Concerning the naming of spaceships

[Maria Sirona]

As you may have guessed from the title, this thread is all about names. As in names for your spaceships and ideas for them. If you want to give other people ideas for naming their ships, that's OK. If you want to explain the naming scheme of your spaceships in detail, that's a welcome addition to this thread. Want to just share the name of a single spaceship of yours? Go ahead.

 

All of those and everything in between shall be accepted.

 

 

As for myself, in a save all about creating huge motherships i have name those motherships after positive qualities. I have had the KSS Excellence, the KSS Helpful, and the KSS Sisu*.

Spoiler

*Sisu is a finnish quality which means something like perseverance, but with a tint of stubbornness.

 

[The Aziz]

TypePurposeDestinationGeneration

Although first two are exchangeable

3KerLan MOH 4

OreRovr MUN 1

SciSat JOO 2

Etc.

[DunaManiac]

I like to use acronyms, such as:
S. o. L. O. (Solar Long-range Observatory)

M. T. G. O. (Minmus Trace Gas Orbiter)

S. Z. O. L. (Size Zero Orbiter and Lander)

Generally my acronyms usually have the location, followed by it's function, and occasionally the vehicle type, such as orbiter, lander, vehicle, etc.

[Xavven]

Naming systems that denote purpose and version are practical and useful, especially for organization and when you have dozens of flights going at once.

So of course I don't do that and instead pick naming systems that are fun, but leave me forgetting what the heck it was for and how old they were in the tech tree.  https://namingschemes.com/Main_Page has a giant list of suggestions. Lately I've been using horticulture and animals, so things like Pothos IX and Polar Bear Mk 4.

In my next save I might go with Hobbit/LOTR characters. Sure would be fun sending Dwalin and Balin to the moon

[MalneyKerman]

I usually give my ships personal names.  At first, I gave them mythological names like Ajax, but then I switched to feminine mythological names, like Minerva and Hera; then historical names, like Hypatia and Semiramis and Margaret Hamilton; then just plain names, like Janet.  [snip]

Occasionally, I name them uncreatively and after their purpose, like Mun Survey Satellite.

Edited August 13, 2021 by Vanamonde

[MaxxQ]

For a long while, I was naming my ships for female characters from Shakespeare.  Part of that was because I was listening to some music prior to starting a new game, and a song came on that inspired me - Iago's Demise by Faith and the Muse.

More recently, I've just been naming them whatever comes to mind, although some are inspired by real-life craft names.  Forex, my Duna probes are named after various Mars rovers.

Workhorse craft are just named for their purpose - tanker, (component) lifter, etc.

[razark]

I name my ships after my neighbor's dogs. 

However, I don't actually know their names, so I just call them "Untitled Space Craft 1" and "Untitled Space Craft 2".  They don't seem to mind, though.

[Kapitalizing Every Word]

When they are important missions or stations and things I care normally names that say the purpose and stuff like that 

if it is a mission for a quick contract unnamed spacecraft (but in spanish) or if im feeling like it aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[Kerbals_of_Steel]

I'm pretty utilitarian about most of my probes and such: "Duna Polar Rover, Minmus Comm Sat, Dres Conspiracy Buster".

The big manned craft, though, all get named after various sky/ocean gods and then the support craft are named to match. My local Kerbin mothership is named Njord, after the Norse sea god, the landers are his children Frey and Freyja, the supply rocket is Skadi. I've got similar themes for the Polynesian and Akkadian pantheons for other missions.

 

KoS

[adsii1970]

It depends on what it is I am naming. If it is an ocean-going vessel, I name those after the moons and planets of the Kerbol system and Outer Planet Mods. So, yes, I do have a vessel named Dres so therefore, Dres is real!

For space ships, it's a mission name. Minmus Explorer 7 or whatever number the trip is to the stellar body. If it is a vessel I plan to keep in orbit, I now use the website, Fake Word Generator to come up with a good and unique ship name.

[swjr-swis]

Ah yes, my naming 'standards'.

Many of my craft end up named something like 'Comet ST1e1b' - the 37th saved iteration of a plane named Comet, type ST1, fifth concept, first variant, second tweak. My craft folders get cluttered with those, due to obsessively saving almost every single tested iteration in case KSP decides to randomly screw up the very next tweak. The basic idea is to rename whatever my final iteration is to the actual name I thought up for it, based on its looks or purpose or an obscure reference or whatever... but since I hardly ever actually stop tweaking, that last step hardly ever happens.

The purely 'practical' (?) aside, the only other common denominator seems to be a remarkable absence of a common denominator. A sample from just one of my savegames:

• 3.6t / 3t / 2t - Apparently I was in the process of rapidly iterating a minimal mass Juno/Spark based spaceplane, and not feeling like scrolling through the list much.
• Buzz Flightfear - My note: "how small can a plane be", on a single 0.625m fuselage, single-wheel (!) plane with an EAS for the pilot.
• DinnitRead 2 - Note: "For a challenge at some other forum, asking for 'efficiency'. Lots of preamble and fancy words. Me, I just slap something together." I think I was somewhat puzzled why some people felt making a fuel/cargo-efficient plane in KSP requires a PhD in scientific vocabulary.
• Gojira 3D - An entry for an endurance/speed challenge asking for planes using a single Goliath engine (I think).
• Juicer 1 - A no-frills spaceplane to lift a full orange tank to LKO.
• LL COOL J - Apparently an acronym: "Lady-Lake Cryo-Oceanic Observation Laboratory for Jeb" (according to the description text I gave it)... and for the life of me I have absolutely no recollection whatsoever what this was meant for.
• NervOS 3 - One kerbal from KSC to LKO and back on a single Nerva. Said kerbal must've not felt too confident about riding a nuclear reactor to space when asked for a name.
• LongNeck McLongNeck - An SPH contraption of 146m high, from the looks of it designed with the actual intention to make it lift off from the runway... expect I can't imagine it ever came even close (I tried loading it - it's a wet noodle).
• Uhm - The description: "Uhm..." I stared at this thing from all angles for 10 mins. It doesn't seem finished, but looks like someone killed an Mk3 commercial liner and then made a fireplace rug out of it. I still can't think of a better name, or description, than 'Uhm...'

