What is your naming system for Planes/Rockets?

[MaxwellsDemon]

I use this system as well. I look at a craft's purpose and find a part of mythology that suits it. The hunt for the perfect name is a fun part of it for me, having studied Greek and Latin in high school. The Greek/Roman mythology contains magnificent stories.

I do this as well, though with Ancient Egyptian mythic names (Horus, Sokar, Montu, Isis, Hathor, etc...), often corresponding to real-world spacecraft name equivalents (such as Horus for the Apollo-like Mk1-2 command pod), though I'm not entirely consistent there (my Mercury-like Mk1 pod is 'Sokar' rather than 'Hermes,' for instance). I tend to go with abbreviations for probes, though, such as HAEP-1 and HAEP-2 (for High Altitude Experimental Probe) or POEP-1 (Polar Orbit Experimental Probe), based on the contract requirements...

[KerBlammo]

Normally I don't give them real names, just a descriptive name (Crew Launcher for instance). I do try and come up with names for reusable craft but since I am terrible at thinking such things up I look online for names of real vessels so right now I have two named orbital tugs: Resolute and Ranger.

[Sufficient Anonymity]

Launchers follow a Lxyz format, where x is determined by core size, y by booster type and z by booster size. For example, L100 would be a 1.25m core with no boosters. L211 is a 2m core with liquid 1.25m boosters.

SSTOs are follow a similarly boring class designation eg S1-combat.

However, individual large ships get named properly.

[JetJaguar]

I divide my rockets into two parts, a payload section and a booster section. The boosters follow a simple convention, major types are just named sequentially after Greek letters (Alpha, Beta, Delta...). Major revisions get numbered (Beta 2, Beta 3...). If the only revision is more fuel tanks, then "Heavy" gets tacked on instead. Boosters are saved as sub assemblies.

For payload sections, each basic type gets a short prefix: CM = Command Module, LM = Lander Module, SAT = unmanned satellites, and so on. This is mainly so that they get grouped together by type in the saved craft list and makes them easier to find. Satellites usually just get a descriptive name (i.e. SAT Mun Scansat 1). Satellites launched for a contract are named after the contracting agency and numbered (SAT Winter Owl 2). Manned craft are named after some theme, and in my current career game that happens to be Korean pop singers (CM Sandara, LM G-Dragon...). Again, revisions get numbered. Complete vehicles are then named "payload + booster" (CM Sandara Beta Heavy, for example).

Experimental one-offs are named with an X-number (X-1, X-2, X-3...). Stuff built for launchpad part tests are left unnamed.

[Derpiderp]

Usually I name my Planes after their characteristics in German with English adjectives like: The speedy FeuerKlinge, The Doppeldecker.

My Rockets are usually named something in Russian.

[User Unrelated]

I use whatever comes to mind.

It can be as not-a-word as "Huphorah" or as dumb as "Fish taco" and anything in between.

Some other notable craft I have deployed since I began playing are:

The Bad Idea (was coincidentally involved in the save-file-corrupting catastrophe on the surface of the moon as Fish Taco)

A Flying Banana

Wudgeclix Prime

Bing

dn ÇÂpá´‰s sᴉɥʇ

JJ the Jet Plane

Urmung

etc. etc.

The debris that collects in LKO is certainly worth a good chuckle looking at all the names.

Edited August 31, 2015 by User Unrelated

[GarrisonChisholm]

This might sound wierd but...

I name spaceplanes after Goddesses. I will eventually have a whole line of it but I haven't got to the Goddess of the Moon yet .

My 4 (2 functional) SSTO planes are named after the 4 largest pipe-organs in the world; Old Cathedral, Cadet Chapel, Boardwalk Hall, & Wannamaker.

...Somebody had to... >.>

[BlkBltChemie]

Fun thread and lots of great ideas! I'm amazed at the number who use very similar names but also at the diversity of several unique schemes. (I especially liked the fruit, vegetable, tree designation from a couple pages back, the one using rivers or other geographical features, and the one using different names of projectiles.) I've used a couple different styles to name my craft in various playthroughs/saves.

