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Lit/fanon inventions that became canon

Lower Decks used the Relaunch novels' Andorian naming system for Mariner's Andorian girlfriend Jennifer Sh'Reyan.
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Jennifer_Sh'reyan

That one could be a coincidence. Lots of Andorian names start with Sh and lots of alien names have apostrophes.
I also have never understood why some people crowed that LD was genuinely using the DS9 novels' four-gender interpretation of the TNG comment by Data. If canon Andorians really were quad-sexed, then by now some LD character would have made a semi-fetishistic comment to highlight Andorian biology, like when Mariner insinuated learning about Anabaj reproduction from dating one to infuriate her mother or when mean personality Rutherford embarassed Barnes about her Trill spots.

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If canon Andorians really were quad-sexed, then by now some LD character would have made a semi-fetishistic comment to highlight Andorian biology, like when Mariner insinuated learning about Anabaj reproduction from dating one to infuriate her mother or when mean personality Rutherford embarassed Barnes about her Trill spots.

Maybe they did -- just not on camera. We're only seeing a small part of their lives. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. No, LD did not confirm anything about Andorian sexuality, but it didn't refute it either.
 
That one could be a coincidence. Lots of Andorian names start with Sh and lots of alien names have apostrophes.
It was done in such a specific way that lines up so exactly with the novels, that I find it hard to believe it's just a coincidence. And I'm not sure but I think Dayton Ward was possibly working as a consultant for the Trek shows at the time, so that could have possibly come from him.
 
I thought Dayton Ward was involved with at least one of the shows too? Or was it just David Mack?
 
As I understand it, Shelby didnt have a canon first name until Picard, which used the first name established by PAD for New Frontier
I was sure there was no way this was possible; I went and read through the transcripts. Wow! This is blowing my mind.

My wife and I could each tell you her full name at the drop of a hat, if asked; I don't think she even read the New Frontier novels. But somehow, the name just... proliferated. (I wonder, was it used in the Star Trek Encyclopedia? Or truly only present in the New Frontier novels?)
 
Picard Season 3 gave Riker's mother's first name as 'Betty' on a personnel file.

The only other place I could find that name being used was on the official website. Memory-Alpha says it was also used in 'The Star Trek Book' reference book though they don't specify which edition, but both released years before Pic Season 3 aired.

No clue where either source got 'Betty' from.

This could kinda count as Fanon to canon if the Star Trek website writers for some reason made up a first name for Riker's mother.
 
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Dayton was offering notes to Secret Hideout on all shows, on behalf of the licensing team at CBS.
I served as a credited consultant on season one of Prodigy and season one of Lower Decks.
Cool, thanks for clearing that up.
 
It was done in such a specific way that lines up so exactly with the novels, that I find it hard to believe it's just a coincidence.

I hear that from laypeople all the time, but the fact is that such coincidences happen routinely, to the point that one of the main reasons for getting a story rejected is that someone else has already had the same idea. It's always more likely to be a coincidence than intentional.

Although in a case like this, it's not coincidence so much as convergent evolution. When different writers build on the same source material, certain recurring patterns are inevitable. The first Andorian names encountered in Trek canon were Thelev and Shras in "Journey to Babel," and those established a phonetic pattern that subsequent Andorian names have generally followed, with Shran in Enterprise reaffirming and reinforcing the practice. So lots of writers over the decades have given Andorians names beginning with "Sh" or "Th," not in reference to each other, but in reference to "Journey to Babel." That's why the novels' Andorian gender prefixes include sh' and th' -- those too are derived from the original pattern.

Besides, Jennifer's surname doesn't line up exactly with the novels, because it's Sh'reyan instead of sh'Reyan. Also, of course, there's no precedent in the novels for Andorians using human given names. (Although issue 16 of DC's TOS Volume 1 comic had an Andorian reporter named Lyndra Dean. I suspect she was written as human and the artist decided to make her Andorian instead.)
 
I guess, but it still seems awfully close, and we've already seen other stuff taken from the novels, so it's not totally unprecedented for that to happen.
 
My wife and I could each tell you her full name at the drop of a hat, if asked; I don't think she even read the New Frontier novels. But somehow, the name just... proliferated. (I wonder, was it used in the Star Trek Encyclopedia? Or truly only present in the New Frontier novels?)
It wasn't used in the Encyclopedia, but it did appear in the video game Star Trek: Starship Creator.

Picard Season 3 gave Riker's mother's first name as 'Betty' on a personnel file.

The only other place I could find that name being used was on the official website. Memory-Alpha says it was also used in 'The Star Trek Book' reference book though they don't specify which edition, but both released years before Pic Season 3 aired.

No clue where either source got 'Betty' from.

This could kinda count as Fanon to canon if the Star Trek website writers for some reason made up a first name for Riker's mother.
The Star Trek Book most likely got the name from the website, which had it in Riker's personnel file as early as 2010. No idea if StarTrek.com made it up or got it from some obscure TNG production source.
 
I have to admit, I was a little surprised they never addressed why she had a human first name, but I assumed she must have been raised on Earth or her parents were just fans of human names.
 
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