When I pick names for my ships I look at thesaurus.com a lot for themes and then ideas, e.g. I want a tough ship name so I look up words that mean the same thing like U.S.S. Dauntless or something.
Other people I've seen try spelling known names different. There are lots of "Enterprizes".
Also lots of other franchise names like U.S.S. Galactica.
I've seen people using famous historical real ship names too, like the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan.
I name the ships of my newest alt after the various Astronauts and Cosmonauts who lost their lives in pursuit of space exploration. Those names seem like something that would fit in the IP.
The way I see it, there are six options for Federation ship names:
- historical personalities, primarily scientists or explorers ("USS Hawking", "USS Yuri Gagarin")
- names of cities or landmarks ("USS Exeter", "USS Cairo")
- names that have to do with astronomy ("USS Equinox", "USS Stargazer")
- names of creatures or items of mythology ("USS Phoenix", "USS Excalibur")
- positive attributes (e.g. Starfleet virtues), commonly referring to exploration or protection ("USS Dauntless", "USS Valiant")
- historical ship names, which often conform to one of the previous points ("USS Enterprise", "USS Yorktown")
If you're really out of ideas you can also just hit the "random" button in the game until you come up with something you like. The list used by the STO name generator is pretty good.
I named my main after the town in which I was born and raised, which you can see in my sig. I named my alt the USS Saratoga. The Saratoga was always being pushed around in every series of Trek, so I figure this was its way of fighting back.
I named most of my ships after Allied Naval ships that served in World War II. USS Stellar Drift was something I came up with in an offline roleplay eons ago.
- historical personalities, primarily scientists or explorers ("USS Hawking", "USS Yuri Gagarin")
- names of cities or landmarks ("USS Exeter", "USS Cairo")
- names of creatures or items of mythology ("USS Phoenix", "USS Excalibur")
And if you really want a splash of originality, look away from Earth.
Grab the name of a Federation world city, or a historical figure that's been seen in TOS, or a mythical creature that's been mentioned off-hand.
One of my characters captains the U.S.S. Jaresh-Inyo -- named for a past Federation president... and the only one besides Archer who is named in canon Trek. I've been waiting for the opportunity to use Shran, too.
And if you really want a splash of originality, look away from Earth.
Grab the name of a Federation world city, or a historical figure that's been seen in TOS, or a mythical creature that's been mentioned off-hand.
One of my characters captains the U.S.S. Jaresh-Inyo -- named for a past Federation president... and the only one besides Archer who is named in canon Trek. I've been waiting for the opportunity to use Shran, too.
I used the name "Zea Dorsa," which is apparently a plain on Mars.
And if you really want a splash of originality, look away from Earth.
Grab the name of a Federation world city, or a historical figure that's been seen in TOS, or a mythical creature that's been mentioned off-hand.
One of my characters captains the U.S.S. Jaresh-Inyo -- named for a past Federation president... and the only one besides Archer who is named in canon Trek. I've been waiting for the opportunity to use Shran, too.
Yeah, but he strikes me as the Jimmy Carter of federation presidents. He might have a good heart, but there's a reason he was drummed out of office.
U.S.S. Minotaur - Named after a laundry ship in WW1
U.S.S. Oscar - After my cat
U.S.S. Grace - Name of a barista i stalk in a coffee shop
U.S.S. Stockport - The TRIBBLE town i live in
U.S.S. Gaechka - After an... actress
U.S.S. Macchiato - Name of my beverage of choice for stalking
Yeah, but he strikes me as the Jimmy Carter of federation presidents. He might have a good heart, but there's a reason he was drummed out of office.
And none of the others were named?
Nope. Even the president in ST6 that we see quite a bit of, was never given a name. I poked around since, yeah... Inyo wasn't exactly the best of them.
Comments
Maybe look here for some inspiration?
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=91241
When I pick names for my ships I look at thesaurus.com a lot for themes and then ideas, e.g. I want a tough ship name so I look up words that mean the same thing like U.S.S. Dauntless or something.
Other people I've seen try spelling known names different. There are lots of "Enterprizes".
Also lots of other franchise names like U.S.S. Galactica.
I've seen people using famous historical real ship names too, like the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan.
this should help
- historical personalities, primarily scientists or explorers ("USS Hawking", "USS Yuri Gagarin")
- names of cities or landmarks ("USS Exeter", "USS Cairo")
- names that have to do with astronomy ("USS Equinox", "USS Stargazer")
- names of creatures or items of mythology ("USS Phoenix", "USS Excalibur")
- positive attributes (e.g. Starfleet virtues), commonly referring to exploration or protection ("USS Dauntless", "USS Valiant")
- historical ship names, which often conform to one of the previous points ("USS Enterprise", "USS Yorktown")
If you're really out of ideas you can also just hit the "random" button in the game until you come up with something you like. The list used by the STO name generator is pretty good.
I named most of my ships after Allied Naval ships that served in World War II. USS Stellar Drift was something I came up with in an offline roleplay eons ago.
You can find pretty much every ship name in Star Trek there.(Enterprise, Defiant, Intrepid, etc.)
List of Federation Ships- Memory Alpha
List of Klingon Ships- Memory Alpha
U.S. Navy Ships- Wikipedia
Royal Navy Ships- Wikipedia
And if you really want a splash of originality, look away from Earth.
Grab the name of a Federation world city, or a historical figure that's been seen in TOS, or a mythical creature that's been mentioned off-hand.
One of my characters captains the U.S.S. Jaresh-Inyo -- named for a past Federation president... and the only one besides Archer who is named in canon Trek. I've been waiting for the opportunity to use Shran, too.
I used the name "Zea Dorsa," which is apparently a plain on Mars.
Yeah, but he strikes me as the Jimmy Carter of federation presidents. He might have a good heart, but there's a reason he was drummed out of office.
And none of the others were named?
U.S.S. Oscar - After my cat
U.S.S. Grace - Name of a barista i stalk in a coffee shop
U.S.S. Stockport - The TRIBBLE town i live in
U.S.S. Gaechka - After an... actress
U.S.S. Macchiato - Name of my beverage of choice for stalking
Nope. Even the president in ST6 that we see quite a bit of, was never given a name. I poked around since, yeah... Inyo wasn't exactly the best of them.