Well, in true Klingon fashion it is.
"Qo'Nos" does not apply to the fundamental laws of Klingon spelling, pronunciation
or the alphabet itself;
"Q"
is a letter. There is a "Q" and a "q". "Q" is pronounced "Kkk" (Sometimes pronounced "Kkkr".
"o" is a letter as well. It is pronounced "oh".
"*Apostrophe*" is a special consonant of the Klingon alphabet. It represents a catch in the throat.
"N" is
NOT a letter. The Klingon "N" is "n" - not capitalized. "n" is pronounced "nn".
"s" is also
NOT a letter. The Klingon "s" is "S" - capitalized. "S" is pronounced inbetween "S" and "Shh".
So, in true Klingon spelling, pronunciation and alphabetical spelling, the Klingon Homeworld should respectively be named:
Qo'noS
I believe that the STO team named Qo'noS "Qo'Nos" because it went along with the other Klingon planets of the same sort: Qu'Vat, B'Moth. The letter after the *Apostrophe* has been capitalized. I see this as slightly inproper Klingon grammar, and I'd like an official reason for the capitalized "n". Thanks for reading this request.
P.S., as evidence of "Qo'noS" (not "Qo'Nos"), take a look here:
http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Qo'noS
Comments
Spelling is completely irrelevant when you move from one alphabet to another. If you want to be really correct spelling names from other languages, then you can't do it with the common Latin alphabet, you need to use all the special symbols from dictionary pronunciation guides. Otherwise as long as you get the pronunciation close you're fine.
The great Kurdish leader's name is not "Salah ad-Din", that's just the closest way to spell it in the Latin alphabet so that it would be pronounced correctly by english-speakers. "Saladin" is not quite the correct pronunciation, but it is the way Europeans commonly pronounced the name, so it's still not exactly "wrong". Something like "Salah'ahDin" would probably be fine too. The only correct spelling is in the correct alphabet.
At the point the name is written in the Latin alphabet for english-speakers to read, it passes out of the jurisdiction of Klingon grammar-TRIBBLE and into the jurisdiction of English grammar-TRIBBLE.
They have their own writing. Putting all Klingon names and text into Klingon writing would make it nearly unreadable to most players. There's such a thing as transliteration; this is what is commonly done in Star Trek. So yes, the OP has some very valid points.
If it's spelled incorrectly, it's incorrect no matter how you look at it. Things generally have clearly defined names. It'd be like having Sol System as 'soL systeM' which would be incorrect. Not to mention since it's an actual place people would be much more 'grammar TRIBBLE' about it being correct.