When I first started out, I generally used Kerbalized names of real world spacecraft (Gemini - Kemini, Vostok - Kostok, etc) as seen in the community-created story-line campaign on Wikipedia. This was pre-career mode and I was never creative enough to just launch and explore, so I followed the campaign a lot to set goals.

Since starting career mode games I have tended to be more descriptive of the function and less creative

Manned craft: function_number-iteration (Suborbital I-A, Mun Lander II-C, Mk II Crew Shuttle, etc)

Probes: Probodobodyne_function_number (Probodobodyne Orbiter I, Probodobodyne Lander V, etc)

I really want to get back into sandbox mode and have a couple more creative ideas I want to try out if ever have the time...

Names or derivatives of chemical elements (I have a Ph.D. in Chemistry so I look at the periodic table a lot!) - some that I really like are aktinos (Greek for actinium, means ray/beam), dymium (part of neodymium and praeseodymium, means twin - thinking of using this for twin landers on a mothership), barys (for barium, means heavy, sounds like a good name for a series of launchers)

Names of explorers from the age of exploration - Pizzaro, Cortez, Alvarado, etc - not sure how I would distinguish different types of craft though

[bigcalm]

I have really boring functional names

All stuff that leaves the ground gets a name like [Target Body first 2 letters]-[Craft its based on]-[Number]-[Other details]

e.g.

DU-Shunt1-One is the first interplanetary shunt type vessel intended for Duna without a payload (once payload is docked it gets renamed), and is number one.

JO-Station-Two is a spacestation intended for orbit of Jool.

TY-Tanker-Seven is a tanker of fuel bound for Tylo.

DR-BigShunt-Nine-needsfuel -- is a shunt for Dres awaiting LKO refuelling.

At a glance I can tell what its for, and whether I need to do anything about it. I do have some slightly confusing ones perhaps - I have EV5 which is a ship, so I'll get slightly confusing things like MO-EV5-One (An EV5 type vessel destined for Moho). I also have Munbase1-4 most of which are landed on Minmus.

I'm trying to get better and have started naming space planes (again, pretty unoriginal - Raptor and Hobby).

[Jolbucley]

I build something and name it with the first phrase that comes to mind, sometimes with a number after it if it’s a phrase I use a lot (“Single Stage to Duna 4,†“How Do I Get Back 16,†“Nuclear Powered Jet 3,†“Bad Idea 117,†“WHEE-AAA-BANG 6,†“Oddly Freudian 10,†“Sponsored by StrutCo 1209,†etc.).

[Camaron]

My names are all pretty much decided and are iterated in Series.

My Fuel stations are all the Antares Series.

My Extremely heavy fuel stations are Andromeda Series.

Modular landers built as planes are the Terranova Series.

Large Drilling ships are the Cygnus Series.

SSTO's and interplanetary ships are the only thing that get individualized names instead of serial ones, except for the ones which classify as a Terranova.

Edited August 31, 2015 by Camaron

[A_name]

I don't have one. Mine are generally named "test rocket" or "THINGY". That's because I'm not very good at naming things. I mean, just look at my username! Come on!

I'm with this guy.

[Exploro]

Back when I was playing the earlier versions of KSP I had developed designations for certain types of equipment that I continue to use today.

KTA designated test articles; craft that will not be a flight vehicle and used for static test stands for engines, parts, part configurations and such.

KTR are assigned to rockets; usually one off designs, that are built for flight testing or some unusual flight circumstance that will not be used again. Sometimes though; a successful KTR type may get used as a production rocket; which brings me to the next designation...

KSR are assigned to production rockets with standardized sub-assemblies. For instance in the Ver 1.02 game I am running now there are presently four types of standardized rockets I employ.

U is used to designate utility aircraft

Y is assigned for test aircraft

SA is assigned to aircraft with the capability to operate both within the Kerbin atmosphere and in space. I only had one spaceplane from .23 that could achieve sub-orbital flight; therefore it received the SA designation.

