Starship names that really should exist...(but don't)

So was having a discussion with some friends last night and the subject of names that should really have popped up as ship names in Trek, but seemingly never did. Thought it’d be a fun to start a list here of good ship names that haven’t been taken.

USS (Lester B) Pearson. - Pearson was an incrediably influential Canadian Prime Minister, ignoring what he did as Pm (it was a lot) more importantly was his career as a diplomat before that in the 40s and 50s. He was insturmental in forming the UN and NATO (in fact he the favored choice for the firstsecretary general, with 10 of 11 nations wanting him as it, Russia however used their Veto to stop him from being chosen) during the Suez Cannel crisis he was the man who developed the idea of UN peacekeepers. and is widely reckongized as the father of modern international Peacekeeping.
Why the heck we haven’t seen a USS Pearson (or USS Lester B Pearson) in Trek astounds me. and can only assume it’s simply the American wirters of Trek just not knowing about this guy (Mropheus devs. please please PLEASE slide a USS Pearson into a future project)

USS (Winston) Churchell - yeah apparently this name hasn’t really popped up eaither. it’s only appered in an OOOLD comic book, and in some video games. baffling.

USS Missouri - proving that even US ships can be forgotten about, apparently there’s never, in Alpha canon at least, been a ship encountered named the Missouri

anyway that’s just my start take it away folks.

I don’t know if it’s never appeared before, but as a name for an exploratory vessel, you could do worse than the USS (Leif) Erikson (not to be confused by the US Navy ships that bore the name Ericsson, named after John Ericsson).

I’ve always felt it a bit odd that we haven’t seen more ship named after non-humans.

Like, where’s the USS Shran, or the USS Th’f’loo-ak?

BC

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I agree, I’m adding more diverse names after scientists, explorers etc for appropriate class vessels, after all you wouldn’t want the USS Attenborough to be a Defiant Class.

Also find it odd that we don’t see many other vessels from Federation Races such as a TNG era Vulcan ship named for Sarek?

Well a USS Shran and the (I’m about to butcher the spelling) T’plannahath do turn up in Discovery for the Battle of the Binaries, so at least some non-human names have started turning up in canon.

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Magee Class USS Shran NCC-1413…
Looks like a pair of warp nacelles built through a saucer.
Ships known USS John Magee (class ship), and USS Thy’lek Shran.

Not ugly, but, different design aesthetic…

Well in my opinion the non earthly Names are coming really short:
USS Soval (Ambassador Class) should be existing.
Than there should be more ships named after Scientists and Inventers, Thinkers ans Philosophers.

By the way, I am asking my self, is the USS Bozeman named after the Landingpoint of the Vulcans or was the Landingpoint in First Contact chosen, because there was a Ship called Bozeman?

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A U.S.S. Sarek initially took part in Operation Return but had to stop for engine repairs before the fleet met the Dominion forces.

You can find a complete list of all ST ship names and registry numbers here:

I used it to make sure I didn’t pick anything in the list. And I came up with USS James Cook for an Intrepid, USS Mary Edwards Walker for a Combat/Medical hybrid Akira, and USS Resolute for an Excelsior. Waiting on my players to pick one.

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I’ve used the similar lists on Memory Alpha and Memory Beta from time to time.



(note that Memory Beta’s list isn’t on the linked pages, but broken out alphabetically from the link’s list)

On the other hand, one should also not be afraid to use canonical names with the understanding that canon ends the instant the first PC takes an action…

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Let’s not forget Soviet Cosmonauts (I am an American) - like Yuri Gegarin (represented in non-Trek) but not Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space.

Kudo’s to the author of the Starter Campaign for including the USS Alcubierre, who invented a warp drive based on Einsteins equations.

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There are numerous examples of names that could be used - but then there are many more ships than have been seen. You could go for explorers (eg John Speke, Robert Scott, Edmund Hilary, John Cabot), scientists (Marie Curie, any of the NASA ladies!) - and definitely multi-species options. I also follow precedent with some ships named after star systems and the like.

