• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

T' - Does the prefix have to be feminine?

It is not any more real than 'pattern' of English male names starting with 'J'.

It is, because the writers had patterns in mind, which is why a quick look at the list confirms it. We are free to imagine other possibilities and frequencies pending further data — however, don’t try to retcon this into a “Rorschach test” out of mere desire to make an alien culture seem more varied than it has been portrayed thus far. We don’t have the license to create, only to observe and report.
 
It is, because the writers had patterns in mind, which is why a quick look at the list confirms it. We are free to imagine other possibilities and frequencies pending further data — however, don’t try to retcon this into a “Rorschach test” out of mere desire to make an alien culture seem more varied than it has been portrayed thus far. We don’t have the license to create, only to observe and report.
The 'pattern' is that names starting with 'S' and 'T' are much more common than names starting with other letters and that names starting with 'S' might be somewhat more common on males than females and that if the apostrophe after 'T' actually is distinct from plain 'T' then that is more common among females. That's it. But 'S' is not male letter, 'T'' does not indicate female and most definitely there is no reason to believe that names starting with either would form any distinct group.
 
Last edited:
Sure. Just like a human man being named James, Jack, Jake, Jean-Luc, John, Jacques, Jonathan, Jerome, Jonas or any other name starting with letter 'J' is a sure sign that they're part of the same religious sect and no man with a name not starting with 'J' can ever be part of that sect.

Or, hear me out, they're just names, and there is no particular significance in the letter they start with.

These naming pattern discussions always seem so painfully stupid to me.
You belong to a site which accepts the premise that aliens can make babies with human beings.....Hello Spock, Deanna and B'ELanna
 
Considering the “Seeders” principle originally laid out in TNG’s “The Chase”, all humanoid life that stems from that single root race should be somewhat genetically compatible.
 
I thought it was one of the more interesting concepts that TNG explored. Oh, well... different strokes, I guess... :shrug:
The episode is interesting and well made. The concept is not even plausible pseudo-science, let alone science fiction. It is basically intelligent design. Very embarrassing.
 
I thought it was one of the more interesting concepts that TNG explored. Oh, well... different strokes, I guess... :shrug:
It was a reasonable extrapolation in a universe where a great deal of intelligent species across the galaxy have similar physiology and are capable of reproducing with each other, which is a whackadoodle notion. Though I would have preferred vague hints instead of spelling out the origins of humanoid life so precisely the way "The Chase" did. I thought the idea was handled best in TOS "Return to Tomorrow."

Kor
 
There was also a hint of it with the Preservers in TOS' "Paradise Syndrome", but only long after the "seeds" evolved into intelligent life forms, rugged enough of getting moved from their natural habitat to other worlds. I always wondered if Roddenberry was a secret "Ancient Aliens" fan at heart.
 
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.

A vow spoken in a ritual is not evidence that wives are literally property. Many earth couples exchange vows like "love, honor, and obey... as long as you both shall live" without it being a literal pledge of lifelong obedience. For that matter, T'Pring only says she is prepared, not that the actually is property of the victor.
 
There was also a hint of it with the Preservers in TOS' "Paradise Syndrome", but only long after the "seeds" evolved into intelligent life forms, rugged enough of getting moved from their natural habitat to other worlds. I always wondered if Roddenberry was a secret "Ancient Aliens" fan at heart.
Ron Moore considered the notion that the aliens in The Chase were the Preservers when writing the episode, but intentionally did not specify such.

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/The_Chase_(episode)

In my head canon, they are the Preservers. ;)
 
Somewhere -- might have been a novel I read years ago -- I got the idea that the traditional male name pattern, S---k, was in honor of Surak, while the traditional female name pattern, T'P-, was in honor of Surak's wife.

Of course, traditional doesn't mean universal.
 
I did enjoy it in one of the novels some tyrannical Vulcan despot from Surak's time scoffs at the notion of all the names beginning with 'S' in honor of Surak. When he awakens in Star Trek's present day and is introduced to some Vulcan he laughs in amazement. "They still haven't run out of S names."
 
Ron Moore considered the notion that the aliens in The Chase were the Preservers when writing the episode, but intentionally did not specify such.
Did Ron sleep through "The Paradise Syndrome"? The Preservers MO is relocating endangered cultures not seeding planets to created humanoid life.
 
Ron Moore considered the notion that the aliens in The Chase were the Preservers when writing the episode, but intentionally did not specify such.

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/The_Chase_(episode)

In my head canon, they are the Preservers. ;)
Did Ron sleep through "The Paradise Syndrome"? The Preservers MO is relocating endangered cultures not seeding planets to created humanoid life.

This exactly. If the "Originators" (for lack of a better name) were the Preservers, they'd have been in existence, virtually unchanged, for over Four Billion Years. To me that seems unlikely.
 
A vow spoken in a ritual is not evidence that wives are literally property. Many earth couples exchange vows like "love, honor, and obey... as long as you both shall live" without it being a literal pledge of lifelong obedience. For that matter, T'Pring only says she is prepared, not that the actually is property of the victor.

That seems a bit nitpicky. T'pau asked if T'pring is prepared to become the property of the victor. Meaning that pending the outcome of the fight she will indeed become the property of the winner.

I just think it's silly for us to insist on Vulcanian culture complying with our 21st century sensibilities.

However, I think Vulcanian wives are not on the same level of property as things. Because T'pring states the she would be in control of Spock's property when he was gone.
 
I did enjoy it in one of the novels some tyrannical Vulcan despot from Surak's time scoffs at the notion of all the names beginning with 'S' in honor of Surak. When he awakens in Star Trek's present day and is introduced to some Vulcan he laughs in amazement. "They still haven't run out of S names."

Str Trek The Lost years - one of the best novels with the best reason why Spock wanted to purge his emotions in TMP
 
The episode is interesting and well made. The concept is not even plausible pseudo-science, let alone science fiction. It is basically intelligent design. Very embarrassing.

Intelligent design is inevitable, though. Sapients will become gods, gods will remain intelligent, and intelligence entails play and design.

The only question here involves the prevalence and timetable of intelligence. In Trek, those Ancients have four billion years to hone their godhead - it would be downright embarrassing for them not to come up with the divine power to pervert all life into their image.

Part of that game explicitly involves forcing the playthings to have sex with each other. Whether it extends to genetically forced naming patterns, though... Well, all bets really are off when we are dealing with playful gods.

Timo Saloniemi
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top