Vehicle Naming Conventions

[Gawian]

I have a question about naming vehicles.

Obviously, they have to be somehow relevant. You wouldn't rename the Death Star to Fluffy Unicorn Kingdom, but I'm wondering if it somehow becomes a little cliché.

For example, battleships/warships are usually named after famous soldiers and or battles.
In a story that I'm writing, I have a mobile science lab called The Robert Hooke. (After the gentlemen who was kind enough to discover cells.)

But in a lot of stories, there are warships called The Trafalgar, and the Agincourt, and The Napolean.

What sort of naming conventions do you guys use?

 

[hopewrites]

As I can never seem to forget the idea of True Names (the idea that a Name is a Power Word or Spell that binds its owner in some way) I always use names that contain the essence of the thing, where nick names can be anything that appears appropriate to the one creating the endearment.

"Princess" is a pretty cliche thing to call a girl, but when that's what she is and you want to rub it in her face, it becomes an appropriate nick name for Han to call Leah.

 

[Dave]

I always liked Iain M Banks idea of letting the ships choose their own names.

British Warships are named after Admirals and Battles, but also after Towns and Cities, and Greek and Roman Gods. Naming them for cities that are sea ports gives them a home to come back to.

 

[Gawian]

The link in that thread doesn't work, but looking through, those names seem a little too joke-y for me.

So far, I've only mentioned 3 vehicles.

Mobile Science Lab - The Robert Hooke (mentioned above - discovered cells)
Long Range Science Ship - The Wardenclyffe (named after Wardenclyffe Tower - or Tesla Tower)
And an exploration ship - Amundsen (named after Roald Amundsen - led the first expedition to the South Pole)

So I'm trying to avoid the more well known famous people, but trying to think up serious names, especially for combat-oriented vehicles is really hard.

---------------

Also, on a site note, what is a general reaction to using horrific locations as names?

For example, having a Prison Space-Station called (and this is an absurd example) Jasenovac - which was an extermination camp during WW2.

 

[Mad Alice]

I would think it would depend upon the audience you are writing for and the genre you are writing in, as well as the effect you hope to produce. Names can be a means of instilling atmosphere and intent. They are a tool you can use to effectively convey isoteric information and background of your characters or story situations and items.

For example, Shakespeare was famous for his names as being characterization tools. By utilizing names with know historical background, layers of meaning were added to each story.

Serious names show a serious intent, and are usually a straight science fiction vehicle, while silly names can be used as a form of slang or personalization, or to indicate this story's setting as not being contemporary or based upon this reality.

When I write Steampunk things I tend to use less then serious names, and the sillier the better it seems to read. For instance, my Steampunky flying hovercar is nicknamed a 'flutter-lifter'.

For a serious work centered upon the distant future of this reality, I would choose a skimming of celebrated names where your average boffin can readily make the connection you desire. Going too exotic or mysterious could actually work against you by taking your reader out of the story. Effectiveness is the key criteria in choosing a name, after all.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Shakespeare was famous for his names as being characterization tools

And Dickens?

It depends on the flavour of the story. Space Opera will more often have dramatic Vehicle names. Anything else might be like commercial Airlines or merchant ships were the name might mean very little to the public or reflect the country of a State Airline.

 

[Venusian Broon]

For my space opera, I had a very strict naming convention.

However if I tell you what it is, I'd have to kill you.

I like to think that's it's another layer in there, waiting to be discovered or guessed...

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I avoid naming anything.

 

[Locrian]

In my WIP, my convention is that any government owned space ship is named after a figure in Greek mythology, and any privately owned ship is named after an obscure euphemism or innuendo for a sexual practice. In universe, this convention amongst private captains arose to parody all of the government ships with very grand names.

 

[tinkerdan]

The answer is probably whatever your universe calls for.

here are some loose guidelines.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_ship_naming_conventions

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_destroyer_classes_of_the_Royal_Navy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_ship-naming_conventions

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Vessels_Naming_Regulation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_ship_naming_conventions

 

[Droflet]

When naming warships, and I have a lot, the main point is to keep them relevant to their environment. If you have planned out your time and setting properly, and fully understand it, the names should come to you. The suggestions you proposed look good to me and if you're comfortable with them then go for it. Good luck with the writing.

