How do yall come up with planet names?

Azratax2

I am playing around with a pretty small TC so i can get the game to a point where i can play with aspects of the game in my own world which I understand and can build on (expanding the nova universe is like trying to weld something onto a General Products Hull - It wont stick together nomatter how hard you try).
At this point, i am trying to make a buncha planets for a major human government. Any of yall know of a good way to get planet names, or have any good ones? I dont want to feel like i have ripped all the names of EVC/O/N
Thanks
-Az

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orcaloverbri9

I use the Name Generator that comes with ColdStone and when it gives me something with promise, I tweak it till it sounds good. It's aactually pretty fun.

Anyhow, don't worry about ripping off. Matt, Peter, and probably ATMOS did tons of ripping off of real-life things (e.g. Rigel in EVC). I've never done this, but I suppose that it could work if you found an obscure enough sci-fi sounding name.

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SpacePirate

Usually I use real stars, or I use Vortex's (url="http://"http://chaoticore.northernswamp.com/namegen/")Name Generator(/url). Most of the names are completely useless, but sometimes a good one comes up.

~ SpacePirate

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Masamune

I needed tons of random names for Robotech. My favorite method was to simply look around my room. When an object would catch my eye, I'd start messing with the name of that object. Adding -ia, -opia, -etc, reversing the spelling, inserting and/or capitalizing random letters, adding accent marks. I'd do the same thing with my memory, and use people's names.

Whether or not it worked, who knows. Robotech is shelved indefinately. Let me try it now.... looking, looking... ah, a Jimi Hendrix SHIRT. Shirt, shrit, ****ri, ****ria. That last one's not too bad. One down. You can have it for free

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TheRedeemer

I found this topic which had a few good names on:
(url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/webboard/Forum9/HTML/002083.html")http://www.ambrosias...TML/002083.html(/url)

I used a few of them and changed the round a bit.

There also was an evil sounding name generator around somewhere, which had some good ones if you change some of the letters, though they are not really human sounding. Good for alien ones, If you decide to make any alien Governments.

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boot

I use my imagination. I also plunder star charts sometimes. And my TC is based on a novel, so I already have a lot of planet names.

Plus, I'll probably be including a lot of references to other SF works and the previous EV's. It's a bit of a tradition after all.

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Azratax2

Thanks for the ideas all. Big help! Masamune, i like your idea, but i think your example was monumentally poor :p. Looks like you s, h, i, and t next to eachother.
I will share how i am going t obe getting system names.
Google for "star names". on the first page of links there are links to several pages with lists of star names, like this one: (url="http://"http://www.ras.ucalgary.ca/~gibson/starnames/starnames.html")http://www.ras.ucalg.../starnames.html(/url)
I plan to just go down the list and grab any I like.
-Az

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Masamune

Quote

Originally posted by Azratax2:
**Thanks for the ideas all. Big help! Masamune, i like your idea, but i think your example was monumentally poor:p. Looks like you s, h, i, and t next to eachother.
**

Oops! Yeah, looking back, I think monumentally poor about describes it. Maybe take out the h, or add another r.... there is an art to it.

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sparky

take words and look at sections of the word backwards. Usually you can get names that look like real words. And then you can of course add -ia, -io, -itria, etc.

for example:
Calculus (saw my textbook nearby. )

Calia
Sulutria
Luclio
and so on.

edit: and yes... I just realized I basically said the same thing as someone else. Oh well.

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(This message has been edited by sparky (edited 12-26-2003).)

antihero

i use ancient roman and greek cities, gods, and hero's, even though some are the same with different names. sometimes i'll use planets from sci-fi books. most of the god and hero names make better in game ships though. for a time, i was creating governments based on different world regions (ie, i used great britian's city names for planets, i used roman for another, greek for a third, and various middle eastern cities for another.)

other than that, i just make them up as listed above.

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mrxak

Sometimes star charts or encyclopedias produce good names. Other times it is based on my own imagination or languages I either know something of, or am making up for the purpose of the scenario.