T is assigned to training aircraft

NOMAD: A name given to all interplanetary probes. Its a direct reference to the NOMAD probe from the original Star Trek series. Other probe names are words that are synonymous with the word "nomad"; wanderer, ruroni, traveler, etc.

Edited September 1, 2015 by Exploro

[Mysterion]

I'm kinda iffy about it. Sometimes I do this.

"Oh, early carreer? All 1-man, HKO-maximum rockets are Ballistic I"

"Early career but with satellites first? Ballast I"

For rescue missions in HKO/LKO? "Ballistic-R I"

Science missions with a probe in HKO/LKO? "Ballast-SP I"

Mun? "Munpollo I"

Same thing I did for the other such missions goes for this "Munpollo-R I" (Unmanned "Munpol")

I rarely get past that before getting bored, so that's as far as I've ever named things. I'm actually wondering if I should start doing this:

KEOV - KErbin Orbital Vessel

MULA - MUnar Landing Apparatus/ MUnar LAnder

MILA - MInmar Landing Apparatus/ MInmar LAnder

[mikegarrison]

I use names like "Lander 1", "Lander 1a", "Lander 1a (no heat shield)", "Nuclear Tug 1", "Rescue 2c", "Eve splashdown probe 1", "Big Orbital Fuel Tank 1", etc.

If I redo the "Lander" from scratch, it gets a "2". If I just tweak the design to fix some discovered weakness (e.g. "needs more parachutes on this one") then it gets a letter attached to the name.

[Nothalogh]

What is your naming system for Planes/Rockets?

Three digits + Class Name

ex, 244 - Razor = Crew transfer SSTO with NTR for orbital maneuvering

>First - Purpose

0 Drone, Disposable

1 Drone, Reusable

2 Crew Transfer

3 Tanker

4 Station

5 Tug

6 Cargo

7 Carrier

9 Compound Vehicle

>Second - Propulsion

0 None

1 Chemical

2 Chemical Dual Mode

3 Nuclear Thermal

4 Chem-Nuclear Thermal Mixed

5 Chem Mixed

6 Mag Accelerated Ion

7 Nuclear Pulse

8 Nuclear Thermal Dual Mode

9 Physics Exploitation

>Third - Operational Regime

0 Impactor

1 Surface Fixed

2 Non Atmospheric

3 Atmospheric

4 Transatmospheric

5 Interplanetary

6 Interstellar

[mythic_fci]

I use a fixed naming suffix system for each craft/family of crafts. A major change/redesign is denoted by a new iteration number, and minor changes are denoted by a letter behind the number. If two of the same type of ship are in space at the same time, I add a suffix flight number.

Here's the list:

First Flights (Suborbital/Orbital)

Kerbal (number)

Kerbal 1

First Munar Flights

Munar (number)

Munar 3

First Minmus Flights

Minmus (number)

Minmus 2

Crew Shuttles

Hermes Mk.(iteration)-(letter)

Hermes Mk. II-A

Satellites

(destination planet/moon)-(purpose) (number)

Mun ComSat 4

Unmanned Rovers

(destination planet/moon)-Ranger (number)

Duna-Ranger 1

Landers (planetary bodies other than Mun/Minmus)

(planet name) Lander (number)

Duna Lander 1

Missions to Moho

Minerva (number)

Minerva 1

Missions to Eve

Orpheus (number)

Orpheus 1

Missions to Duna

Ares (number)

Ares 1

Missions to Jool

Sirius (number)

Sirius 3

Missions to Eeloo

Iris (number)

Iris 1

Grand Tours

Zeus/Poseidon/Athena/Nike

Edited September 1, 2015 by FCISuperGuy

[Geher]

My reuseable launchers are called Kochloeffel (don't ask me why) with a number that indicates how much payload in tons it can take to LKO.

My other rockets are called wherever they are heading to and what they are for. For example: Laythe Lander is the craft that is used to land on Laythe and get back to orbit. Laythe Express takes the lander from LKO to Laythe and gets the crew back to Kerbin. And my fully reuseable Space Shuttle is called STS Advanced.

