What's the story, if any, to your ship names?

So, having seen many imaginative names for ships so far, I thought I would create this topic so we could tell the story as to why we named our ships what we did.

As for me, my primary toon's ship is the USS Robert G. Shaw. Named in honor of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, the commander of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, one of the first African-American combat units. Not the first overall, but the first made up of Northern African-Americans.

Along those lines, If we can name our Delta Flyer shuttles, Mine will be the Higginson, named in honor of Reverend-Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson, a Unitarian Minister and commander of the first African-American combat unit, 1st South Carolina Volunteers, which was made up exclusively by freed slaves.

My Alt, a science officer, has a Nova-Class ship named the USS Endurance, named in honor of the ship used by Sir Ernest Shackleton for his 1914 Antarctic Expedition.

I named my ships Hephaestion and Alexander. I've always seen my boyfriend as Alexander the Great, he can do anything, so in away I named my ship after who my BF is to me. I'm more like Hephaestion, I like being the right hand for my bf, the closet friend ect. I named my ships for a love story, that means a lot to me. Its a reminder of who I have in my life. I also have my Galaxy X the Aung San Suu Kyi named for a political activist in Burma. My Excelsior the Bucephalus after Alexander the Great horse. My Prometheus class the Olympias Alexander the Greats mother. There's my Nebula class the Hyperion. My deep space science ship is the Maleficent after my fave Disney bad guy. Finally there's the Bad Horse named for a character in doctor horrible sing-along blog. I plan to add the Lilith Sternin when the Delta Flyers come out.

Ooh, love this question! I always put a lot of thought into my ship designs and names.

My primary (VA Jack Harkness) always names his ships after things and people that were important to him. He now commands the U.S.S. Torchwood, but past ships included the Tyler, the Alonzo, etc. His first escort was the Garcon de Loyer (Rent Boy), because it seemed like a good name for an escort, and he thought it would get through the game's filters. (It did.)

My Caitian was a big, butch exchange student from the evil parallel universe, so of course his first ship was painted pink, and named the U.S.S. Sea Tiger, after the pink submarine in Operation Petticoat. He did not understand the irony of being given such a girly ship. He later had an escort named the Gaiman (after a favorite author), the Leviathan (because it looked a bit like a whale), and the Defiant-class U.S.S. Deviant (pronounced De-VI-ant, rhymes with Defiant). Oh, and then when he became RA1 and got his Prometheus class ship, he named it after me (@Propecius) sort of: U.S.S. Propetheus.

My liberated borg engineer has a Nebula class called the U.S.S. Nebulizer. His first ship was the USS Secondprize. His first science ship was the USS Britannic, after HMS Titanic's ill-fated sister ship, which served as a hospital ship for a while.

My science guy is naming all his ships after NOAA science vessels from the 20th and 21st century. Okeanos was his most recent, after the Okeanos Explorer.

Oh, and my Klingon (actually Orion)--who I don't play very much--has the IKS Barbie Fun Ship, again because I thought it would be a nice contrast to his gruff exterior. It's painted in pink and purple, as a ship with that name should be.

I could go on and on. But I won't. Obviously I love this topic!

Great question!

My science guy (Morro) is my main alt so I made him my vanity project. I named his ships after my astrological sign, Virgo (surprise, surprise!). As he grew in rank and got more ships I kept the "Virgo" name but added letter designations: Virgo-A, Virgo-B and so on. Two of my ships, the dreadnaught cruiser (USS Astrea) and the deep space science vessel (USS Spica) were variations on the Virgo theme, as Astrea was the Roman version of Virgo and Spica is the main star in the constellation. The ship I use now (the long range science vessel refit) I named Hermes, after the messenger of the gods (amd due to Morro becoming a Starfleet Ambassador - kind of a messenger himself)

For my tac guy (Wright) I made him a Starfleet Marine so most of his ship names have to do with Marine Corps base names or Marine history. However, 2 of my ships were named for gay Marines - the fleet escort USS Eric F. Alva and the dreadnaught cruiser Samuel Nicholas. His current ship is the USS Sting Ray, a tactical escort refit named after a Force Recon (the Marine Corps' special missions force) mission type.

