What's in a (starship class) name? Breaking it down..

[DEWLine]

@Vale: thank you for clearing up the Doyle/Watson confusion!

 

[Maurice]

I don't see any particular reason to assume that.

Because in-universe naming a ship after a manga is a little like christening the U.S.S Little Nemo In Slumberland.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ Confusion level RISING...

 

[publiusr]

I might want ships named
Murnau
Tourneur
Baalberith

 

[DEWLine]

Naming starships for cartoonists, though...? McCay, Schulz, Otomo, Kirby, Hergé...?
You might do that if your ships are in service to an arts collective, perhaps?

 

[LazyReader]

Nothing. Most Ship class names are often subtle in-jokes by writing staff.

• Galaxy class: Name is derived as "Galaxy" The largest independent constructs in the universe for what was at the time The largest ship ever built.
  
  
  
  
• Prometheus class: was as close to a warship as can be. In Mythology Prometheus was a titan who stole power of fire from the gods and gave to humanity. In fitting the vessel was stolen, albeit was later taken back
• Danube: Is the only ship that follows a naming Convention, with all vessels named after rivers on Earth.Fortunately he ubiquity of rivers makes for good disposal.
• Constitution class: Named after famous naval vessel (Enterprise, Intrepid, Constellation)
• California: Cali state cities.

 

[Unicron]

You should use a free image host to post images, as Memory Alpha doesn't like hotlinking. Imgur is one option.

 

[ATimson]

• California: Cali state cities.

Until they run out, at which point they'll start naming them after various felines instead.

 

[Vale]

Until they run out, at which point they'll start naming them after various felines instead.

I see what you did there.

 

[CaptChris42]

The recent introduction of the Obena-class starship took me back, and starting me thinking. When "Discovery" premiered, I was surprised / slightly annoyed that basically all the starship classes introduced in the only-slightly-pre-TOS-era were named for human people, mostly 20th century aviators. That got me thinking about how starship CLASSES have been named over the years in Trek, and if there were any specific patterns that could be discerned. One visit to Memory Alpha later, I came up with this VERY BROAD categorization of known Starfleet or Federation ship classes into groups. This is for screen-seen ships, but notably includes the Franz Joseph designs because of their appearance on monitors of TMP et. al.

There's a lot of interpretation to be had here, but I tried to use the intended / most likely definition of a given name, so there's plenty of room for discussion. Dissect away:

Real-Life People

Akira (unless it's referring to the manga/movie)
Bradbury
Cardenas
Crossfield
Eisenberg
Engle
Hoover
Korolev
Magee
Malachowski
Nimitz
Obena
Oberth
Ptolemy
Saladin
Shepard
Walker
Wallenberg
Wells

(Aside - TWELVE of these were introduced in the current era of Star Trek production!)

Mythological / Fictional Entities

Apollo
Daedalus
Hermes
Miranda (from "The Tempest")
Prometheus


Stellar Phenomena

Constellation
Galaxy
Nebula
Nova
(Protostar)
Universe


Specific Heavenly Bodies

Antares (star)
Luna (Earth's Moon)


Planetary Places (manmade / natural)

California
Danube
Merced
New Orleans
Niagara
Norway
Sydney
Springfield
Yellowstone


Concepts / Philosophical / Esoteria

Challenger
Curiosity
Defiant
Excelsior ("Higher", as in the NY State motto)
Freedom
Inquiry
Intrepid


Governmental

Ambassador
Constitution
Federation
Parliament
Sovereign


Miscellaneous

Aeon (Unit of time)
Dreadnought (ship type)
Erewon (misspelled novel title)
Olympic (Games)
Peregrine (Animal)
Renaissance (Period)
Saber (Weapon)
Soyuz (Soviet/Russian spacecraft)

Regarding the Obena-class, the name, in universe, may come from either Nigerian or Costa Rican mythological names, a quick survey tells me.
Out of universe, the name is a tribute to a production staff member.

Also, we have the mysterious Wambundu class, which I have generally rationalized as referring to the obscure African tribe. So most will have tribal names, likely African say - and I also headcanon the design as a Miranda/Ambassador cross (specifically resembling the USS Pellucidar design, from starshipschematics.org.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

Then there's the Eisenberg, named rightfully for Aron, but in-universe possibly for another beloved actor of the 20th Century.

Actually, this list / topic is due a refresh between all the new designs that've shown up in Trek in the past two years..!

Mark

 

[Tuskin38]

since this thread was made

Lower Decks Season 4 Spoilers:

Spoiler

we got a second Parliament Class, the USS Toronto, so that's two for two on Canadian cities.

 

[Dukhat]

Also, we have the mysterious Wambundu class, which I have generally rationalized as referring to the obscure African tribe. So most will have tribal names, likely African say - and I also headcanon the design as a Miranda/Ambassador cross (specifically resembling the USS Pellucidar design, from starshipschematics.org.

https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/where-does-the-name-wambundu-come-from.126939/

It's also possible that Okuda just made the name up, or it was the name of a friend of his.

 

[Enterprise1701]

Then there's the Eisenberg, named rightfully for Aron, but in-universe possibly for another beloved actor of the 20th Century.

Actually, this list / topic is due a refresh between all the new designs that've shown up in Trek in the past two years..!

Mark

since this thread was made

Lower Decks Season 4 Spoilers:

Spoiler

we got a second Parliament Class, the USS Toronto, so that's two for two on Canadian cities.

That makes me wonder, if STO's Sao Paolo spin-off of the Defiant class were to ever join canon in a detailed fashion, what if its ships were all named for ships in the state of São Paulo?

 

[Ithekro]

Depends on how many ships of the class are intended. There are lots of places in California or Canada. There are 17 sub-regions in the state of Sao Paulo.

 

[Forbin]

For ships, I love Japanese names. They named their warships poetically:
Check some of these out:
http://www.combinedfleet.com/ijnnames.htm