Spoilers What is the connection between Doctor Soong and Khan Singh?

We don't know that she didn't, either.

Claims that FC altered the timeline require concrete evidence to that effect, and there is none. So until we hear differently, it WAS a predestination paradox.

 

Weren't her parents looking into the Borg before anyone would have known about the Borg?

Personally I think timeline changes from FC caused the Temporal Cold War and the 23rd century visual reboot (TM).

 

There had been long standing rumors about the Borg (based on anecdotes told by survivors of Borg attacks, such as the El Aurians from GEN), and the Hansens were sent to investigate said rumors. They were acting on behalf of the Federation Council on Exobiology.

So people most definitely did know about the Borg at the time.

 

Wouldn't they know of them even if they didn't know about them? Guinan had been around a while. Their exact nature may not have been known but rumors or tales might exist.

 

Good discussion, just going to weigh in on the OP question.

As someone pointed out, would it be named Project Khan if Khan Noonien Singh didn't already exist? I doubt it *unless* he was given that name by his creators, of whom Soong was one. The folder says "funding report", so this is before actual work would have begun (I think). Either way, 1) I think the 1996 date was meant to be an easter egg for fans, and 2) La'an is not related to the Soong family (unless Adam used some of his own DNA).

Clear as mud?

My personal opinion is that Adam Soong was one of those scientists McCoy referred to behind the Eugenics Wars (whether he created KNS or not is still TBD in my mind) and that La'an is not related to him. But there's plenty of wiggle room here for the writers of SNW, if they wish to use it.

 

It's possible because "Khan" simply means "chief or ruler" so the title of the project could very well be "Project Ruler."

 

Yep. “Khan” is an honorific, not a name. The guy’s actual name is Noonian Singh. There could have been other Khans operating throughout the world at that time as well.

And the fact that some guy named Soong was involved in a project to create genetically engineered supermen, one of whom happened to have the last name ‘Singh,’ does not infer any sort of relationship between the two, as the OP originally speculated, or that La’an is a descendant of Soong.

 

Noonien Singh, Noonian Soong..

IIRC Gene knew someone named Noonien Singh in school and that's why he used the name.

 

yeah, the connection is a real life one, not a narrative one.

 

They were sent? I may be misremembering, but I assumed they went off on their own. Thus their bringing their freaking child along.

 

Yeah they weren't sent by the Federation based on the wording of this log:

"Field notes, USS Raven, Stardate 32611.4. It's about time. The Federation Council on Exobiology has given us final approval. Starfleet's still concerned about security issues, but they've agreed not to stand in our way. We've said our good-byes, and we're ready to start chasing our theories about the Borg."

 

How did they know the name, The Borg?

 

They heard about them from rumours and tales from the Beta Quadrant.
Maybe some of the El-Aurian refugees used the name.

 

That's still pretty horrible unless they were hiding the fact that they were bringing their daughter along.