Finally for my eng guy (Mackenzie), I made him Australian...well, technically his father was Australian and his mother was Betazoid. Anyway, his ship names are currently based on major Australian cities, with the final ship to be named after the continent itself.

Thanks for posting this question - it was very interesting to read other players' stories about how they came to name their ships!

My ship is the USS Minas Tirith

Why? I was watching the LOR: Return of the King just before I got my RSV.

Like the white tower my ship is painted all white, it can repulse great hordes of enemies and absorb lots of punishment. Well, that's the idea anyway. :)

My Main (Raanan Pyki) flies the USS Bucentaure. The Bucentaure was the name of Vice Admiral Villenueve's ship at the Battle of Trafalger in 1805 where Nelson was killed. Being a history major, most of my ships take their names from English/French frigates or ships of the line. My science is in the USS Pallas. The Pallas was the name of Alexander, Lord Cochrane's famous frigate, the Pallas. My tactical flies the Imperiuse, which is another of Lord Cochranse commands!...My klingong...bea Arthur, flies the IKS Gummer...Previously the IKS Betty White, IKS Golden Girl, IKS...you get the drift... My new klingon toon, Paula Deen, is currently flyign the IKS Ham and Icing.. because Paula Deen is vile and I love her so!

Quote by Khyfa

My Main (Raanan Pyki) flies the USS Bucentaure. The Bucentaure was the name of Vice Admiral Villenueve's ship at the Battle of Trafalger in 1805 where Nelson was killed. Being a history major, most of my ships take their names from English/French frigates or ships of the line. My science is in the USS Pallas. The Pallas was the name of Alexander, Lord Cochrane's famous frigate, the Pallas. My tactical flies the Imperiuse, which is another of Lord Cochranse commands!...My klingong...bea Arthur, flies the IKS Gummer...Previously the IKS Betty White, IKS Golden Girl, IKS...you get the drift... My new klingon toon, Paula Deen, is currently flyign the IKS Ham and Icing.. because Paula Deen is vile and I love her so!

Not the IKS butter?

Great question! I also like seeing other people's responses.

My main (Sthyr, an Andorian) is a cruiser captain. His ships have all had names I considered to be cruiser-ey. Dauntless, Endurance etc. He generally captains the Assault Cruiser USS Kumari after Shran's ship in ENT. His occasionally used Galaxy-X is the Invictus ( which means Unconquered).

My secondary toon (Kel, a Bajoran ginger hottie) has had his ships all named after scientists. Currently he flies the refit Copernicus or the Nebula Archimedes.

My Caitian Tac (just hit Captain) names his escorts after Native American tribes. His defiant class is the USS Lakota.

I have a rarely used Orion who is very campy in his names. He's only LCR5, with the BOP Sa'ra Pah'Len. Soon he will be in the IKS Bet' Mid'Lah
His Boffs are also campy.. Brund Korgan (named after Brent Corrigan the porn star) and his only female boff is Alotta Fadgina.

Let's see...

Elle's tiny little Miranda wasn't named by her, but by its late previous captain, and was the USS Proud Moth because it was small, lightly armed, but still did its best.

Once she was able to name her own ships, she was made captain of the USS Richard Feynman, an Intrepid-Class ship... this poor vessel was destroyed in an altercation with the Borg, but a later Intrepid-R was commissioned to the same specs and christened the USS Richard Feynman II.

She currently flies the USS Into the Unknown, a Nebula-class science vessel.

She entered Starfleet to serve as a medical officer in person, and to discover new types of spatial phenomena as a captain, and her scientific bent is I hope apparent from her ship names ;)

She has recently been considering putting in a request for a transfer to one of the newly-developed D'Kyr Vulcan Science Vessels that Starfleet has been talking about in classified communiques, but she hasn't yet decided on an appropriate name.