Granted, the fact a great deal of my KSP play time occurs due to chronic insomnia may have something to do with some of those names.

[king of nowhere]

I started naming ships when i started running challenge missions. I never named stuff in career except with a mission designation ("comet lander", "mun probe" or stuff like that), for clarity.

Most of my names are given out of similarities; I look at the final ship, then wait for it to struck my fancy. In particular, I decided to use names of common objects for small landers; hence I had The Can, Stool, and Horseshoe. Also named for their shape are Arrowhead, Nail, Bolt, Wings, Flying Christmas Tree, Dancing Porcupine (this last one, a rover with landing struts jutting out from it to protect from impacts, gets "porcupine" because they look like quills, and "dancing" because of the way it bounces on the ground).

Some other ships are named after the stuff they do, like Taxi and Trucker, ships intended for long range travel, to ferry around smaller landers. Or Not! Albatross, a seaplane I would have called Albatross, except it would have been too unoriginal. Or Digger, mining ships with drills, they dig. A bigger version (that never went past initial concept) was named Crater Maker, because it would dig so much that it would leave a big hole. Or Craplane, a plane that wasn't very successful.

More rarely, I name ships after philosophical affinities. The Dolphin crew escape pods get their name from the fact that dolphins sometimes help shipwrecked sailors to shore. And FU Eve was my exclamation when i gave up on making an efficient Eve lander and decided instead to solve the issue with brute force. Home was the habitation module of a life support long term ship, because it was supposed to be a home for the crew for decades. And the ship was called DREAM BIG, a name that's pretty much self-explanatory.

Finally, sometimes I sneak in literary references, generally to the work of Terry Pratchett. My current mothership A'Tuin is named after the great cosmic turtle; shaped as an inverted bowl with fuel tanks outside and crew space in the inside, protected from radiations, it is basically a turtle in concept, and what better name than A'Tuin for a turtle carrying life through the cosmos? I'm a bit put down that nobody commented on it, I was hoping there would be more pterry fans around here. Digger/Trucker/Wings was also a reference to the nomes trilogy.

 

Sometimes I imagine a ship and I immediately know the name. Other times I leave the ship temporarily unnamed, and give it a name after using it. If still I have no ideas, I send some pictures to my brother, and ask him for ideas.

 

[archiebald]

I have a very long ongoing career where I use a Kerbal prefix followed by a name.  The prefix tells me what the vessel does, the names are based on design classes similar to naval ships.

KST - orbiting station named for their planet- so KST Minmus, KST Duna etc.

KSB - landed base - KSB Mun Alpha etc

KSP - Spaceplane - Hawk class so KSP Eagle, KSP Merlin, KSP Kestrel etc.

KLC - Heavy lift craft for ore - named for Greek olympic weightlifters so KLC Bentelli, KLC Dimas etc.

KSS - Kerballed spaceship with no reentry, Gem class and Legionnaire class so KSS Amethyst, KSS Sapphire and KSS Legatus, KSS Praefecti

KSM - Kerballed rovers and since I use a lot of Feline Utility rovers, they are KSM Jaguar, KSM Leopard etc.

KMV - Ore mining vessels with orbital capability based on real life Ore class so KMV Acanthite, KMV Chalocite, KMV Malachite etc.

KSL - light and nimble landers designed for surface to orbit only of the Antelope class such as KSL Serow, KSL Eland, KSL Springbok

KCO - Commnet satellite, generally named for orbit

KPS - Probe satellite named for planet and number in series similar to the Surveyor, Mariner, Venera etc.

etc etc.

[tg626]

Many of my launches follow a sort of Soviet naming convention.
Whereas they just used KOSMOS-## and then renamed them if they worked, I use USC-##.  Which is short for Untitled Space Craft.

Named missions are not very imaginative

Janus ## = Gemini Type

Prospector ## = Sats with resource scanners

K-Lab or StarLab = Station that starts like a Skylab/Salyut and ends up like a Mir if it was designed by Rube Goldberg

etc.

[ave369]

I use various sources for my spaceship names.

For the earlier game, simpler craft, I use a faux Soviet naming scheme,such as "Soyjuice 1" or "Sunrise 2".

The shuttle program is when I start using individual ship names. I prefer to use a twin shuttle scheme (when two shuttles symmetricaly attack to a single tank), so the shuttles are named after famous literary twins (such as "Fred Weasley" and "George Weasley" or "Elros" and "Elrond").

The big, refuelable, multi-use non-landers is where I start to get creative. For example, my current flagship (a Near Future Propulsion plasma/atomic ship with over 10k delta-v in one go) is named KSS Forward Observer.

[dci]

I am naming my vessels largely by its purpose. Dual Lander is for Kerbin-Mun-Minmus-SOI-Kerbin trip, many of probes are named just "Simple Probe Mk.X" or "Tundra Probe", rovers are named Truck, Buggy, Semi, tankers are "Big Tanker" or "Orbital Tanker XL".

There are exceptions, 15t cargo spaceplane is called Isaac Newton or Albert Einstein (depending on flag with scientists name I put on side), Ike-Duna-Ike lander is Duna Bullet and old large crane rover in previous game run was called The Ant due to their look.