I remember reading somewhere, possibly in one of James Van Hise's "Unauthorized" guides, that the Cardassians were originally supposed to be called "Sarkassians" until the writer found out that there is a real ethnic group with a similar name. Does anyone remember reading something similar? Which book was it from?
According to merry alpha "I came up with 'Circassians' which I thought had a vaguely alien sound, though something in the back of my mind thought it came too easily," Taylor explained. "And someone (probably Joe Menosky) pointed out that the Circassians were a real people on Earth, in antiquity. So I just played around with the sounds and 'Cardassian' kind of fell into place." (Star Trek: Communicator issue 149, p. 21)