Naming A Starship

[Nerys Myk]

And the fleet should reflect the galatic races that work, live and die in its name. Not just its human contingent, just as United Earth Starfleet should/would have ships to reflect Earth and not just English speaking nations.

True, but that's a different thing than Vulcans serving on a ship with a Vulcan name. The NCC 1701 could have a Andorian name and still have it's mostly human crew.

 

[Nyotarules]

True, but that's a different thing than Vulcans serving on a ship with a Vulcan name. The NCC 1701 could have a Andorian name and still have it's mostly human crew.

In one of the Rise of the Federation novels an Andorian ship assigned to the new Federation Starfleet has an Andorian name which translates as Enterprise in English. Maybe the next reboot Star Trek would have the crew on the USS Soval or USS T'Plana Hath

 

[Timo]

Don't you have that backwards? I would think that just using numbers would be the cop out.

Both are. The point is that there is zero effort involved. A ship named from a random list is not named for real.

And we're talking about fleets with lots of ships at once, so you can use more than just political names. So whar's your point?

That names not from random lists are superior, in having a meaning and a purpose involved. Starfleet might well see large numbers of ships not as a burden that forces them to resort to lists, but as an opportunity to devote more ships to specific causes.

Learn the history, learn the culture, understand the tradiition, the exact same way it's done now.

Except it's patently impossible for us in the Trek context, as there is no history, culture or tradition in existence there, not for real, and not even in that part of the fiction accessible to us.

Once we take the step of postulating that those things fictionally exist, despite our lack of access to them, we have already taken the step of accepting that the Starfleet naming practices may be in adherence with said. It's just that they have more battle sites, more States and more Carl Vinsons to go by than the USN.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Doom Shepherd]

And the fleet should reflect the galatic races that work, live and die in its name. Not just its human contingent, just as United Earth Starfleet should/would have ships to reflect Earth and not just English speaking nations.

They tried this, but it turned out nobody else but the Drooglians could pronounce the name of the USS Shrtreeeeeeeeerrinnnnnktkctlk*flash of red light**gesture considered obscene on Andor* H’t’t’lghhh.

The advantage of Earth language is it’s so primitive nearly every alien biology can find a way to speak it. Even the Phrrrtinitrrrrp of Flatulence VII.

 

[Edward Jellico]

Short version, if Starfleet wants to acknowledge those who died on the Eastern front, Zhukov is the least worse name.

I'd of gone for Rokossovsky myself. He survived the purges, despite undergoing torture, and had a very good war record.

 

[Admiral2]

Both are. The point is that there is zero effort involved. A ship named from a random list is not named for real.

But waiting for each individual ship to come off the ways and get commissioned and assigned before you think of naming it is ridiculously inefficient, regardless of how "real" you consider that name to be.

That names not from random lists are superior, in having a meaning and a purpose involved. Starfleet might well see large numbers of ships not as a burden that forces them to resort to lists, but as an opportunity to devote more ships to specific causes.

But governments just don't procure ships that way. They balance design requirements against current and future needs and procure ships in bulk, and once they've decided on how many they want they start picking numbers and names. What you're talking about is them sticking strictly to designing specialty ships. People keep pointing out to me how big the Federation is supposed to be. Well, you can't keep all those worlds secure and still explore the rest of the galaxy if each ship you build is a one-off ad-hoc project.

Except it's patently impossible for us in the Trek context, as there is no history, culture or tradition in existence there, not for real, and not even in that part of the fiction accessible to us.

Nonsense. If it's true that every character has a backstory, the backstories of all the characters we've seen in Trek combine to make up a shared history. All the worlds we've seen in Trek, with their peoples, make up a large diverse culture. There have been plenty of references in that shared history and culture to select names from.

Once we take the step of postulating that those things fictionally exist,

Step taken. Of course they exist.

despite our lack of access to them, we have already taken the step of accepting that the Starfleet naming practices may be in adherence with said.

Except, as I said, they aren't, and all the evidence you need is in canon and has nothing to do with history or culture. It's in the ships they name after common titles (Sovereign), cosmic phenomena (Galaxy, Nebula and Nova) and abstract concepts (Intrepid) which could all be followed up with similar titles, specific cosmic names and similar abstract titles, without worrying about which world to choose them from, but that's not how they name ships, so if you're not crazy about naming traditions, you're already getting what you want.

It's just that they have more battle sites, more States and more Carl Vinsons to go by than the USN.

They also have worlds, moons, famous explorers and celebrities on every world. That's not my issue. My issue is, when they could name exploration ships after explorers, science vessels after scientists, medical ships after medical pioneers, Starfleet's primary naming tradition seems to be using a randomizer program in LCARS to come up with stuff.

 

[Kemaiku]

USS Contractual Obligation 4900
USS Contract Thingy 5
USS Metal Go Woosh

 

[marlboro]

"Jefferson"

 

[J.T.B.]

My point is, you've listed a relative handful of names in a Navy with hundreds of ships, and those ships generally follow their own naming traditions. Ticonderogas are named after battles, Arleigh Burkes are named after notable figures in Navy history, Los Angeleses are named after cities, Ohios and Virginias are named after states, carriers are named after presidents and famous figures in american history. For every ship you bring up that doesn't follow naming traditions I can give you twenty that do, so you can tell class and type from the name more often than not if you're paying attention.

But what about the British ships?

