Surnames in Star Trek

[WarpTenLizard]

What bugs me is the preposterous amount of surnames from the UK, in an organization that supposedly has humans from all over the globe. Sure, the main cast usually has an Uhura, Picard or Torres; but the recurring and one-off crewmembers disproportionately seem to have last names from England, Scotland or Ireland.

I'm not even just talking about racial diversity, but even the entire rest of Europe! Even in small-town Wisconsin, it would be strange to have a class comprised almost entirely of names like Murphy, Wildman, O'Brien, etc; half if not more of white Americans have surnames from Russia, Germany, France, Italy and so forth.

I suspect the writers don't want to use names that were too "exotic" for humans who weren't main characters, lest the viewers get confused about who's supposed to be an alien. But even still, there should be enough well-known names from other languages that wouldn't throw the American viewers off. (Schmitz? Chang? Ivanoff? Lopez? Patel? La Beau? Mandella? Ali? Falconi? Pendanski? Martinez? Quan?)

And then, even when we do get a non-British Surname, more often than not, they still have an English first name! (Alyssa Ogawa, John Torres, Michael Ayala, Susan Nicoletti...) "Voyager" was especially bad about this.

I think new-Trek is doing a much better job with making the crews actually look and sound like they're from all over the globe and Quadrant. But in 90s Trek it was enough of a trend to arguably be a plothole.

 

[Christopher]

What bugs me is the preposterous amount of surnames from the UK, in an organization that supposedly has humans from all over the globe. Sure, the main cast usually has an Uhura, Picard or Torres; but the recurring and one-off crewmembers disproportionately seem to have last names from England, Scotland or Ireland.

Not only that, but non-Western names in Trek aren't always valid. There's no such name as "Uhura"; it should be Uhuru, but Roddenberry and Nichols chose to "soften" the sound for Western ears. And Sulu isn't used as a surname in Asia as far as I know; it's the name of a sea and a geographical region in the Philippines. And "Chekov" is apparently a misspelling of "Chekhov."

I suspect the writers don't want to use names that were too "exotic" for humans who weren't main characters, lest the viewers get confused about who's supposed to be an alien.

Except that many Trek alien names are real human names -- Spock, Kang, Mara, Chang, Troi (or at least Troy), Kira, Nerys (pronounced differently), Odo, Dax, etc.

But even still, there should be enough well-known names from other languages that wouldn't throw the American viewers off. (Schmitz? Chang? Ivanoff? Lopez? Patel? La Beau? Mandella? Ali? Falconi? Pendanski? Martinez? Quan?)

I was just thinking a little while ago about the way many writers name characters after their own friends and family, and how I've rarely done that because I know my circle of acquaintances has not been diverse enough to represent humanity accurately (though it was most diverse in my college days). I always try to go farther afield and draw character names from all over the world.

And then, even when we do get a non-British Surname, more often than not, they still have an English first name! (Alyssa Ogawa, John Torres, Michael Ayala, Susan Nicoletti...) "Voyager" was especially bad about this.

Which would be more plausible with, say, characters of Chinese descent, for it's common in that culture to have a Chinese name and a Western given name -- like in Shang-Chi where Katy Chen's Mandarin name is Chen Ruiwen. Other Asian countries too -- in college I had a friend whose given name was Hong Ngoc (Rose Jade) but who had been christened Theresa when her family moved from Vietnam to America.

Alyssa Ogawa isn't so bad, since in Japanese phonetics it would be Arisa, which is not an uncommon female given name in Japan (though it's originally derived from Alice).

I think new-Trek is doing a much better job with making the crews actually look and sound like they're from all over the globe and Quadrant. But in 90s Trek it was enough of a trend to arguably be a plothole.

And it's not just Trek. I've finally been watching The Orville, and it has the exact same problem with character names being overwhelmingly from the British Isles, as well as the same deficiency of Asian characters (Admiral Ozawa and Nurse Park are about it). Also, it's done these terrific stories with alien allegories for homophobia and transphobia, but I'm halfway through season 3 and have yet to see a same-sex relationship between humans. It's like it's deliberately emulating Berman-era Trek's deficiency in that regard.

 

[WarpTenLizard]

Not only that, but non-Western names in Trek aren't always valid. There's no such name as "Uhura"; it should be Uhuru, but Roddenberry and Nichols chose to "soften" the sound for Western ears. And Sulu isn't used as a surname in Asia as far as I know; it's the name of a sea and a geographical region in the Philippines. And "Chekov" is apparently a misspelling of "Chekhov."




