Gene Coon (assuming it was he who came up with the name) was probably trying for something Biblical-sounding, like Ephraim or Ezekiel.
Human Name Origins
- Thread starter Laura Cynthia Chambers
- Start date
It occurs to me that one reason TOS might have coined unique, "futuristic" character names like Areel and Zephram was to avoid legal complications from names belonging to real people -- like how Enterprise had to change Jackson Archer to Jonathan Archer due to there being a real Jackson Archer. (I believe the guideline is that it's okay if it's a common name that can't be linked exclusively to one real person, but if only one person has it, or if someone of that name is in a similar profession to the character, then it's preferred to change it for legal reasons.)
As far as I know, Zefrem (<<spelled) IS a Biblical name. Any variant spellings of it are caused by time+translation.
Brief research points to possible transliteration of the Hebrew name "Ephraim." Though also possibly connected to the Greek word "Zephyr."
Ah, okay, I jumped to conclusions. It's actually spelled "Zefrem" in the Star Trek Concordance. James Blish spells it "Zefram," which is apparently the correct version, going by the Encyclopedia and Memory Alpha. It's "Zephram" in the first edition of the Star Trek Compendium, corrected to "Zefram" in the second. So why did we think it was "Zephram?"
KJV name spelling influence?
Just googled Daystrom - first page is all Trek, minus a Toronto school on the same-named street (likely because I live near Toronto)
Just googled Daystrom - first page is all Trek, minus a Toronto school on the same-named street (likely because I live near Toronto)
Another data point to spell Zefram:
https://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/2x09hd/metamorphosishd1325.jpg
Data point 2: Wikipedia never heard of any Zefram apart from Cochrane, and no Zephram at all. So how can the name be Biblical?
Space pseudo Biblical.
He was originally presented as "Zefram Cochrane of Alpha Centauri", with the intent he be an AC native. One of the histories even includes that idea, with an Earth crew meeting him and communicating through mathematics at first. They ultimately got tripped up by the surname Cochrane, which is from Earth, and subsequent books, and eventually episodes and films began to include that in their storylines.
He's a human from Alpha Centauri. I believe the intent was humans colonized Alpha Centauri before the invention of warp drive.
Metamorphosis said:
This is a myth that refuses to die. Gene Coon's original story outline actually described Cochrane as "one of the great space pioneers...in the first expedition to Alpha Centauri." https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/zefram-cochrane-of-alpha-centuri.276565/page-4#post-11323843
"Metamorphosis" stated explicitly and repeatedly that Cochrane was human. He was "of Alpha Centauri" in the sense that T.E. Lawrence was "of Arabia" -- he was famous for going there, for adopting it as his new home after traveling there with the warp drive he invented.
Incidentally, I've found sources asserting that the name Zefram is derived from the Greek Zephyros, meaning the west wind.
That's right, how did I miss that! Open your Space Bibles to the Book of Genesis Device, Chapter 2, folks.
Also, remember that people will change their names for a variety of reasons - hard to pronounce, sounds like something bad, to leave behind a criminal past or dubious heritage and start over, as a result of religious conversion, you just don't like your name, and so on.
Now address the Spaceflight Chronology (I remembered which book) having an article stating that Cochrane was a native of Alpha Centauri and had their peculiar thumb-lice little fingers, and deny it exists. Which it does.
Most of the enigmatic human figures (as in, the mysterious quasi-mythological figure they meet out in space, not Bob Extra from the botany lab) are the ones with futuristic spellings, are they not?
Apparently "Tormolen" is extremely rare. https://forebears.io/surnames/tormolen
Apparently "Tormolen" is extremely rare. https://forebears.io/surnames/tormolen
Last edited:
Of course it exists, but it's not a canonical source. Lots of tie-ins have erroneous interpretations of screen canon, like the FASA TNG sourcebook that thought Betazoids came from the planet Haven, or the DS9 novel Warchild that assumed DS9's runabouts were Cardassian-built craft that came with the station. And of course, the Spaceflight Chronology's conjectures about Trek history and chronology have been extensively contradicted ever since TNG came along, so I don't know why you'd think it's a binding source.
Remember, researchers for these projects couldn't consult MA and other Internet resources like they can now. They had to re-watch or recall/interpret aspects of episodes from memory.
And does that preclude Cochrane having originated elsewhere? A pioneer whose species has never been to Alpha Centauri until he goes, either. Who might even be part human, his human features dominant or also characteristic of his alien race.
He could have a peculiar genetic quirk dominant in Humans (one of the families) who settled there, like some human families have odd colored eyes or a white streak in their hair, that run in their family.
And does that preclude Cochrane having originated elsewhere? A pioneer whose species has never been to Alpha Centauri until he goes, either. Who might even be part human, his human features dominant or also characteristic of his alien race.
He could have a peculiar genetic quirk dominant in Humans (one of the families) who settled there, like some human families have odd colored eyes or a white streak in their hair, that run in their family.
Last edited:
Yes. "Metamorphosis" confirmed explicitly that Cochrane was human. He was never intended to be anything else; indeed, the whole climax of the episode revolves around his xenophobia as a relic from an earlier time when humans weren't as enlightened about interspecies romance as they are in the 23rd century. Mistaking Cochrane for an alien is not only ignoring explicit dialogue from the episode, it's a failure of story comprehension.
(There is a fan theory that tries to reconcile it by claiming Centaurians were transplanted humans, but that's just overcomplicating things. It's far simpler to take the line the way it was intended -- that Cochrane is "of Alpha Centauri" not as a native, but as one of the founding colonists.)
Similar threads
