Male and female Vulcan names

[I am not Spock]

Usually male names start with S (and often end in K). Surak, Sarek, Spock, Stonn. Female ones usually have the T'P thing as a prefix. T'Pau, T'Pol, T'Pring, T'Plana Hath, T'Pel.

And then you have oddities like Tuvok. Wouldn't a male version be more like Suvok? And of course , Saavik, a female character.

I know human names fluctuate wildly and there are no rigid rules for naming your children. It's just an interesting observation about Vulcan names.

 

[Hober Mallow]

And then you have oddities like Tuvok. Wouldn't a male version be more like Suvok? And of course , Saavik, a female character.

You mean Mister Saavik?

 

[HIjol]

...if you can get your hands on a copy of "Inside Star Trek," there are some very enjoyable and darned funny reproductions of memos going back and forth between Gene, et al., regarding Vulcan names...good stuff!

 

[HIjol]

And then you have oddities like Tuvok. Wouldn't a male version be more like Suvok? And of course , Saavik, a female character.

You mean Mister Saavik?

...you may ask...

 

[Santa Kang]

Usually male names start with S (and often end in K). Surak, Sarek, Spock, Stonn. Female ones usually have the T'P thing as a prefix. T'Pau, T'Pol, T'Pring, T'Plana Hath, T'Pel.

And then you have oddities like Tuvok. Wouldn't a male version be more like Suvok? And of course , Saavik, a female character.

I know human names fluctuate wildly and there are no rigid rules for naming your children. It's just an interesting observation about Vulcan names.

Here's a list of named Vulcans. While "S" male and "T" female dominate there is some variety, with men's names that begin with "T" ( but not "T' ") and women's names that begin with "S". Plus names that begin with other letters.

 

[USS Triumphant]

Back in high school, my friends and I used to all have "Vulcan" names, and sometimes other people would ask me for ones for them, too. My rule of thumb was that if they were guys, five letters, first* 'S', last 'k', and the middle three letters would be from their human name. If they were girls, then 'T' and an apostrophe, then either a 'P', an 'S', an 'L', or a 'K', and then either two, four, or five** letters from their human names. I would try to keep it as close to their own names as possible within those parameters, and sometimes I would give them a couple of options and let them choose. I cheated for mine and took "Surak". Some of these actually ended up listed in our yearbooks as nicknames for students! Mine did. I make no claim to any sort of authority on this, but a lot of people liked it, and it seemed to fit most of the names presented in the shows up to that point.

*Tuvok wasn't a thing yet in '93. My assumption now is that the 'T' at the beginning is a regional variant of the tradition that honors Surak from the region of their planet that black Vulcans are most prominent in. It didn't fit Stonn, and I didn't and don't care, 'cause screw that guy.

**I was operating under the assumption that Saavik's name was actually T'Saavik and she was called just Saavik because the T' on her name made it unwieldy to human tongues.

 

[C.E. Evans]

There is no set rule for Vulcan male and female names. As already mentioned more than once here, the respective use of "S" and "T" is more common, but it's definitely not uncommon for them to be switched and for names to begin with other letters:

Vorik (Vulcan male)
Taurik (Vulcan male-we actually saw him in TNG before Tuvok)
Lojal (Vulcan male)
Kuvak (Vulcan male)
Sakonna (Vulcan female)
V'Las (Vulcan male)
Valeris (Vulcan female)
Selar (Vulcan female)

 

[vulcan redshirt]

Is it just me, or do a lot of Vulcan names sound vaguely Slavic?

 

[USS Triumphant]

The other theory I have regarding naming conventions is that adherence to the traditional naming pattern that honors Surak for males (and perhaps T'Pel for females?) is most important to the aristocracy. Sarek's family having descended from Surak himself, for instance. If a name doesn't fit the pattern, it probably means that it belongs to a "working class Vulcan", so to speak.

Again, all complete conjecture on my part, but I take it as as good as anything until something definitive comes along.

 

[Melakon]

Along with all of the above, vulcan redshirt mentions some names sounding Slavic. As with USS Triumphant's aristocracy theory, it's possible that Vulcan naming conventions indicate what region or province of the planet they're from.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Truthfully, though, Vulcan names can be totally arbitrary and not based on anything specific.

 

[Misfit Toy]

Is it just me, or do a lot of Vulcan names sound vaguely Slavic?

"Slavic" would make a good name for a Vulcan too.

 

[Armored Saint]

Usually male names start with S (and often end in K). Surak, Sarek, Spock, Stonn. Female ones usually have the T'P thing as a prefix. T'Pau, T'Pol, T'Pring, T'Plana Hath, T'Pel.

Before Maltz and Torg in The Search for Spock, male Klingon characters had all names starting with K.

It seems there was a clear naming rules for Vulcan and Klingon for earlier Star Trek material which was relaxed with time. It's not a bad thing, because Korf or T'Paavik don't sound really great.

 

[Melakon]

The name Worf always bothered me a little bit, because it sounds like a place to tie up a boat.

 

[FormerLurker]

There is no set rule for Vulcan male and female names. As already mentioned more than once here, the respective use of "S" and "T" is more common, but it's definitely not uncommon for them to be switched and for names to begin with other letters:

Vorik (Vulcan male)
Taurik (Vulcan male-we actually saw him in TNG before Tuvok)
Lojal (Vulcan male)
Kuvak (Vulcan male)
Sakonna (Vulcan female)
V'Las (Vulcan male)
Valeris (Vulcan female)
Selar (Vulcan female)

Vorik and Taurik were both played by Alexander Enberg. Just so you know.

 

[T'Girl]

There's something about two different character having the same Vulcan name (T'Pel) that I like.

Of course occasionally two people are going to have the same name.

 

[Gul Re'jal]

Is it just me, or do a lot of Vulcan names sound vaguely Slavic?

No to me, no (a speaker of 3 Slavic languages). Although an author of one fanfic series named her Vulcan captain "Nipple" in one of those languages, so...

I always assumed that different tendencies in names are a result of different cultures... you know, like John Smith vs. Cheung Tak Wah, who both come from the same planet, too.

 

[Shat Happens]

The name Worf always bothered me a little bit, because it sounds like a place to tie up a boat.

True. He should have been called Korf.

Or Bob.

 

[C.E. Evans]

There is no set rule for Vulcan male and female names. As already mentioned more than once here, the respective use of "S" and "T" is more common, but it's definitely not uncommon for them to be switched and for names to begin with other letters:

Vorik (Vulcan male)
Taurik (Vulcan male-we actually saw him in TNG before Tuvok)
Lojal (Vulcan male)
Kuvak (Vulcan male)
Sakonna (Vulcan female)
V'Las (Vulcan male)
Valeris (Vulcan female)
Selar (Vulcan female)

Vorik and Taurik were both played by Alexander Enberg. Just so you know.

He's in the fairly long list of actors who have played different characters in Trek. Quite a few have even played different Human characters. In the case of Eberg, he had the benefit of having producer and VOY co-creator Jeri Taylor as his mother, who off-hand suggested Vorik and Taurik were twin brothers.

 

[Shik]

There is no set rule for Vulcan male and female names. As already mentioned more than once here, the respective use of "S" and "T" is more common, but it's definitely not uncommon for them to be switched and for names to begin with other letters:

Vorik (Vulcan male)
Taurik (Vulcan male-we actually saw him in TNG before Tuvok)
Lojal (Vulcan male)
Kuvak (Vulcan male)
Sakonna (Vulcan female)
V'Las (Vulcan male)
Valeris (Vulcan female)
Selar (Vulcan female)

And V'Lar. Mmm, V'Lar. That woman rocks.