Except that many Trek alien names are real human names -- Spock, Kang, Mara, Chang, Troi (or at least Troy), Kira, Nerys (pronounced differently), Odo, Dax, etc.




I was just thinking a little while ago about the way many writers name characters after their own friends and family, and how I've rarely done that because I know my circle of acquaintances has not been diverse enough to represent humanity accurately (though it was most diverse in my college days). I always try to go farther afield and draw character names from all over the world.




Which would be more plausible with, say, characters of Chinese descent, for it's common in that culture to have a Chinese name and a Western given name -- like in Shang-Chi where Katy Chen's Mandarin name is Chen Ruiwen. Other Asian countries too -- in college I had a friend whose given name was Hong Ngoc (Rose Jade) but who had been christened Theresa when her family moved from Vietnam to America.

Alyssa Ogawa isn't so bad, since in Japanese phonetics it would be Arisa, which is not an uncommon female given name in Japan (though it's originally derived from Alice).




And it's not just Trek. I've finally been watching The Orville, and it has the exact same problem with character names being overwhelmingly from the British Isles, as well as the same deficiency of Asian characters (Admiral Ozawa and Nurse Park are about it). Also, it's done these terrific stories with alien allegories for homophobia and transphobia, but I'm halfway through season 3 and have yet to see a same-sex relationship between humans. It's like it's deliberately emulating Berman-era Trek's deficiency in that regard.

All damn good points.

I suppose the universal translator might also be Anglicanizing some of the first names.

Naming characters directly after friends or relatives in a story where their names wouldn't fit the setting is another big peeve of mine. Surely there are other ways to slip in homages to people without hampering the story. Honor your Uncle Bob and Aunt Natalie with a Roberto and a Natasha, and your best friend Max with a Bolian named Xam. Or find a Japanese or Swahili name that has the same meaning as your friend's name. Or something.

I haven't caught up with "the Orville," but that does sound like a strange pattern. I do hope they're not actively trying to follow 90s-Trek's rules about onscreen sexuality.

 

[Skipper]

I haven't caught up with "the Orville," but that does sound like a strange pattern. I do hope they're not actively trying to follow 90s-Trek's rules about onscreen sexuality.

It's a little strange, because

Spoiler: Queer(?) character

The new female navigator said clearly that she felt romantic love for another dead female character

But yes, there wasn't any instance of LBGTQI+ human couples on screen. Bizzarre.

 

[Skipper]

And it's not just Trek. I've finally been watching The Orville,

Are you planning to review it on your blog or the Patreon page?

 

[Christopher]

I suppose the universal translator might also be Anglicanizing some of the first names.

I don't see why it would do that -- surely the Federation isn't so Eurocentric that it would treat non-Western human names as something "alien" that needed to be changed.

I also dislike the idea that the translator is constantly active and people are "actually" speaking their own native languages. It would be foolish and dangerous to expect officers on a starship to rely on a technological crutch in order to comprehend each other. They should be required to speak a common language (their vocal anatomy permitting) so they can still function as a crew if the translator fails or is unavailable. I mean, they're Starfleet. Learning new stuff is their whole job. So learning a common language shouldn't be hard.

Besides, Anglophone Americans tend not to realize it, but most of the human race speaks two or more languages as a matter of course. It's commonplace to speak both one's own regional language or dialect and a more widely used lingua franca. It's something most people do, so it's not something they should need a technological crutch for.

Although The Orville sometimes does the Star Wars thing where a member of the crew (like Unk or Brosk) speaks in a subtitled alien language and the others speak back in English, and they both understand each other perfectly. I'm not sure whether that's meant to be translator use or just mutual fluency, since usually the audience hears machine-translated dialogue in English.

Naming characters directly after friends or relatives in a story where their names wouldn't fit the setting is another big peeve of mine. Surely there are other ways to slip in homages to people without hampering the story. Honor your Uncle Bob and Aunt Natalie with a Roberto and a Natasha, and your best friend Max with a Bolian named Xam. Or find a Japanese or Swahili name that has the same meaning as your friend's name. Or something.

Yeah, I've done that -- concocting a character name by translating the meaning of the name I'm homaging.

Are you planning to review it on your blog or the Patreon page?

I am writing up Orville reviews (including the comics and novella), which I'll put on Patreon if I can't find a paying outlet to sell them to. I don't have many Patreon followers, so I'm hoping that reviewing something more current than the classic, obscure shows I usually cover will attract more interest.