You see, I'm not very creative with naming things.

[Mikki]

I like naming my crafts for purpose mostly, like large Lifter, medium Lifter, or SSTOs with iteration, SSTO Mk2b, SSTO Mk1b, Orehaulers and Refinerys aswell very simple like; Minmus orbital Fuelrefinery, Minmus orbital Orelifter and so on, Miner 1 and so on for the mobile miners for example.

Only the big investments for interplanetary travel get real world names, like Discovery (for purpose too), or recently i gave them projectnames like "CEOs Heartattack", just for fun.

Meanwhile a "Discovery" type nuclear tug is called "Fully Flush Fluffy Fuzz" untill final assembly, then its good for "Discovery 3".

Satellites are like M 700, M 4435 and Asteroid Sat and so on.

I have no Stations in the moment, but if then its called "Kerbin Orbital Station"...

And an Asteroid tug is simple Asteroid tug, i know it sounds boring sorry.

I keep it very simple, crafts with lots of crew have names only mainly.

[LostOblivion]

I usually have two kinds of saved craft, craft types and actual flown missions. The craft types are never flown on their own, but are combined with other craft types to make actual missions. Craft types can be edited and made into other versions and variants, such as "Light-Weight Autonomous Lander Mk2" (a probe lander with description stating capabilities such as science equipment), or "Deltakerb II" (a launch vehicle with description stating tonnage to LKO, KTO, KCO, etc.), but are never flown on their own (except maybe for testing). Then, the lander could be put on top of the launch vehicle and be saved as an actual flown mission, saved as a craft file as, say, Duna Express. After launched, the craft will never be edited or flown again, but if I want to, I can make changes to the lander and launch vehicle craft types and combine them to make, say, Duna Express 2.

Also, I can normally tell the difference between the two by their differing descriptions. Craft types such as launch vehicles or landers have their description written with capabilities in mind, while flown missions have a lot of context and story telling, documenting my kerbals' entire space program. :-)

[RizzoTheRat]

Descriptive titles, current fleet includes things like:

- Munlander 2

- Minstation

- MinReplen 1

- ReturnCapsule 1

- Scansat 2

- LongSciProbe

- Miner 1

- Atmo 1

- Spaceplane 2

[o Atomsk]

for rockets, i use alchemy processes.

for planes, i use alchemy elements.

the rocket that i find that is my best design i name the philosopher's stone. proceeding those, i end up just making versions.

on sillier, more experimental days, i name them after memes.

[Commander Jebidiah]

RAF prefixes for aircraft.

E.G - GR9 is Ground Renaissance version 9.

CH1 is Cargo Helicopter version 1.

And old WWII Naval prefixes for spacecraft and naval ships.

E.G - CV is Carrier Vessel, anything launched from a CV or Space Station (SS) Is prefixed under aircraft.

Civilian ships and stations.

They all have C in front so CSS is Civilian Space Station

Or CMS/V is Civilian Mining Ship/Vessel.

Then the actual names are picked by me, my flagship is usually called "KMSS Orion [bC]", BC is Battle Cruiser.

[Sir_Tramalot]

For experimental vehicles, it is X-123 (1=Series, for overall developments, 2 and 3 = sub number, so each development of the series).

Military vehicles have HMS, civilian have MV. Naming for military vehicles is based on British warships. Rockets in general are named of random groups (One of my series is named after gearbox manufacturers, such as Voith and Eaton etc. )

[JedTech]

I keep my Launchers saved Sub-assembly's.

Usually named after a real world celestial body. Give it a roman numeral, and suffix it with the weight it can get into 120km orbit.

Example

• Ganymede V - 190T
  
• Titan III - 70T
  

The celestial body indicates the rocket family.

The roman numeral represents the configuration (I = no boosters, II = solid boosters, III = liquid boosters, V = boosters the same size as the core stage.)

In the description of the subassembly I'll keep notes such as: recommended launch profile, and d/v remaining in orbit..