I do think there’s a definite fixation in canon with American history and military tradition - as a Brit, I’d never heard of Yorktown prior to Trek, and there are plenty of references to (obscure to the rest of the world) American explorers, ships and battles. A lot of the military ones don’t even seem relevant to Starfleet as presented.

I’ve produced a few British examples: naval commanders (Nelson, Drake, Jellicoe and Cochrane), battles (Bosworth, Hastings) and Shakespeare references (our USS Tempest (Miranda-class) carried shuttles named after characters from the play).

Following the American tradition of naming ships after politicians, I also threw in the freighter SS Nilz Barris, but I don’t think any of my players got the reference :frowning:

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Don’t forget the USS Bill Nye and the USS Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

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They’re both noted as science communicators more than as scientists themselves. In that category, we can add Carl Sagan (tho’ he was a working scientist, as well, unlike Dr. Tyson, who has spent most of his career doing communication, being the director of the planetarium, unlike his mentor, Sagan).

We can add Don Herbert (aka Mr. Wizard), Alan Alda, James Burke, Hashem Al-Ghaili, Karim Madjer, Michio Kaku, Richard Dawkins, Seth Shostak, Motoko Kakubayashi, Jill Tartar, David Pogue, David Ogden Stiers, Marc Okrand…

Alda and Stiers have done a lot of work in science communication, both having been famous as actors. But for those not of a generation to have watched MAS*H, they’re more likely noted for their work in various science TV series. (Plus, Stiers has played aliens on Trek. Another reason to list him.)

I think Okrand is likely the best known linguist of the modern (post 1965) era, Tolkien of the early 20th C.

The problem with alien names as ship names in Star Trek is that (excepting Klingon), there is limited canon to draw from.

I’m intending on in a game I run sliding a referance to the USS America commanded by one “Captain Rogers” just to see how many of my players I can make face palm :slight_smile:

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What about places relevant for science and/or peaceful relations? I will definetly use one USS Meyrin (those who got the reference: kudos!), probably Nova or Intrepid class. Or one USS Atmaca and one USS Roggeveld (the latter is a reference a bit obscure; there is the Southern African Large Telescope located; both maybe Orberth Class?).

After reading this thread, I now think about a reference to Kampala (not sure whether this will be a civilian ship, a crisis and emergency response Nova, or even a tactical operations Akira or even Sovereign), strategic and diplomatic operations ships named after Strasbourg (Galaxy Class?) or Panmunjom.

Also, what about great philosophers? Clearly, only ships of the Vulcan Science Academy shall be named after Surak, but e.g. Immanuel Kant, William of Ockham, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (okay, that one was a full-fledged scientist, as well) or Karl Popper for a rather recently deceased one who would the Federation well (but not necessarily combat ships…).

Grace Brewster Murray Hopper (née Murray December 9, 1906 – January 1, 1992) was an American computer scientist and United States Navy rear admiral . One of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I computer, she was a pioneer of computer programming who invented one of the first linkers. BTW - she invented the term “bug” for computer issues, when she literally found a bug in the machinery of an early computer.

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You’re unlikely to see philosophers honored with military ships.

Science Vessels get Scientists (and probably Science Communicators, but for different classes)

USS Bessie Coleman. She was the first American to earn an international aviation license from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale and the first African American woman ever to earn an aviation license.

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The problem with alien names as ship names in Star Trek is that (excepting Klingon), there is limited canon to draw from.

True. But I view that as an opportunity, rather than a limitation. Think of the cool things you get to fill in!

Relatedly, an adventure idea that I’ve often pondered, but never got around to running is your standard “the away team has accidentally been transported back in time and must ensure that a major historical event isn’t disrupted.” But the first question that the characters have to wrestle with is something like, “ummm… who knows anything about Bolian history?”

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