T' - Does the prefix have to be feminine?

[Tim Thomason]

Sonak was described with male pronouns in the script and novelisation, but canonically never referred to as one, or inferred as such via pronouns. For that matter, he might not've been a Vulcan, and just had weird ears, and his parents could be contacted via the Vulcan Embassy. Maybe they worked there.

 

[diankra]

Naming styles can be widely, but universally, followed.

 

[ScottJ85]

Thee are prepared to become the property of the victor?

I am prepared.

I got the impression that didn't matter outside the context of Pon Farr.

 

[F. King Daniel]

T'Klaas was a Male Vulcan - appears to be the only one in canon Trek but not sure about novels etc.

Did you just assume that Vulcan's gender??!?!

 

[Tallguy]

Did you just assume that Vulcan's gender??!?!

Oh dear...

 

[ScottJ85]

yeah this is going to end well

 

[uniderth]

Didn't think Vulcans would be that restrictive/primitive about gender.

Vulcanian men own their wife.

T'Pau to T'Pring: Thee are prepared to become the property of the victor?

Oops Tenacity beat me to it.

Are we absolutely sure Commander Sonak was a male character?

Male actor sure, but the character?

 

[Greg Cox]

Naming conventions could vary widely between different Vulcan cultures. Different regions of the planet. Different societies.

I refuse to believe that species in the Star Trek universe have "mono-cultures."

Exactly, it's not as though all Earthmen are named James, John, Jack, or Jerry.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Exactly, it's not as though all Earthmen are named James, John, Jack, or Jerry.

...They're NOT?

Well, crap. Now I've got to redo all of my Christmas cards.

 

[Tim Thomason]

I don't see anything illogical or unseemly about (some, maybe most) Vulcans having feminine and masculine names. We see it in "Earth" names of many languages. The Captains are James, Jean-Luc, Benjamin, Kathryn, Jonathan, and Gabriel, all gendered names in their respective language (and yeah, we do see a female Michael in Discovery, a noted exception that was called out as one and explained in the show).

Vulcans have an archaic culture, indicative of ancient times thousands of years past. Their naming customs should reflect their history. Otherwise, they would just adapt base words or clan names.

 

[Tallguy]

I don't see anything illogical or unseemly about (some, maybe most) Vulcans having feminine and masculine names. We see it in "Earth" names of many languages. The Captains are James, Jean-Luc, Benjamin, Kathryn, Jonathan, and Gabriel, all gendered names in their respective language (and yeah, we do see a female Michael in Discovery, a noted exception that was called out as one and explained in the show).

Vulcans have an archaic culture, indicative of ancient times thousands of years past. Their naming customs should reflect their history. Otherwise, they would just adapt base words or clan names.

It's not that there's a problem with Spock being a male name. It's a problem with it being a male name because it starts with S because we met a handful of other guys who's names also start with S.

 

[Boris Skrbic]

It's not that there's a problem with Spock being a male name. It's a problem with it being a male name because it starts with S because we met a handful of other guys who's names also start with S.

More than a handful (probably going back to that memo in The Making of Star Trek which proposed a ton of half-serious names starting with an S and ending with a k), so it was enough to establish one pattern for writers and regular viewers.

 

[Forbin]

Maybe it's a 'religious' thing, for want of a better term - maybe we could postulate that males with the "S---k" pattern and females with the "T'P---" pattern, are, say, 'orthodox' followers of Surak's philosophy.

 

[Kor]

Maybe it's a 'religious' thing, for want of a better term - maybe we could postulate that males with the "S---k" pattern and females with the "T'P---" pattern, are, say, 'orthodox' followers of Surak's philosophy.

Or they maintain a pre-Surakian practice of worshiping ancient gods at the secret family shrine, as in "Yesteryear."

Kor

 

[FormerLurker]

Maybe it's a 'religious' thing, for want of a better term - maybe we could postulate that males with the "S---k" pattern and females with the "T'P---" pattern, are, say, 'orthodox' followers of Surak's philosophy.

I think the pattern is actually S---- rather than S---k, or the first male Vulcan we meet after Spock would be Stonk.

 

[Forbin]

I think the pattern is actually S---- rather than S---k, or the first male Vulcan we meet after Spock would be Stonk.

Stonn pretty much stonk up the place, anyway.

 

[Tallguy]

Stonn pretty much stonk up the place, anyway.

Go to your room and think about what you've done.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Strictly during the TOS days, Vulcan females always seemed to start with T’* and males with S*. However, while the Romulan Commander from Enterprise Incident was unnamed, her second was named Tal. This always led me to believe the convention was reversed for Romulans in general. Saavik was intended to be part Romulan (there was a cut scene in TWOK revealing this fact) and Yar’s daughter Sela both followed that principle, but as others here have mentioned that whole naming convention has been pretty much scuttled by subsequent productions.

I can’t remember clearly, but I have some recollection that Valeris’ name, an early exception, was mentioned in the Undiscovered Country novelization that her parents named her after a Klingon word for “peace” (didn’t know they had one), which apparently irked her. Several Klingon females in the movie era had names starting with “V”, including Valkris (TSFS) and Vixis (TFF), so it made some sense. Don’t know where my copy is, so I can’t specifically verify.

 

[Timo]

The novelization IIRC also has a hero character (Chekov?) commenting how "Valeris... Almost sounds Klingon", helping set up the mood of suspicion and intolerance. I wonder if such a line actually was part of some earlier version of the script, the V-name pattern already having been established in the couple of preceding movies.

Although one may debate whether Valkris actually was a Klingon at all, or rather a random UFP citizen corrupted into aiding the evil Klingons. The makeup as such isn't definitive.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[137th Gebirg]

Her scenes were poorly lit, making it difficult to tell. Production stills have better lighting - she's definitely Klingon, albeit with a subtler, almost Chang-like forehead design.