[ericthered]

If I'm naming just a single planet, I'll roll made-up words and sounds around my tounge until I come up with something I like. The titular planet for lawmen of Borlo was named this way.



Sometimes I'll name planets (and people, and cities) in foreign languages.



Sometimes I'll pick a naming scheme for planets in a setting. Space merchant was about refuges from a war that destroyed earth making contact with each other again. All the planets were named in reference to earth someway, all going in a different direction. One was named Aqua, after its dominant element and in contrast to earth. Another was bitterly named Hell. New Terra named all of its own cities after existing earth cities.


Often I'll name the planets as deliberate devices to recognize something about them. Aqua is mostly ocean. Elysium is the place where all the psis who achieve immortality at the price of giving up hyperspace retire, Monkey's Head landing is a barren rock with some distinctive formations, and so forth.



If I'm planning to name a LOT of planets, or am planning to name a lot of things the same way, I'll come up with a random phonetic generator with some rules. Right now game in my sig uses the following rules for names:


Valid Consonants: J, K, B, Z, N, Th, Ch, T, V, P
Valid Vowels: u, or, Ee, o, Ie



And set the rule that all syllables end in vowels. The results require some translation and filtering, but they give a distinctive feel.