What's with all the Earth-specific starship names in Starfleet?

[WarpTenLizard]

Many starship names like Enterprise, Voyager, Discovery and Defiant are just words that should exist in most languages. But there is still a very disproportionate number of Starfleet ships with clearly Earth-specific names: Cerritos, Oakland, Armstrong, Road Island, Yorktown, Excalibur, Tolstoy, Hera...etc. And that's not even getting into the shuttlecraft names: Galileo, Sacagewea, Cochrane....

The only Starfleet ship I can think of that has a name specific to a planet other than Earth is the U.S.S. T'Kumbra. Ok, and Surak got a shuttlecraft.

I understand that Starfleet began as an Earth operation, and has a human majority; but you'd at least think by the 24th Century that some of the other founding members of the Federation would get some love. Why not more names specific to Vulcan, Andoria or Tellar?

How about giving Surak a starship, rather than just a shuttlecraft? How about the USS T'Pau, the USS Ushaan-tar, or the USS Shran? I'm not personally a big fan of Saru, but the first Kelpian in Starfleet might warrant a starship. Or the first Aenar. USS Saru and USS Hemmer both have a nice ring.

 

[Tosk]

The only Starfleet ship I can think of that has a name specific to a planet other than Earth is the U.S.S. T'Kumbra. Ok, and Surak got a shuttlecraft.

There's also the Gorkon.

I'm not personally a big fan of Saru, but the first Kelpian in Starfleet might warrant a starship.

Can't. He's classified.

 

[WarpTenLizard]

There's also the Gorkon.


Can't. He's classified.

I know the Spore Drive and the Discovery's mission was classified. But are you telling me that no one in Starfleet remembered Saru, Dr. Jett Reno, or Dr. Paul Stammets, before their reappearance in the 32nd Century? (It's been a while since I watched DISCO.)

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

The first Ferengi in Starfleet got a ship named after him at least!

 

[Tosk]

I know the Spore Drive and the Discovery's mission was classified. But are you telling me that no one in Starfleet remembered Saru, Dr. Jett Reno, or Dr. Paul Stammets, before their reappearance in the 32nd Century? (It's been a while since I watched DISCO.)

"Therefore, to insure the Federation never finds itself facing the same danger, all officers remaining with knowledge of these events must be ordered never to speak of Discovery, its spore drive, or her crew again.Under penalty of treason."

We don't know if they implemented every element of Spock's advisement though. They mention Discovery in front of La'an in the first ep of SNW, so...

 

[Nyotarules]

"Therefore, to insure the Federation never finds itself facing the same danger, all officers remaining with knowledge of these events must be ordered never to speak of Discovery, its spore drive, or her crew again. Under penalty of treason."

We don't know if they implemented every element of Spock's advisement though. They mention Discovery in front of La'an in the first ep of SNW, so...

One of the most stupid script lines in the franchise. If the official story is the ship was destroyed with all hands, why ignore that they existed? What do Sarek and Amanda or Sylvia Tilly's mother say when folks ask how is Michael or Sylvia doing? Reply Michael or Sylvia who?

Ok back to the thread topic. I agree in universe the ships needed more non Terran names. Lower Decks (S3E10) was full of ships named after US cities, or states (California class, Texas class....really ?) which is the writers' pandering to their mainly US audience.
Still think it small minded of them.

 

[JLA]

I chose the USS Saru
I cannot believe Discovery's crew members are out of history entirely, as if they never existed. No, that's absurd.

 

[JLA]

I know the Spore Drive and the Discovery's mission was classified. But are you telling me that no one in Starfleet remembered Saru, Dr. Jett Reno, or Dr. Paul Stammets, before their reappearance in the 32nd Century? (It's been a while since I watched DISCO.)

I think not remembering Discovery's crew in such a draconian way would draw more attention to the episode and end up counterproductive. That's how I choose to think of it, anyway. There's a USS Saru.

 

[Shawnster]

But are you telling me that no one in Starfleet remembered Saru, Dr. Jett Reno, or Dr. Paul Stammets, before their reappearance in the 32nd Century? (It's been a while since I watched DISCO.)

What is remembered and recorded is not enough to warrant the honor of naming a ship after them.

Well, maybe Saru but only if simply being the first Kelpian in Starfleet is enough.

 

[JLA]

Saru's contributions during his time in Starfleet are extraordinary.

 

[Finn]

I know the Spore Drive and the Discovery's mission was classified. But are you telling me that no one in Starfleet remembered Saru, Dr. Jett Reno, or Dr. Paul Stammets, before their reappearance in the 32nd Century? (It's been a while since I watched DISCO.)

Sure. Spock wouldn't acknowledge his own adopted sister in SNW. They'd definitely erase Saru's existence if they erased the adopted daughter of the foremost Vulcan diplomat, who helped provoke the war with Klingons...

 

[HotRod]

or the USS Shran?

 

[Avro Arrow]

We've got a thread going in TrekLit right now about Diane Duane's works. One of the things that stands out in her works is the rich diversity in Starfleet, and that extends to her ship naming, too: you have the Inaieu (named after a Denebian king) from My Enemy, My Ally, the Oraidhe (named after a mountain on Trill) from Intellivore, and a number of alien (or alien-sounding, anyway) names from the fleet in The Wounded Sky.

(Yes, I had to look those up on Memory Beta... alien names are harder to remember and spell correctly, which is maybe why they aren't used that often! )

 

[fireproof78]

I know the Spore Drive and the Discovery's mission was classified. But are you telling me that no one in Starfleet remembered Saru, Dr. Jett Reno, or Dr. Paul Stammets, before their reappearance in the 32nd Century? (It's been a while since I watched DISCO.)

I believe a shuttle was named for Stamets in one show.


But, given the war time footing in which they served lack of acknowledgement may be political.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Sure. Spock wouldn't acknowledge his own adopted sister in SNW. They'd definitely erase Saru's existence if they erased the adopted daughter of the foremost Vulcan diplomat, who helped provoke the war with Klingons...

I seem to recall Spock mentioned a sister in one episode. And of course there are Discovery pins in "Memento Mori". So it's not totally verboten.

 

[fireproof78]

I seem to recall Spock mentioned a sister in one episode. And of course there are Discovery pins in "Memento Mori". So it's not totally verboten.

If you talk about the Discovery the spore monster eats you.

 

[Finn]

I seem to recall Spock mentioned a sister in one episode. And of course there are Discovery pins in "Memento Mori". So it's not totally verboten.

No. Her existence was hinted to one of his crewmates ...maybe La'an, but he didn't really confirm or talk about it. I forgot which episode. But it was definitely a big secret he couldn't chat about.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

There should be a USS Rayner.

Unfortunately it might require that Rayner be deceased for this to occur. But as Rayner is obviously too cool to die, Starfleet will just have to find a way around it.

Captain Rayner. What a guy.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Earth names...hmmm.

* Many shipyards are near Earth, so Humans are making the most ship name decisions.
* Lots of famous ships with significant history to name new ships after
* Somebody wrote a big long list a while ago, meaning there are plenty of names in the hopper waiting to be used.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

And everyone who will ever view a Trek episode, in the foreseeable future, is going to be from Earth. So there's that.