 

[Warren_Paul]

Naming the ships after historical events, places or people is a good way to do world building without saying anything. I'd encourage it. But...

The most important consideration to me is how it fits into the world. If your world is a future version of Earth, then using names out of history is fine. But if it is a fictional world, then those same names wouldn't be suitable. Obviously those places and people never existed in a fictional world, so why would somebody name their ship that? You'd have to make up your own histories and then name the ships after them.

 

[ralphkern]

In the Sleeping Gods universe, I use several naming conventions depending on whose ships they are.

The first are explorer ships managed by a large corporation called Helios. Somewhere along the line the convention was that they were named after famous exploration ships of history that began with the letter E - Endeavour, Endurance (changed due to the film Interstellar), Erebus. I suppose in the universe there will be an Enterprise floating around somewhere, but I'll leave that as a hidden easter egg that someone might consider.

The second are from a rival corporation. They name their ships after famous explorers - Gagarin and Zheng He have appeared on page.

A fledgling hive mind culture name their ships and stations in a manner that reflects their culture - Concorde and Unity both having appeared.

Consider the opportunity for world building that shows the passage of time between contemporary times and whenever your story is set. For example, if you have a naming convention that states that science ships are named after famous scientists, you can slip in that you have a class of science ships made up of The Einstein, The Hawking, and The Gawain (the chap who came out with the so and so in 2312)

And I totally agree with Hope Writes and Mad Alice about using them to set the tone (I also use the ship names as the book titles). Endeavour was a hopeful story about exploration. Erebus (Endurance) has a somewhat more adversarial and darker tone with an actual baddie in it (well, kinda) - yet fits the convention.

In real life, naval ships are never randomly named - here are some conventions:

RN Type 45 (Daring Class) - Always begin with D and typically RN dramatic sounding
RN Trafalgar Class - Same as above, but begin with T
RN Astute Class -You guessed it, begins with A
RN Type 42 (Sheffield Class) - Named after English cities

US Navy Arleigh Burke Class - Named for secretaries of the Navy
US Navy Nimitz Class - US presidents (Other than the Nimitz herself)

 

[Piousflea84]

I think it's fun to play around with naming conventions for different factions. Most real-life warships are named according to fairly predictable schemes, whether it is presidents or generals or cities or cool-sounding words (yay for the British). When a faction names their warships very differently (like the aforementioned Iain Banks Culture) it says a lot about the faction.

 

[Wanderlog]

So I'm trying to avoid the more well known famous people, but trying to think up serious names, especially for combat-oriented vehicles is really hard.

If we're talking about SF, you can simply invent any name you wish. Even you name ships after famous people, who said that all such people lived before our time? Call a mobile science laboratory "Michel Kaster" and mention somewhere that he was a famous physicist who discovered something important.

In addition, it's not necessary to follow a know tradition. It's your world that is completely different from the one we know, so it can have its own traditions as well. For example, an atomic aerocarrier in my books is named "Shield of Victory", and I'm perfectly happy with this name. None of my readers complained about it, either.

 

[Nick B]

We don't have a naming convention as such. Individuals, and organisations name ships what they like. The main characters in Liberator have an old decrepit carrier named the Arianne.

 

[J D Foster]

I hang it on something that already exists.

So the engines for space ships are named after the town where UK car manufacturers where first based

Hence I have a engine called the Norwood. Saves me having to think up things, and a Norwood engine sounds cool to me.

 

[Wanderlog]

Hence I have a engine called the Norwood.

Doesn't make sense for most people outside of UK...

 

[Phyrebrat]

Doesn't make sense for most people outside of UK...

Doesn't have to

pH

 

[Nick B]

Doesn't have to

pH

Exactly, as long as it sounds good to you.