Brainstorming starship names
- Thread starter MarianLH
- Start date
I would have to agree with that. The name has to make some sort of sense in universe. The USS James Kirk or USS Matthew Decker would make sense to me, but the USS Janice Rand makes no sense without some serious back story explanation.
The central ship in my fanfic is the USS Seleya - named for the revered mountain on Vulcan.
And why not a ship called the Donatu Five ? That's a famous battle, right? In a Trek context...
yes.
as for the Kresta, IIRC, there's actually a Kresta Sea or something...
i never remember how to spell Niagara, ok?
as for the Kresta, IIRC, there's actually a Kresta Sea or something...
i never remember how to spell Niagara, ok?
Yes, there was. It was part of Starfleet Battle Group Omega.
Also there was a USS Chekov destroyed in the Dominion War. (And before anybody mentions Anton Chekhov: I believe the model used for the 'graveyard scenes' had it spelled Chekov. As in Pavel.)
Sorry, Timo.
Chekov was an admitted fan-wank, though it's not hard to imagine that Chekov gained some significant prominence with a command after TUC. We was a Keptin, last we saw him after all.
He was a captain in "Generations"?
If I recall correctly, Chekov is wearing a commander's insignia in GEN, but one of the reporters calls him "Captain Chekov." I like to think that his promotion had been announced, but the ceremony hadn't yet taken place.
Could be that he hadn't taken his command yet (granted, I'm sure the writers weren't thinking along these lines at all, since his role was originally for Doc McCoy)... and, anyway, that he would have been officially become Keptin the moment he assumed command of his new ship.
Foreign (and I mean non-American/English) place names are always a good source. Many navies actually use placenames already, so there could be spacecraft honoring (Eugenics War/WW3-era?) modern naval ships.
Of course, places in Asia, Africa and South America are even more interesting, because they are not immediately recognizable. I've used Chinese provinces for my Anhui class of (early 22nd century) destroyers. Don't forget geological features on other Solar System bodies (especially Luna and Mars).
Alien names are dangerous, and quite easily can become 'silly'. Vulcan names are probably the least silly, followed by the novel-version of Andorian names. Tellarites are quite hard with their single-syllable 'grunts'. Maybe use some of the odder systems like "Em/3/Green" and "Spring Rain on Still Water" (Megarite name from Ex Machina).
Things to avoid are (because of over-use)
- Names of astronauts and kosmonauts. Especially if they died.
- Actually, names of real people in general. I bet all the scientists and science fiction writers have already been mentioned somewhere. Maybe there's special dispensation for ancient names (although FJ already used up most Arab names, I think).
- Stars or other celestial objects.
- Starfleet people, especially TV series heroes. But maybe good for shuttle names.
- American naval ships.
That's enough rambling from me.
Of course, places in Asia, Africa and South America are even more interesting, because they are not immediately recognizable. I've used Chinese provinces for my Anhui class of (early 22nd century) destroyers. Don't forget geological features on other Solar System bodies (especially Luna and Mars).
Alien names are dangerous, and quite easily can become 'silly'. Vulcan names are probably the least silly, followed by the novel-version of Andorian names. Tellarites are quite hard with their single-syllable 'grunts'. Maybe use some of the odder systems like "Em/3/Green" and "Spring Rain on Still Water" (Megarite name from Ex Machina).
Things to avoid are (because of over-use)
- Names of astronauts and kosmonauts. Especially if they died.
- Actually, names of real people in general. I bet all the scientists and science fiction writers have already been mentioned somewhere. Maybe there's special dispensation for ancient names (although FJ already used up most Arab names, I think).
- Stars or other celestial objects.
- Starfleet people, especially TV series heroes. But maybe good for shuttle names.
- American naval ships.
That's enough rambling from me.
Seleya's a good one. The Forge would be another, if any of the novels set on Vulcan ever mentioned its Vulcan name. I'll check later.
Donatu raises an interesting question. Would Starfleet use Donatu Five, Donatu V, Donatu 5 or just Donatu?
I did think it was supposed to be for Anton Chekhov. After reading your post I went and looked it up at Memory Alpha, which claims it was Chekhov after the writer in the original script, but changed to Chekov on the model.
So, on that score:
USS Dehner
USS Nogura
USS Smillie
Federation presidents could also get the nod:
USS Roth
USS Axelrod
Feel free to list some. This thread is for actual ship names, not ideas or talk about ship names.
I'm amazed that no one has called me on the joke in my Vittorio list.
Marian
I always thought that the USS William T. Sherman would be good for a dreadnought or other warship.
A few Hebrew ship names I've been toying with:
USS Moshe ben Maimon or the USS Maimonides
USS Etz Hayyim
USS Mogen David (Da-veed)
USS Yehudah HaMakabee
USS Qohelet
I'm not sure I could justify Starfleet using all of these, but this is just brainstorming after all!
A few others from various sources:
USS Dagda
USS Myrddin Emrys
USS Aurelius
USS Manawydan
USS Thunaer
USS Alföðr
A few Hebrew ship names I've been toying with:
USS Moshe ben Maimon or the USS Maimonides
USS Etz Hayyim
USS Mogen David (Da-veed)
USS Yehudah HaMakabee
USS Qohelet
I'm not sure I could justify Starfleet using all of these, but this is just brainstorming after all!
A few others from various sources:
USS Dagda
USS Myrddin Emrys
USS Aurelius
USS Manawydan
USS Thunaer
USS Alföðr
In the vein of Reliant and Valiant, I like Endurant.
Lots of ancient Greeks get mentioned (I'm Greek myself, so I'm not complaining) but they're mostly men. So I like Antigone (an-TI-gu-nee), from Sophocles's Oedipus trilogy. I've had a nerd crush on the civilly-disobedient heroine since my high school humanities class. FYI, The Greek pronunciation of her name is ahn-tee-WAW(rhymes with maw)-nee.
I'm also in the pro-alien name camp. They're more difficult but necessary still, especially given their rarity. I think giving longer ones lyricality make them easier to remember, and I like the idea of making shorter ones impossible to pronounce for the human throat without adding sounds in. Like how would you pronounce sound combinations like pbww or kja' without ending up with pib-wuh or k-jah? It's not just a matter of sticking difficult letters together but conceiving exotic sounds from different mouth/throat structures. At the same time making them (for whatever reason) pleasing enough to run with. Again it's difficult but not impossible or there's be no Rumpelstiltskin or Mxyzptlk.
Lots of ancient Greeks get mentioned (I'm Greek myself, so I'm not complaining) but they're mostly men. So I like Antigone (an-TI-gu-nee), from Sophocles's Oedipus trilogy. I've had a nerd crush on the civilly-disobedient heroine since my high school humanities class. FYI, The Greek pronunciation of her name is ahn-tee-WAW(rhymes with maw)-nee.
I'm also in the pro-alien name camp. They're more difficult but necessary still, especially given their rarity. I think giving longer ones lyricality make them easier to remember, and I like the idea of making shorter ones impossible to pronounce for the human throat without adding sounds in. Like how would you pronounce sound combinations like pbww or kja' without ending up with pib-wuh or k-jah? It's not just a matter of sticking difficult letters together but conceiving exotic sounds from different mouth/throat structures. At the same time making them (for whatever reason) pleasing enough to run with. Again it's difficult but not impossible or there's be no Rumpelstiltskin or Mxyzptlk.
Don't bother coming up with funny combinations of letters for 'alien' names. Just use english phrases, any phrase, even 'boring' phrases, and then claim that those are the (best) english translations and naturally they'd make more sense if culturally-challenged humans were better-versed in other cultures.