Denil's Ships (Cruisers) are all named after places that mean something to me. U.S.S. Northumberland (NX-91412) was his Light Cruiser, and his Cruiser was the U.S.S. Northumberland (NCC-93610) as Northumberland is a place I spent a lot of time as a child and where my boyfriend (alimac) comes from too. His Excelsior is the U.S.S. Cambridge after my hometown, and his Stargazer is the U.S.S. Oxford after where I went to Uni. My Exploration Cruiser will likely be the U.S.S. Elgin after the street my Grandparents live on. The Assault Cruiser and Star Cruiser will differ from this pattern though. The Assault Cruiser will be the U.S.S. Alistair and the Star Cruiser will be the U.S.S. Benjamin, after my bf and myself (and Sisko) respectively.

Bast (my tac officer) is going to have all his ships named after Egyptian Cat Deities, He is a Caitian after all. It's also fitting as most Egyptian god deities have a war-god aspect to them.

His current ship (an NX) is the Sekhmet, and his Escort will be Pasht (a different translation of the goddess Bastet he was named after).

I love this topic!! And reading how people have come to make the names of there Vessels..

For me Iroesay, my main, Captains the USS Dreamweaver. This is actually a homage to one of my favorite bands Styx.

My Alt Nrreow Captains the USS Pendulum. This is a play on the fact that a Science Captain can make the difference between a successful mission and complete death of all. The Pendulum can swing both ways after all :)

And as for Vira my newest, and only female toon, Captains the USS Geisha which is named after one of my favorite book/movie Memories of a Geisha.

Philip

U.S.S. Navajo was the name of the very first and only RPG I played for many years. I used it for my ship in hopes that an old friend from the RPG would recognise the toon/ship name and say hi. Guess he's not playing STO (knobhead).
Also I never did make it to captain in the game, only chief science officer/second officer. So I thought it was time I had my turn. lol

U.S.S. Samhain. Samhain is the best (IMO) Sabbat.

Segedunum is the Roman name for a part of North Tyneside.

U.S.S. Warlock. My Class in WoW. I was going to name it the U.S.S. Bludrot but...

I'm going to have to refresh my memory on Klingon to go into my Klink ship name, but I can't be arsed hehe.

Great answers, all!

I'm curious: of those who responded here (or want to), who have obviously put a lot of thought into their ship names, how many have also entered a bio in-game for their captain(s)?

Sometimes I'll see an interesting looking toon and right click on him (or her, but usually him, cuz I'm gay, duh) only to find nothing in the way of back story. But my captains (and some of my BOs) have their own stories.

What about you? And are your captains usually glbtq?

Quote by Propecius

Great answers, all!

I'm curious: of those who responded here (or want to), who have obviously put a lot of thought into their ship names, how many have also entered a bio in-game for their captain(s)?

Sometimes I'll see an interesting looking toon and right click on him (or her, but usually him, cuz I'm gay, duh) only to find nothing in the way of back story. But my captains (and some of my BOs) have their own stories.

What about you? And are your captains usually glbtq?

I do have one, I just need to post it. I also set one up for one of my BOs. Yes, because my toon is an extension of me I did make him gay, I'm not sure about my alt yet hes a Betazoid(a race that always hit me as gay or bi, the males at least)

My ship's the USS Stonewall. :D

I named it after my favorite historical event which you can read about here: http://www.stonewallfleet.com/stonewall-riots

The U.S.S. Star Hammer is my main toon's ship. Not a really interesting story about that; I used to play a game called Spore and I created a really nifty ship called the Star Hammer (and it's little brother called the Dwarf-Star Hammer. Both ships with a huge spinal mounted cannon) and when I started playing STO I wanted a spiffy sounding ship name so I grabbed that one. :3

My toon Angel Silhouette is a science officer (Unfortunately. I can't stand playing Sci.) and has a few ships with which I alternate:

U.S.S. Omega Point (DSSV: An omega point is the culmination of all knowledge in the universe.)
U.S.S Omniscience (RSSV: A bit like an omega point, really. :p I also like how it can look like omni-science to me sometimes :3)
U.S.S. Star Lion (My Star Cruiser. It looks a bit like a diving frigate bird, to me, but calling it the U.S.S. Frigate would have been silly. So I went from Frigate to Sea Lion, then from Sea Lion to Star Lion. :3 )
U.S.S. Entropy (Nebula Class Starship. I decided to go with the opposite of the culmination of knowledge, one of the generally accepted words for the eventual heat death of the universe.)