Guest_-wyrm_*

Of the planet names I've thought of for (url=www.dawnofinfinity.org)Dawn Of Infinity's racial homeworlds, they were all chosen by what I thought the race's language would sound like, and then extrapolated from there.

I thought they were all original. Then I found out the Homeworld features a planet called Karak.

Azratax2

In my TC, if i ever make it into a release worthy plugin, will have some easter egg activated if you travel to all the stars that are in the Orion constelation in order without landing anywhere else. Halfway through this land-and-jump fest, you will start being stalked by a mighty hunter.
-Az

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JuKe

Does anyone know of a word generator that generates words that make sense? Or maybe it gives you names that are close to it. You know, like what MS Word does.

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orcaloverbri9

Quote

Originally posted by JuKe:
Does anyone know of a word generator that generates words that make sense? Or maybe it gives you names that are close to it. You know, like what MS Word does.

No. Few of them make sense. What you do is modify them using creativity.

Here's some samples with my method (you can use them if you wish):
- Thiann, Thiane, Thane, Thani, Thania
- Cedon, Credon, Credonia
- Zerican, Zurican, Zuricania

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Azratax2

You could use repeated application of a "sounds like" type engine to automate the "adapt a word" technique, but i dont know of anything like that out there except in the land of MUSHes (I know pennMUSH had a soundslike() function, but i dont think it could randomly make words for which soundslike() wouldbe true)
-Az

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Pod

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Martin Turner

Why struggle?

Your planet names are an important part of your TC's atmosphere.

Why not think about the history of your universe. How were the planets settled? The star systems (of course) were largely identified by astronomers on Earth (or wherever your people originated from). Some of them have names, but most of them are just identified either by numbers (like SAO ... or NGC ...) or by a constellation and a Greek letter, eg Delta Capricorn.

However, once people started settling the planets, they would start naming them.

If a group of planets were all settled by the same wave of explorers, they are likely to have similar names. Some of them may be named after the explorer, some after a political figure.

If a single explorer discovered a number of planets, he might choose a set of names - for example, Greek Heroes, or Norse Gods.

If a set of planets were conquered by an empire, they might be named after whatever that empire thought was important - famous kings, values (such as Peace, Justice, or perhaps 'Ironfist' 'Mightisright' etc), the names of important battles or famous soldiers.

If a planet was settled after a particular event or out of a particular historical context, the name might commemorate that - for example, Liberia in North West Africa.

A planet might be named based on its physical characteristics - like Tierra del Fuego or Iceland.

Planets named by an automated scoutship would have automated names - either randomly generated or numbered.

A planet that has changed its government by revolution might decide to rename itself - like the way the Russians renamed cities to Stalingrad and Leningrad.

A planet established by a commercial concern might have a whole branding strategy attached to it.

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Alicia Rose

Well, here's some examples of names from my TC, The Great Conflict...

Some systems are named for what they contain: such as Galactic Jump Gate Sanctuary, Asteroid Collection Field, Outpost 1-5, and so on.

Also some races have naming conventions - Havulaarium systems all start with the 'ha' or 'hi' sound, Skraddnalanian systems usually start with 'sk' or 'sx', Nebulaar systems usually start with 'ne' or 'na'

Depending on a race's attitude, also... the Gurnopian Empire usually changes the name of a system when they capture it from another race, whereas the Tichelopian Alliance of Free People, when a system joins them, usually leave it alone... An example of that would be for the Gurns, when they captured Tichel, they renamed it to Gurnopia, and when the Tichelopians colonized the old Trent empire, they left the old Trentalin traditions, names, and government relatively intact.

By the way, I should have a preview starmap of TGC up later tonight

Divals

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Coraxus

I also noticed in some sci-fi like Star Trek, that planets have a suffix word to their names, like Verril Prime, or Cardassia Prime. I have an idea what "prime" is, but I wanna know if anyone else knows the in-depth significance to having "Prime" tagged to the name.

How do you like the name of my planet? Sov. Latifundia, or the name of the city, SC6?. I'll let you guys guess on what kind of a planet it is and the origin of that name hehe, as well as the city.

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