I agree that it would be useful if a rule were followed, but once you have a lot of exceptions that usefulness is greatly reduced. If you just hear a name, there's no way to know if it follows the exception or the rule without further information. And as you go along in time, the exceptions accumulate, to the point that US fleet carriers have been named named after famous warships and battles and aviation pioneers and presidents and members of Congress and a cabinet member and an admiral. Who's to say something similar didn't happen in Starfleet? It just seems odd to criticize Star Trek for not following naval traditions that the navy itself does not follow.

 

[Timo]

They also have worlds, moons, famous explorers and celebrities on every world. That's not my issue. My issue is, when they could name exploration ships after explorers, science vessels after scientists, medical ships after medical pioneers, Starfleet's primary naming tradition seems to be using a randomizer program in LCARS to come up with stuff.

I just can't see the argument here. Surely everybody is using a "randomizer program" in naming ships? The USN does not name exploration ships after explorers or logistics ships after stevedores, or battleships after famous naval warriors or naval battles. If there are themes, said themes are picked at utter random: geographical or political divisions, famous entertainers, species of animals. And then not adhered to, except in cases of mass production.

We cannot observe a difference vis-á-vis Starfleet there. A class launched by USS Galaxy does not set up a theme of astronomical phenomena, but a class launched by HMS King George V does not set up a theme of sovereigns, either. A class launched by USS Sovereign is not followed by ships listing types of head of state or types of coinage, but a class launched by Udaloy is not followed by ships named after positive human characteristics.

And we could not tell whether a theme did exist and was adhered to, because, contrary to your claim, we don't know the history and culture of the Trek future. We cannot establish, say, that Nebula wouldn't be the name of a famous person or battle site or piece of entertainment - it's that badly off that we are here.

There may be theme classes in Starfleet; the observed ones would be the runabouts and the Oberths. But those need not be statistically any more or less prominent than ITRW.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I wonder how much say a Captain might have over the naming of a new ship. For example, did Solok oversee the construction of a Nebula-Class ship before being appointed as its new CO and ask the ship be called T'Kumbra (given his Vulcan-centric views), or did he request command of a ship with a Vulcan name, or was it just a happy coincidence?

 

[Lance]

USS Boaty McBoatface

 

[Timo]

I wonder how much say a Captain might have over the naming of a new ship. For example, did Solok oversee the construction of a Nebula-Class ship before being appointed as its new CO and ask the ship be called T'Kumbra (given his Vulcan-centric views), or did he request command of a ship with a Vulcan name, or was it just a happy coincidence?

...Or was the ship constructed as part of a Vulcan quota, for the specific defense or exploration needs of planet Vulcan, and with the intent that only Vulcan COs be assigned to her, and Solok was #2 on the list and thus succeeded the equally Vulcan Captain Skywalkerk and eventually handed over the command to Captain Organak?

This is AFAIK our only example of a ship with an alien name verifiably commanded by an alien, so drawing conclusions is somewhat premature. The Gorkon may have had a human or Bolian rather than Klingon CO, say.

(Of course, referring back to another post above, we can't really tell whether T'Kumbra is a Vulcan name to begin with...)

Timo Saloniemi

 

[IMC Headquarters]

Runabouts named after Maine's longest three rivers would be nice: Kennebec, Androscoggin, Penobscot.

 

[holyforge]

What names would you like to be seen be used?
What names have you liked?
Are there any names you hated?

One ship name that doesn't seem to fit the Starfleet ethos is the USS Zhukov. No doubt he was an influential Marshall, however, he was very ruthless, had no problem throwing away lives and served a totalitarian regime. Seems strange that a Federation starship would be named after him.

I have no issue with other navies using that name, it just seems strange for Starfleet.

I tend to use city/state names or famous people.

 

[Gabriel]

For me naming ships are famous battles and naval ships

 

[Sgt_G]

I wonder how much say a Captain might have over the naming of a new ship.

Next to none. The construction contract would have been signed off years before the first plank was laid down. And the project officer most likely would not be the future commander.

 

[J.T.B.]

Next to none. The construction contract would have been signed off years before the first plank was laid down. And the project officer most likely would not be the future commander.

Also, ship captains are many rungs down from the top levels of power. The Federation council, cabinet, Starfleet Command etc. would want their say.

 

[Mysterion]

Famous astronauts/space explorers: Gagarin, Glenn, Armstrong, Watney...

 

[STR]

It's not any specific names that I want so much as proper adherence to a naming convention. I don't care how famous the name is, a Galaxy-class should not be named Enterprise. Neither should a Sovereign. And naming Intrepid-classes Voyager and Bellerophon just says "I give no f***s about naval tradition." Names of subsequent ships should have some bearing on the name of the first ship of the class, so you know exactly what type of ship you're talking about without needing pictures or detailed descriptions.

The only type this is done for in canon is the runabout. All of these are named after rivers. Great. So...you just need to brush up on geography...every M-class planet's geography that is...

USS Seawolf SSN-21
USS Connecticut SSN-22
USS Jimmy Carter SSN-23

All 3 are actual Seawolf-class submarines. One is a mythical sea creature (and a famous name in sub history), one is a state, one is a former head of state (and former submariner).

Also,

USS Gerald R Ford CVN-78
John F Kennedy CVN-79
Enterprise CVN-80

All are (or are going to be) Ford-class aircraft carriers. President, president, Enterprise.

Most countries don't GAF about consistent naming within a class. The Brits like to get cute (even to the point where all ships in a class start with the same letter), but few countries are so strict.