Why did the Federation rename Terok Nor to "Deep Space Nine"?

[MacLeod]

Is there a cannon reason why DS9 did not qualify as a potential Star Base, which would have made it "Star Base ___"? I know it wasn't set up as a repair/refit/resupply facility, but, in partnership with the Bajorans - who asked the UFP to come in the first place - I could easily see how it would have been valued and welcomed as such a facility. Also, it would have potentially been visited by more Star Ships, and would have had the reputation as a Port visited by powerful Federation ships, and had the "protection" if lacked as a "Deep Space" station.

Well technically speaking it was a Starbase, it's full title was Starbase Deep Space Nine.

Mentioned in the episode "Prophet Motive"

SISKO: The Federation Medical Council has announced the nominees for this year's Carrington Award. And the nominees are, Doctor April Wade of the University of Nairobi, Healer Senva of the Vulcan Medical Institute, Doctor Henri Roget of the Central Hospital of Altair Four, Chirurgeon Ghee P'Trell of Andoria, and Doctor Julian Bashir, Chief Medical Officer of Starbase Deep Space Nine. Good luck.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I still cant help but wonder if DS9 is the Federation designation for the base and your common Bajoran just calls it Terok Nor.

I don't see the Bajorans ever using the Cardassian name for anything, let alone a place like this that caused so much pain.

As for why it's got an English name: The Bajorans may own the station, but Starfleet runs it. So that's probably the reason. If DS9 had a Bajoran commander it would probably get a Bajoran name. Whoever is in command gets to name it, I guess.

 

[urbandefault]

Well technically speaking it was a Starbase, it's full title was Starbase Deep Space Nine.

Mentioned in the episode "Prophet Motive"

SISKO: The Federation Medical Council has announced the nominees for this year's Carrington Award. And the nominees are, Doctor April Wade of the University of Nairobi, Healer Senva of the Vulcan Medical Institute, Doctor Henri Roget of the Central Hospital of Altair Four, Chirurgeon Ghee P'Trell of Andoria, and Doctor Julian Bashir, Chief Medical Officer of Starbase Deep Space Nine. Good luck.

Good catch. I missed that in my recent rewatch.

I was going to speculate that a Starbase designation placed it within Federation territory, and any other station was "Deep Space."

 

[Spot261]

They renamed it because "terek nor" sounds scary, is Cardassian and was associated with massed abuses of their people during a brutal occupation.

 

[Six of Twelve]

I was going to reply to you seriously. Because you make a good point.

But now I am imagining a floating dog-shaped station called Deep Space K9 and I can't be serious.

And if the Borg come along and assimilate it, it will be Deep Space 7 of 9.

 

[Griffeytrek]

"Deep Space" or rather DS is likely simply a default categorization employed by Starfleet. It indicates a free floating Space Station, not above of affiliated with a Federation Planet, with a certain class of facilities and capabilities. The "Deep Space" has nothing to do with Bajor or even relative locations. It's simply which box gets checked on the inventory sheet. The Federation didn't name it. It's just how it shows up on the paperwork.

 

[Griffeytrek]

That feels too political for me. The Bajorans are ravaged, the planet is a mess, the Government/facilities are all wrecked...I can't imagine them thinking "yeah we want into the Federation when we clean this mess up...lets let them name the Cardassian base up there!". They even have to deal with strong anti-Federation sentiment.

I still cant help but wonder if DS9 is the Federation designation for the base and your common Bajoran just calls it Terok Nor. Hmm, or perhaps the Bajorans just do not care. Perhaps, to them, it is like a floating Auschwitz and giving it a name or use is so far beyond their power/care that giving it to the Federation to run in their name is just easier all round.



I have always concluded that the term 'Starbase' is a technical term for a facility that is collossal in size [like the famous Mushroom base]. I assume things smaller than that are 'Deep Space X' or 'Base' or 'Facility'.

Just my interpretation though. I can't recall anything on-screen that creates a formal distinction in terminology.

I think Stabase will depend on scale and facilities. A Starbase is not necessarily simply a space station. In fact some seen in TOS would appear to be planet side as was the "new" base in Encounter at Farpoint. Rather a Starbase is a full featured fleet support facility capable of providing the full ranges of services and support to Starfleet. Full Starship repair and resupply. Administrative and Diplomatic functions. Etc. Starfleets equivalent of Pearl Harbor or Norfolk Virginia. A Starbase is not a single structure. It is administrative facilities, ship facilities, etc. it may have orbital and planet side pieces.

DS9 is a frontier outpost.

 

[Timo]

"Deep Space" or rather DS is likely simply a default categorization employed by Starfleet. It indicates a free floating Space Station, not above of affiliated with a Federation Planet, with a certain class of facilities and capabilities.

Except DS9 is in low orbit above Bajor when it gets named, so not free floating - and we get to see another Deep Space Station in "Parallels", and the design is certainly in a wholly different class.

The very fact that the station is named DS Nine offers support for the "any station outside UFP territory" theory: after two centuries of Starfleet exploration and exploitation of the neighborhood, there should have been dozens of stations like this, not just one through nine - but if they only qualify as "Deep Space" if sitting outside UFP territory, then obviously the numbers get vacated whenever the UFP expands and gobbles up this former corner of deep space... And then recycled.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Bad Thoughts]

I would presume to things. First, the factions within the Provisional Government were at odds about many things regarding the Bajoran space policy, including what to do with the station, and defaulted the renaming of the station to Starfleet. Second, those who wanted a Federation presence (and that was not all Bajorans) felt that a name ascribed by Starfleet would have suggested to Bajorans and Cardassians that the Federation supported Bajoran independence and the government was confident in Federation assistants.

