will either assume you know which one they are named after, or are inclusive in case there are multiple people with that last name (there actually are a bunch of famous people named Hood in the Royal Navy). Plus Starfleet names ships and shuttles after scientists and people famous for space exploration. I had a talk with someone after the old FASA and Starfleet Battles naming conventions which favored military names where later TNG and others favored men of peace and the like. Where in those two game systems you could find a USS Napoleon or a USS Genghis Khan, it is unlikely you would find one on any televised Star Trek not set in the mirror universe. But you would find ships named after famous warships of the past like Yorktown, Akagi, Enterprise, Victory, and Monitor. About the only name you will likely never find, even in the mirror universe, is a USS Hitler (expect perhaps named by a player in a game...as a joke)

 

[Tracy Trek]

I recall reading in a Trek novel recently that the Capt. of a ship was given the discretion of naming the shuttlecraft.

 

[Kevman7987]

Unfortunately except for the USS Vengeance, you will not find ships with more frightening names. You will never hear about Captain Vader and the USS Devastator for example.

 

[stardream]

I liked the idea of the runabouts on DS9 being named after Earth's rivers. I was sorry when the Shenandoah got shot down.

There was a dust-up on a Star Trek board a long time ago (it might have been here, I don't remember) when someone was making fun of the name USS Crazy Horse. It was someone from the UK or Europe and it was amusing how ALL the Americans took offense. I distinctly remember one post saying 'Don't go dissing Crazy Horse!' As someone who is part Native, I found the whole discussion...interesting.

 

[The Wormhole]

There really isn't much consistency with this, even in the real world. Some ships only have a person's last name, others have their first and last name, others still include the initial of their middle name, and in some cases if the person had any titles like "Sir" or "Lord" even that gets included in the ship's name.

 

[Tenacity]

Russia ship names would occassionally start with "Admiral" followed by the persons name.

 

[Richard Baker]

I would like to see some ships named after people who have not been born yet. We have several centuries of individuals capable of making noteworthy achievements and we still find all the ships named after those in our history.

I know it is in part to keep things 'relatable', but considering a vast number of people are relatively ignorant of world history and don't really know who the current ships might be named after I do not think it makes that much difference.

 

[J.T.B.]

The USS Gerald Ford sounds a lot better than the USS Ford.
You don't want the lead ship in the newest 21st Century class of aircraft carrier to have the nickname "USS Fix Or Repair Daily".

There was a USS Ford till a few years ago, Perry class. Named after Patrick O. Ford, posthumous recipient of the Navy Cross for heroism in Vietnam.

Sometimes a ship is given the full name of a famous person because there are more than one famous person with that person's last name.

One of the more extreme examples I know of was when the early US Navy had an Adams and a John Adams serving at the same time and named after the same president!

There really isn't much consistency with this, even in the real world. Some ships only have a person's last name, others have their first and last name, others still include the initial of their middle name, and in some cases if the person had any titles like "Sir" or "Lord" even that gets included in the ship's name.

And sometimes a well-known nickname, Bonhomme Richard and Iron Duke come to mind.

The US tends not to use ranks and titles in the name for combatant ships, but it has been very common to use "Admiral..." and "General..." for transports.

 

[David Strickhouser]

In the TNT TV series "The Last Ship" a Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer (a real class of Navy vessel) is given the fictional name Nathan James, so in their "universe" Nathan James was some one of import (maybe a former Joint Chiefs).

 

[J.T.B.]

In the TNT TV series "The Last Ship" a Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer (a real class of Navy vessel) is given the fictional name Nathan James, so in their "universe" Nathan James was some one of import (maybe a former Joint Chiefs).

Maybe a high official like a joint chiefs member, maybe a heroic sailor or marine. FWIW in the book The Last Ship by William Brinkley, Nathan James was a navy ensign who was awarded the Navy Cross for heroism in WW2. Her hull number was DDG-80, which in real life turned out to be USS Roosevelt.

 

[David Strickhouser]

Maybe a high official like a joint chiefs member, maybe a heroic sailor or marine. FWIW in the book The Last Ship by William Brinkley, Nathan James was a navy ensign who was awarded the Navy Cross for heroism in WW2. Her hull number was DDG-80, which in real life turned out to be USS Roosevelt.

Thanks. Haven't read the original novel.

 

[MacLeod]

I would like to see some ships named after people who have not been born yet. We have several centuries of individuals capable of making noteworthy achievements and we still find all the ships named after those in our history.

I know it is in part to keep things 'relatable', but considering a vast number of people are relatively ignorant of world history and don't really know who the current ships might be named after I do not think it makes that much difference.

Haven't we seen the USS Sarek?

I guess when naming ships more often or not they want the audiance to know who the ship was named after rather than having to explain it.

 

[Richard Baker]

Haven't we seen the USS Sarek?

I guess when naming ships more often or not they want the audiance to know who the ship was named after rather than having to explain it.

Why would you need to explain it- just give it an interesting name and use it.
Most schools these days do not teach much historical facts, instead they mostly tell you how you should feel about it. I think if you were to take a survey of high schoolers most would not know who Crazy Horse was. I didn't know who Rodger Young was at the time but still enjoyed 'Starship Troopers'

 

[Cyfa]

Haven't we seen the USS Sarek?

- Speaking of: It would be nice to see more ships and shuttles named after non-humans and non-Earth locations etc. Canonically, I know we've had the USS Sarek, USS Gorkon, USS T'Kumbra, and USS Sitak (hopefully there are others I can't recall at the mo), and TrekLit has expanded the non-human/non-Earth ship names somewhat, but we could stand a few more when Discovery comes out. Maybe some Andorian, Bajoran, Betazoid, Tellarite and Trill names (amongst others)?

 

[The Wormhole]

Thanks. Haven't read the original novel.

You're really not missing much. The Last Ship novel is nothing at all like the show. Hell, at this point the only similarity other than the title is that the titular ship is named Nathan James in both novel and show.

The novel is certainly an experience. Told first person narrative from the perspective of a captain who most certainly is not Tom Chandler as played by Eric Dane. This Captain Tom (a last name is never given, strangely enough) has issues with women serving in the Navy (and issues with women in general). Sexism, combined with his strange love of the sea and preference to be in the company of seamen kind of make him look like a closet homosexual. I would recommend it for its weirdness and absurdity, but its over 500 pages of tiny print, and at times becomes repetitive, tedious and even depressing.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

They don't name starships after real recent Earth historical figures who are still living, because they don't want to make a judgement call about what the legacy of a person will be before they've been dead for a while; that is, how history will remember them. It could be embarrassing if a famous scientist's claims are proven wrong, or a "great" leader's dark side comes out.