 

[The Wormhole]

but I'm halfway through season 3 and have yet to see a same-sex relationship between humans.

IIRC, midway through season 3 is when they do establish one of the human characters is LGBTQ+

 

[Brennyren]

Going back to the OP's question about Mariner having a different surname to her parents: is it possible she had a short-lived marriage in which she took her spouse's name? If you want to say that she's too independent to take her partner's name, I would ordinarily agree -- but perhaps she was simply looking for an excuse to get a different name. And if Carol did take Alonzo's name, they could hardly argue with Beckett over following in Mom's footsteps.

Alternately, is it possible Mariner is her middle name, and she simply dropped the "Freeman" surname?

Although, honestly, "Mariner" is a little on-the-nose for someone who is, in her era, much the same as a sailor. I'm betting it's a chosen name.

 

[Vale]

What bugs me is the preposterous amount of surnames from the UK, in an organization that supposedly has humans from all over the globe. Sure, the main cast usually has an Uhura, Picard or Torres; but the recurring and one-off crewmembers disproportionately seem to have last names from England, Scotland or Ireland.

I am contractually obligated to point out that Ireland isn't in the UK.

 

[MAGolding]

Not only that, but non-Western names in Trek aren't always valid. There's no such name as "Uhura"; it should be Uhuru, but Roddenberry and Nichols chose to "soften" the sound for Western ears. And Sulu isn't used as a surname in Asia as far as I know; it's the name of a sea and a geographical region in the Philippines. And "Chekov" is apparently a misspelling of "Chekhov."...

As far as I can tell from hearing the name, both Chekov and Chekhov woulld be approximately accurate phonetic spellings.
Anyway, the spelling of names, both personal and family, can be changed at the will of the possessor. I remember one of my grandmothers mentioning that her mother's brothers disagreed on the spelling (and pronunciation?) of their family name, one went with McGuire and the other with Maguire. In this case they were orphans and so had little knowledge of how their father spelled it.

So possibly the TOS ensign came from a Chekhov family which preferred Chekov when writtin Latin letters.

Maybe the normal and usual spelling of Checkhov was changed to Chekov by the era of TOS.

Possibly the TOS Ensign's surname is "really" spelled Chekhov in the era of TOS but the crators of TOS in the 20th century spelled it Chekov in error in their scripts.

I don't see any reason to make a big deal about the difference in spelling.

I am contractually obligated to point out that Ireland isn't in the UK.

When it was founded in 1801 the UK was the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and at the present time the full name is still United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, All of Ireland was once part of the UK, and part of Ireland still is.

Of courzse it would have been better if the original post said "British Isles" instead of "UK".

 

[Tosk]

Honestly, name-drift over hundreds of years seems reasonable to me. Maybe some new names and spelling variations started to trickle through because of being exposed to non-Earth cultures, for multiple reasons.

 

[Christopher]

As far as I can tell from hearing the name, both Chekov and Chekhov woulld be approximately accurate phonetic spellings.

No; in Russian, ka (К) and kha (Х) are two distinct letters, one representing the sound in "lock" and the other the sound in "loch." So "Chekov" (Чеков) and "Chekhov" (Чехов) would be pronounced and spelled differently in Russian. It would be the equivalent of rendering "Charlie" as "Carlie," or "Ethan" as "Etan." And as far as I can tell, Чеков doesn't occur as a Russian surname in real life.

Honestly, name-drift over hundreds of years seems reasonable to me. Maybe some new names and spelling variations started to trickle through because of being exposed to non-Earth cultures, for multiple reasons.

Which would be plausible if we actually saw it happen more regularly. And if the human names we did hear weren't so overwhelmingly from the British Isles.

If anything, I often find it implausible how little cultural blending or syncretism we see in the Federation after hundreds of years of coexistence between species. Where are the humans who follow Surak's teachings? Where's the Indian-Andorian fusion cuisine? Where are the linguistic creoles? Instead, we get alien cultures that are all uniform stereotypes, with everyone of a given species having the same culture, religion, fashion sense, and barber.

 

[Christopher]

It's a little strange, because

Spoiler: Queer(?) character

The new female navigator said clearly that she felt romantic love for another dead female character

Which is barely a token acknowledgment, since no relationship actually happened and it was a throwaway mention. Plus

Spoiler

the character falls prey to the "Bury Your Gays" trope only a few episodes later.