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Old 05-01-2022, 07:33 AM   #11
johndallman
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Default Re: [Space/Sci-Fi] I Need Some Names

The Interstellar Olympic Committee were not pleased when they found out how hard five linked rings would be. They've been paying for various kinds of astro-engineering research, and are rumoured to be planning to build large dust clouds in front of a star cluster.
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Old 05-01-2022, 06:15 PM   #12
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40–60 light years in which direction? People naming the colonies might have taken inspiration from the constellation that the stars are in.

For example, if the sector is off to spinward in Herculis the colonies might be named for associates of Herakles in legend, such as Megara, Omphale, Deinara, Hebe, Thespios, Lavinia, Hylas, Iolaus, Elakatas, Admetos, Abderos, Iphitos, Nireus, Sostratos, Eurystheus, Adonis, Korythos, Nestor, Philoktetes, Diomus, Perithoas, and Phrix, not to mention Herkales' many sons and four daughters. Did you know that Herakles had three sons by a dragon? And people promoting colonies in Herculis might also name them after gods in other cultures that they wish to appeal to, and which were somehow similar to or once syncretised with Herakles: Bahram, Vajrapani, Mathura, Bhima, Thorr, Melkart, Agilaz, Beowulf, Cú Chullain, Gilgamesh, Lugalbanda, Samson…. Or after cities founded by Herakles, or Greek states ruled by Heraclid dynasties.

If parts of the sector are in Centaurus some colonies might be named Nessos and Cheiron and so on. If it is in Carina some might be named after various argonauts and places visited by the Argo. If they are in Eridanus they might be named after rivers, if in Puppis after explorers and navigators, if in Indus after cities and places in India, if in Crater after people, places, and things involved in tales of the Holy Grail, such as Indiana.
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Old 05-01-2022, 06:48 PM   #13
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In another vein, the most common name for settlements across all languages is a semantic equivalent of "new settlement" — New City, New Town, New Port, or New Village. There are towns and cities galore called Newtown, Newton, Newburgh, Neustadt, Nieuwestad, Villeneuve, Villanuova, Villanova, Novgorod, Novogrudok, Nové Město, Neapolis, Naples, Neuheim, Nyborg….

If your colonies were established by a series of ships delivering immigrants and trade goods to a groundport or landing field established by pioneers, and spreading out from there by air and surface transport, you might get a lot of old cities at transport interfaces named "First Landing", "Landing Field", "Space Port", "New Port", or "The City" in various languages.

Break out Google translate and go to town!
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Old 05-02-2022, 04:31 AM   #14
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And things like Hou New Zealand. Maori for new added to the old name. Or Nueva New York.
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Old 05-02-2022, 11:04 AM   #15
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If settled by people from the USA, this list of place names may be useful. Feel free to have one of the Springfield's match perfectly with what's seen on The Simpsons.
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Old 05-05-2022, 03:35 AM   #16
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One of the things I liked about Niven's Known Space was that most of the colony worlds were named after something memorable about them. We Made It, for instance, where the colony slowship landed during the spring windstorms and was almost destroyed (the site of the landing is commemorated as Crashlanding City); or Plateau, a world with an unbreathably thick atmosphere except on a series of plateaus atop the world's tallest mountain, Mt. Lookitthat (named for the first words spoken when it was sighted, as the slowboat looked for a landing place - "Lookit that!").
...and then you get the ships from Ian M. Bank's Culture, who call themselves things like "Zero Gravitas" and "Fate amenable to change", being operated by somewhat eccentric AIs.
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Old 05-05-2022, 08:12 AM   #17
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...and then you get the ships from Ian M. Bank's Culture, who call themselves things like "Zero Gravitas" and "Fate amenable to change", being operated by somewhat eccentric AIs.
In Deathworlders, one of the former human abductees, once he got command of his own starship, named it My Other Ship Is The Millennium Falcon. When he later joined up with a human-run corporation, his naming style apparently rubbed off - the other two ships mentioned are named Put Back Together With Bits Left Over and Actually Three Smaller Ships In A Trenchcoat.

Meanwhile, in Schlock Mercenary, when Tagon's Toughs get a hold of a massive warship on the cheap, the onboard AI (who typically share the name of their ship) insists on being named Post-Dated Check Loan. They call him "Petey" for short (based on the pronunciation of PD), and when he later becomes a galactic power, he uses the initials "PD" for everything - his organization is called the Pluripotent Dominion, and he names ships things like Plaited Daisies (an Extortionator-class dreadnought) or Predictably Damaged (a Penetrator-class ship, which is accelerated to high speeds and uses forcefields to punch through a target vessel; they tend not to survive, hence the name).
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Old 05-05-2022, 08:47 PM   #18
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Originally Posted by Agemegos View Post
In another vein, the most common name for settlements across all languages is a semantic equivalent of New City, New Town, New Port, or New Village. There are towns and cities galore called Newtown, Newton, Newburgh, Neustadt, Nieuwestad, Villeneuve, Villanuova, Villanova, Novgorod, Novogrudok, Nové Město, Neapolis, Naples….

If your colonies were established by a series of ships delivering immigrants and trade goods to a groundport or landing field established by pioneers, and spreading out from there by air and surface transport, you might get a lot of old cities at transport interfaces named "First Landing", "Landing Field", "Space Port", "New Port", or "The City" in various languages.
Another likely name for the initial settlement at the place where immigrants land with trade goods is "Market" or some equivalent or translation. That's the significance of "-wich", "-wick", "-vik" in place-names. Such names arise from people saying that they are going to a place defined by its special function in their lives, such as "going to Town to get an encabulator", "taking the cattle to Market" and so on.

And to combine the two there is Newmarket.
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Old 05-06-2022, 05:29 AM   #19
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Default Re: [Space/Sci-Fi] I Need Some Names

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Another likely name for the initial settlement at the place where immigrants land with trade goods is "Market" or some equivalent or translation. That's the significance of "-wich", "-wick", "-vik" in place-names. Such names arise from people saying that they are going to a place defined by its special function in their lives, such as "going to Town to get an encabulator", "taking the cattle to Market" and so on.
In England, also "Chipping" (as in Chipping Norton) – which of course comes directly from Scandinavia (see all those Swedish towns named —köping).
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Old 05-06-2022, 03:07 PM   #20
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In England, also "Chipping" (as in Chipping Norton) – which of course comes directly from Scandinavia (see all those Swedish towns named —köping).
Which leaves the possibility of pun names, akin to the capital of Jinx, Sirius Mater. In this case, a world in the grip of a glacial period, with the parts not buried under ice being reserved for farming. The main trading city is located in a permafrost region, and was named Chipping Ice by its British founder.
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