^ As for an in-show explanation, maybe it's because the Federation seems to be Earth/human-centric.
Vulcans are from Earth
- Thread starter THE_FETT
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If it hadn't been for Enterprise, we could have said that Romulus and Remus were also Earth designations like all the other worlds with familiar names.
In some of the novels, the Romulans call themselves the "Rihannsu" and their planet is called ch'Ríhan with Remus being called ch'Havran.
^^^ That would have made sense. "Rihannsu" sounds real familiar. Did that come from somewhere older than the books?
I did a quick google search and didn't see anything that indicates an origin beyond Trek. It looks like the word was created by author Diane Duane for her Star Trek novels. Here are some brief Wikipedia articles that might interest you...
Rihannsu
Rihannsu (the language)
According to the article I posted above, the Rihannsu language does have some Welsh influence.
I thought the writers were hoping we'd associate "Vulcan" with a word having the same root, like "vulcanologist". Humans would have given it that name because they saw a lot of volcanoes on that planet.
Everyone would also live in their own alpha quadrant. Their own home planet would be somewhere in the middle of their star charts.
Everyone would also live in their own alpha quadrant. Their own home planet would be somewhere in the middle of their star charts.
Rule 13 of the Galactic Code states, "When all else fails, blame the Universal Translator."An interesting question. I've also wondered why Earth is referred to as Earth instead of Terra or Tellus when the other planets are referred to as Vulcan, Cardassia and so on. Can it be the translator?
Another thing which always strike me is when people on a certain planet refer to their planet as Acamar III (TNG, "The Vengeance Factor") or Drayan II (Voyager, "Innocence"). OK if it is a Federation colony, assuming that naming planets after their sun and the order of the planets counted from the sun. But why should alien species like the Acamarians or Drayans have a number after the name of the planet? The translator again?
Yea, but what else are we gonna talk about. 
Well, Enterprise never said that the planets were Romulus and Remus, just that the Romulans are called Romulans. It could still be that someone noticed the similarities between the name Romulans and the Roman mythological king Romulus. Then, when he discovered that Romulans have twin planets as their homeworlds, decided to call them Romulus and Remus. That would be reasonable.
Since we're on this subject I would like to say that I think humans should either be called Earthens or the planet earth should be referred to as Humania. It's a general law that a species names its planet after their species somehow, after all. It's pretty much just us and the Klingons that are exceptions.
What about the Founders???
Oh ye gods. To a Brit, that's... amusing.
Patrick Stewart would have a fit!
Khasi is another name for the toilet, and t'khasi would be a Yorkshireman (like Stewart) saying it... (t' means the, so "where's Spock,?" "He's on t'khasi!" which could mean he;s on Vulcan or he's on the john/head/bog/crapper..)
Oh, and Vienna is Wien, not Wein. Wein is just wine...
Most likely.
Why not? The fact that something is non-canonical doesn't mean it's automatically going to be contradicted. In fact, non-canonical data have made it into the canon; "Hikaru" as Sulu's first name originated in a novel, for instance, as did the recent Watchtower-class space station that was added to the TOS Remastered edition of "The Ultimate Computer." Fans take the idea of a strict and important delineation between canonical and non-canonical stuff far more seriously than the creators do.
Nope, THE FETT had it right the first time. Gaia (or ge) was -- and is --simply the word for earth/ground/land, just as ouranos ("Uranus") is simply the word for sky. Any "mother Earth" sense is a mythological superimposition, and in Greek the creation story (cf. the Theogony) simply begins with Void, who gives birth to Earth, who gives birth to Sky. The borrowing of the Greek words into English as proper names for the personified gods (Chaos, Gaia, Uranus) obscures this fact.
As for the Vulcan / Romulan issue, it makes the most sense to me that they simply represent human names given to those worlds, whose own indigenous names are completely different. It seems to just be an outgrowth of the common convention of naming planets after Roman gods (Mercury, Venus, Mars, ... etc.) In-universe justifications for humans choosing those names seem quite simple: Vulcan because it's hot (McCoy even refers to a common saying, "hot as Vulcan!"), and Romulus and Remus because they are the twin seats of an expansive imperial culture. "Enterprise" really botched it when they implied a non-Terran origin for the name. Ugh.
On the broader point, the OP is quite right -- people tend to call things they know by very simple, direct terms until they have cause to contrast them with something else. Just as everyone has their own word for "Earth" which basically means "the ground we live on," it is utterly common for human cultures to have names for themselves that simply mean something along the lines of "the people." It isn't until you start participating in bigger and bigger aggregations of people that you start to need names that distinguish your people from other people.
Along these lines, it makes me smile when I see that the word for "mineral" in Klingon is thlIl, and the suffix meaning "inhabitant of" is -ngan. This suggests a plausible derivation for the word "Klingon" (tlhIngan) as meaning something like "rock inhabitants," or the people who live on the rock. Given Marc Okrand's anthropology background I wouldn't be surprised if that were intentional.
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Yes, and "canon" should not be interpreted as the one, single law. "Canon" is a guideline which sets the parameters for the characters and also for authors of books and fanfic.
If someone should write a book or fanfic in which Janeway says that she prefers chocolate over coffee or a book where Kirk state that he first met Spock during a vacation on Vulcan before being assigned to the Enterprise, then it's a violation of "canon" and existing Star Trek parameters and history.
But if an author writes that Janeway can drink chocolate too from time to time or comes up with a scenario that Kirk did visit Spock on Vulcan between season 3 of TOS and the first TOS movie, then it can be assumed as possible, unless some later movie or series contradicts it.
If someone should write a book or fanfic in which Janeway says that she prefers chocolate over coffee or a book where Kirk state that he first met Spock during a vacation on Vulcan before being assigned to the Enterprise, then it's a violation of "canon" and existing Star Trek parameters and history.
But if an author writes that Janeway can drink chocolate too from time to time or comes up with a scenario that Kirk did visit Spock on Vulcan between season 3 of TOS and the first TOS movie, then it can be assumed as possible, unless some later movie or series contradicts it.
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