Ship/Class Names

[Tuskin38]

Have you ever noticed that Federation ships names always seem to be English or Earth related? How come we never seen and UFP ships with Alien names and Alien class names? Its a "United" Federation of Planets, yet all the ships seem to be Earth based. That sorta bugged me. I'm sure it is for the viewers sake so they don't have to remember a crazy name or what ever.

Any thoughts?

What was the name of Shran's ship? Maybe the Federation ship out there with that name.

[Vortex]

Because Starfleet is from Earth. We never really get to see any other UFP Ships. Very rarely do we see a Vulcan or Andorian ship (Excluding Enterprise, which is Pre-UFP anyway.)

Don't make the mistake that a lot of people do and take Starfleet/ UFP to mean the same thing. Starfleet is just one of the fleets in the UFP.

[CyAn1d3]

well ive learned something new

[ACES_HIGH]

nah, I think starfleet is a multicultural group just like the federation, why else do we see so many aliens in starfleet.  I think the main reason we don't see many alien or even non-English names is the RW fact that it is an American show.  Although I don't think it's that uncommon for non English/human ships, The Akira for example is a Japanese name, then there's the USS Zapata, the Tian An Men, the Akagi, the Tsiolkovskii, the Honshu and a few other cannon ships that have non English Earth names, we've seen a few Alien names too; the Shir'kahr, T'Kumbra, T'Pau, Surak and the Sitak are Vulcan names used by Federation ships.

[Phaser]

the main reason we don't see many alien or even non-English names is the RW fact that it is an American show.

QFT

Although I don't think it's that uncommon for non English/human ships, The Akira for example is a Japanese name, then there's the USS Zapata, the Tian An Men, the Akagi, the Tsiolkovskii, the Honshu and a few other cannon ships that have non English Earth names, we've seen a few Alien names too; the Shir'kahr, T'Kumbra, T'Pau, Surak and the Sitak are Vulcan names used by Federation ships.

Dang, you beat me to it with the Sitak!  There's also the Kyushu, the Zhukov, and the Crazyhorse.  And those are just off the top of my head.  Others that I found/was reminded of from The Star Trek Archive: Yamaguchi, Ahwahnee, Al-Batani, Okinawa, Tecumseh, Yamato, Sarajevo, Korolev, and T'Kumbra.

...I guess you hit a nerve!

[DJ Curtis]

The USS Gorkon was an Excelsior class ship named after the Klingon Chancellor.

[Nebula]

huh where?

[ACES_HIGH]

http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/USS_Gorkon
there's also the Tolstoy, the Lakota, the Musashi, the Kongo, the Cortez, the Buran, the Gandhi, the list goes on.

[Tuskin38]

http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/USS_Gorkon
there's also the Tolstoy, the Lakota, the Musashi, the Kongo, the Cortez, the Buran, the Gandhi, the list goes on.

That still sticks with the mostly Earth related names though.

Wow, I never knew there was a Gorkon. Thanks for pointing out the other ships too.

[FarShot]

I tend to think that each member government can have it's own fleet, so long as it syncs with the Federation government.  For example, the Vulcans might operate ships of their own design in their own fleet, doing what they wish, just as long as they don't conflict with Starfleet operations.  You could use an analogy.
Starfleet is to the US Navy,
and the Vulcan space armada is to the US Coast Guard.

[ACES_HIGH]

I think there are Vulcan designed ships in starfleet, but Human designs are more prevalent in starfleet because most of the Yards and R&D is in the sol system, also, by the 23rd and 24th centuries, the vulcans are pacifists, maybe their ship designs aren't seen as much because they aren't designed for combat.

[mckinneyc]

Also it seems that not every member world or system has its own shipyards or starship development department.

And on a second point Starfleet seems to be mainly composed of humans judging from the Enterprise-D's, E's, DS9's, and Voyager's crew compliments so humans may make up the bulk of staff at the main shipyards in Sector 001 hense the mostly Earth names of ship classes and individual ship names.

Can't think of any other alien names that haven't already been mentioned but the ones which always spring to my mind are the two Mirandas with Vulcan names.

We have seen Vulcan ships within the Federation in The Motion Picture and TNG's Unification.

[Vortex]

Within the Federation, yes. But not Starfleet.

Starfleet is the Earth Fleet, which is why they are mostly names from Earth.

[newman]

You're seriously overthinking this. They gave the ships earth names because the show was meant for the earth audience, which will then in turn find the names cool as they know what they mean. I personally prefer the ships to be called "Enterprise" or "Constellation" then "tran'plaq'beq" just so it's more "realistic" and multicultural. It's a sci-fi show, not real life.

[Vortex]

It's a sci-fi show, not real life.

 :shock: :shock: Wait!? What?!! :shock:

[CyAn1d3]

It's a sci-fi show, not real life.

 :shock: :shock: Wait!? What?!! :shock:

  :shock: damn all this time.....

[ACES_HIGH]

You're seriously overthinking this. They gave the ships earth names because the show was meant for the earth audience, which will then in turn find the names cool as they know what they mean. I personally prefer the ships to be called "Enterprise" or "Constellation" then "tran'plaq'beq" just so it's more "realistic" and multicultural. It's a sci-fi show, not real life.

QFT

also, one of the first things I said in this thread.

I would like to point out that in DS9: Rapture, that's the episode where Sisko had all those visions, one of the concerns the federation had was how they were going to integrate the Bajoran Militia into Starfleet once Bajor joined the Federation.

[King Class Scout]

and, if you haven't noticed, most other species simply don't name individual ships.  that's an earth tradition, and may be a thing for the Human species.  also, Gene Roddenberry himself was a Navy man, so he used familiar names (i think he was a butter-bar).  there are exceptions, but they're mostly in Novels.  and the ONLY thing that's cannon is Paramount's official productions.  this is not like the Lucasverse where everything HAS to be cannon.  otherwise, could y'uns get away with all these kitbashed ships?

I agree with newman...you're all thinking about it too hard.

[1DeadlySAMURAI]

It's a sci-fi show, not real life.

 :shock: :shock: Wait!? What?!! :shock:

  :shock: damn all this time.....

Don't listen too Newman. He's a devious liar.

[CyAn1d3]

It's a sci-fi show, not real life.

 :shock: :shock: Wait!? What?!! :shock:

  :shock: damn all this time.....

Don't listen too Newman. He's a devious liar.

whew, now my perception of reality has been fixed