My Ferengi has had the U.S.S. Tsar Bomba (The largest nuclear bomb ever detonated on earth) the U.S.S War Machine and now the U.S.S. Tannhauser Gate (Named after a battle in which Roy Batty fought before the events of Blade Runner.)

My borg had:

U.S.S. Bonny Anne (Saber Class Escort Named after one of the most famous woman pirates, Anne Bonny.)
U.S.S. Queen Emeraldas (Akira Class named for the... Queen Emeraldas pirate ship from the anime of the same name. xD)
U.S.S. Scarab (Gallant mish-mash named because it looks like a Scarab Beetle)
I kind of pretend she's a mirror universe Terran Empire captain who practices piracy to both hurt Starfleet and to fund the maintenance on her ships.

Those are the only ones worth mentioning Starfleet side.
My KDF officer had:

The I.K.S. K'argentivas (named after a large, the largest flying bird ever discovered, the argentivas magnificens)
The I.K.S. Blood Bath
The I.K.S. Beast
The appropriately named I.K.S. Can't remember the name just now. Either Behemoth, Juggernaut or Goliath.
and the I.K.S. Warbird (Because it looks very Romulan-esque ^.^ )
Most of the names are just.. sort of klingony sounding except they're in English. :3

Really interesting to read everyone's answers here! Thanks for sharing everyone.

My toon settled on USS Blind Io for his second command, and has stuck with it ever since through every ship tier.

Blind Io is the chief of the gods of the Discworld, according to the great Terry Pratchett. Blind Io is not entirely accurately named; amongst many influences, he is primarily inspired by the Nordic legend of the god Odin, who gave up an eye in exchange for wisdom. Blind Io though seems to have given up both eyes, but like the Greek god Argus he sees through the many eyeballs that orbit in the air around his head.

Quote by Propecius

I'm curious: of those who responded here (or want to), who have obviously put a lot of thought into their ship names, how many have also entered a bio in-game for their captain(s)?

I do have a bio, though it was only a first-draft that I never got around to returning to. I posted it on our forums and then discovered how short the bios had to be to fit on the game's character bio sheet, got annoyed, and stopped. But he is gay. ;)

For each captain:

YLIS: Names of pre-Socratic philosophers
Ship names to date:
Thales
Anaximander
Anaxagoras
Zeno
Heraclitus
Parmenides

KVAR: Southern Hemisphere constellations named for inventions
Ships to date:
Microscopium
Sextans


BROCK: Small weapons
Ships to date:
Shuriken
Sai
Switchblade (I'm wondering if they should all be weapons starting with S now...)

RHOTHIGAAS: War-related names (in Klingon)
Ships to date:
Quv (to make war)
jey'naS (double-headed axe)

SRANAGAR: Astronomy-related names (in Klingon)
Ships to date:
Hovtej (astronomer)
chunDab (meteor)

***

The only in-game bio I've posted to date is for Brock; plan to do the rest in the near future.

And as someone touched on earlier, the orientations of my captains:

YLIS: comes from an all-male species
KVAR: comes from an all-female species
BROCK: heterosexual male
RHOTHIGAAS: heterosexual male
SRANAGAR: gay male (I think that there would be great disfavour amongst Orions of gay males, who would not be influenced by Orion female pheromones and all, and when someday I write this crew's story, that will figure prominently, esp as he currently has two female Orions serving under him.

Well, I have since renamed my main character's ship to the USS Surprise. Named in honor of the ship from the Aubrey–Maturin series by Patrick O'Brien. A series with quite a lot of Ho-Yay.