 

[Six of Twelve]

But the Bajorans apparently didn't want the Federation on the planet itself, as there were apparently no Federation bases or outposts planetside. All the Federation infrastructure in Bajoran space was confined to the station.

 

[Timo]

The Bajoran term for the despicable thing in the sky is consistently "the space station". This sort of suggests there are no other space stations orbiting Bajor, but also lends to the idea that "the Space Station" is the Bajoran name for the place. That is, we don't fail to hear the Bajoran name, we just fail to recognize it for what it is!

What other name would the place need? It's "the Wall", it's "the Tower", it's the name by which the locals immediately recognize this unique place.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Spot261]

The Bajoran term for the despicable thing in the sky is consistently "the space station". This sort of suggests there are no other space stations orbiting Bajor, but also lends to the idea that "the Space Station" is the Bajoran name for the place. That is, we don't fail to hear the Bajoran name, we just fail to recognize it for what it is!

What other name would the place need? It's "the Wall", it's "the Tower", it's the name by which the locals immediately recognize this unique place.

Timo Saloniemi

Somewhat chilling....

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

But the Bajorans apparently didn't want the Federation on the planet itself, as there were apparently no Federation bases or outposts planetside. All the Federation infrastructure in Bajoran space was confined to the station.

Starfleet wouldn't have needed to build anything on Bajor. DS9 was all they needed.

And besides, Bajor itself was in shambles after the Cardassians left, so even if (as I suspect) the Bajorans didn't specifically forbid the Federation from building anything on the planet surface, it was decided that doing so would be unnecessary anyway. The Federation would coordinate relief efforts, of course, but they wouldn't want to get in the way.

 

[JoeZhang]

We know that in the real world that nine is just catchy - but for a federation that has been exploring for a bit, 9 seems awfully low...

 

[Bad Thoughts]

The Bajoran term for the despicable thing in the sky is consistently "the space station". This sort of suggests there are no other space stations orbiting Bajor, but also lends to the idea that "the Space Station" is the Bajoran name for the place. That is, we don't fail to hear the Bajoran name, we just fail to recognize it for what it is!

What other name would the place need? It's "the Wall", it's "the Tower", it's the name by which the locals immediately recognize this unique place.

Timo Saloniemi

We hate ours so much we call it the "International Space Station."


Is that how it works?

 

[Timo]

Well, "we" don't. What NASA calls it is irrelevant to this discussion, as only foreign designations matter. Anybody have good anecdotes on that? (I trust if "Space Station Freedom" had survived the process, this is what the international partners would not be calling the place.)

I'm not convinced the Feds would stay off the Bajoran soil unless specifically told that there might be "accidents" if they set foot on that hallowed ground. Mingling with the locals is the way to do disaster relief, as opposed to oppressive occupation. The Bajorans are quite familiar with the latter, after all - and while Cardassians did have residences and facilities down on the planet, we hear very little of those, and the space station is the actual symbol of the oppression.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Bad Thoughts]

What NASA calls it is irrelevant to this discussion, as only foreign designations matter. Anybody have good anecdotes on that? (I trust if "Space Station Freedom" had survived the process, this is what the international partners would not be calling the place.)

In the language of the nations that use ISS, the name is a combination of the words "international," "space" (outer space if the word is different from the geometric sense, and "station:" English, Russian, French, Scandinavian languages, even Italian.

More importantly, it is a counterexample to your pet theory that a generic name represents a hateful attitude to the thing in question and the narrow-mindedness of the people who would use such a name.

ETA: forgot a relevant language.
Kansainvälinen
avaruus
asema

 

[Relayer1]

....where are stations Deep Space One thru Eight ?

It began with the founding of the last of the stations, located deep in neutral space. It was a port of call for refugees, smugglers, businessmen, diplomats . . . and travelers from a hundred worlds. Could be a dangerous place – but we accepted the risk, because Deep Space 9 was our last, best hope for peace...

 

[Lance]

I think it was just meant to imply that it was a long way from Federation central, ie all the 'Deep Space' stations are the outliers and far flung outposts rather than the space stations closer to home. This was kind of paid lip service in the first couple seasons, when we didn't see much by way of Starfleet traffic coming and going and even calling the Enterprise back to assist in the pilot episode when the Cardies shown up was difficult, but in later years this changed (not necessarily an unreasonable change, given DS9 went from being a lonely outpost to being a stronghold/gateway to stopping the Dominion.)

EDIT: One further thought is that in this period Starfleet seems keen to establish a strong presence in these outlying, "deep space" areas. TNG's pilot episode begins with them basically exploring the possibility of negotiating for a co-operative with the Bandi on Deneb IV, both for them to build bases to the same specifications as Farpoint (before knowledge of it's true nature), but also to basically 'put down a flag' on Deneb itself. If Bajor and Cardassia are both similarly remote from 'Federation central', and we've factor in that Starfleet is still technically at war with the Cardassians in that period, then it's possible that there was a wider strategy going on.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

The Federation has a 'Boring name' policy when it comes to space stations. For historical reasons it does not apply to ships.