Origin of KSP planetary bodies names

[lajoswinkler]

Is there an official explanation? Surely the developers had a reason to use those names. There's a story behind every one of them. Some have already been explained, like Pol (resemblance to pollen grain).

I have some speculations about this, but would not like to open a thread and introduce something not confirmed officially right at the start.

[Deadpangod3]

Vall is reverse Spanish for "safari key rings"

Mun is reverse Spanish for "No"

Moho is Spanish for mold

[KasperVld]

Pol alledgedly got its name from its resemblance to a pollen grain

[frizzank]

I thought no in Spanish was "no", is there another form they are using?

[Rage097]

I'd say the Mun is a pun, Minmus becuase it's a very small speck (think Minimum), Jool is probably based off of Jewel, Moho has the Mohole, dunno about the rest. basically everything outside of the kerbin system is a wild guess for me.

[Richy teh space man]

Duna may be inspired by the planet of Dune.

[Bekiekutmoar]

Duna is also Spanish for dune, and there are quite some dunes on Duna. Laythe may be derived from Leviathan ... ? Leviathan is a sea-monster and water is a prominent feature on Laythe ... !

[hawkinator]

Eeloo reminds me of Ewok, and it's brown (and white), but also brown.

[yay, 100th post]

[1001sd]

IIRC there was a post from spaceengine with a planet named Duna, and a dev saying that it was the inspiration (it looked almost identical), but I'm not sure.

EDIT: Found this, but no dev statement. Maybe it was from before the forum accident. http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/28777-Space-Engine-I-FOUND-DUNA!!!

[hawkinator]

According to google translate, "moho" translates to mold, mildew, or rust. (in spanish)

Also, "dres" appears to mean "parents"

I would theorize that Ike is a reference to Dwight D. Eisenhower, who did found NASA.

Edited September 30, 2013 by hawkinator

[Amazonys]

There's always the possibility that SQUAD just chose names that they thought sounded cool for celestial bodies with out names.

But I'll add my own guesses at the names. I'd guess that Kerbin because its similar to Kerbal, Mün is a pun, Minmus is probably derived from the latin word minimus meaning the smallest member of a group. Moho is in reference to Moholes as well as an "M" name like its analogue. Eve is vaguely similar to Venus. Gilly could be someone's name. Duna is in reference to Dune, or spanish for dunes whichever you prefer. Ike is in reference to Eisenhower. Dres - parents or just a cool name. Jool is probably just a "J" name with a ring to it. (Joolian moons) Pol because it looks like pollen. The rest I presume are just names that SQUAD found cool.

Also although I thought Vall is supposed to be the Europa analogue, Eeloo looks alot more like Europa. Assuming that Eeloo is a Europa analogue then once again we'd have the shared "E" name between analogues.

[Kulebron]

I would theorize that Ike is a reference to Dwight D. Eisenhower, who did found NASA.

If you are consistent with Spanish meanings, Ike (Y que?) means "so what?". Querbin from ...yerba.

[royalkingofgames]

Mun with dots above the u makes the u pronounced oo.

[Kasuha]

My hypotheses:

Eve - from Venus

Kerbin - from Kerbal as a name

Duna - from sand dunes (on Mars)

Dres - from C(e)res: A, B, C, D, ...

Jool - from Julius Caesar (similar position amongst Romans as Jupiter - Jove had amongst Roman gods).

Mun - from Moon

the rest - no idea

[Accelerando]

Laythe sounds like lathe, which makes sense since it's supposed to be a volcanic world, constantly spewing out material and forming new landmass, like a potter working clay on a lathe.

[Awass]

I'm pretty sure he's kidding. Not sure how "vall" is reverse Spanish for "safari key rings." "Llave" simply means "key," but it is not a very strong connection.

I thought no in Spanish was "no", is there another form they are using?

[astropapi1]

Vall is reverse Spanish for "safari key rings"

Mun is reverse Spanish for "No"

Moho is Spanish for mold

You got it all wrong.

"Safari key rings" would be (literally): Anillos de llaves de safari, or "irafas ed sevall ed sollina". I don't think that's where it comes.

No is the same in spanish, and yep, "moho" would be this:

But I don't see how it relates to the actual planet.

[AletzN1]

Because its tiny like a spore or something like that? It is pretty small for a planet.

[Richy teh space man]

Moho reminds me of the Moho mines from Total Annihilation.

Or I suppose it could be the MohoroviÄÂić discontinuity since Moho would be a hot place.

[lajoswinkler]

My guesses:

Moho - Andrija MohoroviÄÂić and tectonics

Eve - has connection to females, Venus, etc.

Gilly - no idea... the name sounds appropriate for a tiny, tiny thing

Kerbin - "K", obviously... the "erb" reminds me of "orb" and "Erde" (Earth in German)

Mün - obvious pun on the Moon

Minmus - "minimus" (the smallest, in Latin) pun

Duna - sand dunes

Ike - no idea

Dres - no idea

Jool - sounds like jewel...

Laythe - "Layth" supposedly has something with lions and courage... in Arabic, other than that, no idea

Tylo - no idea

Vall - valle is valley n Spanish. Vall is covered with valleys.

Bop - like Gilly, sounds tiny

Pol - pollen grain

Eeloo - sound like igloo, therefore snow stuff...

[Lohan2008]

Eve is also an MMORPG based in space

[Longsok]

Ones that stood out to me are Laythe, which seems to me to sound like litho, the root word for earth, Eve, which makes sense because Venus is the evening star, and Minimus, because it is tiny.

[RawChicken]

Vall is reverse Spanish for "safari key rings"

Mun is reverse Spanish for "No"

Moho is Spanish for mold

Well im spanish and I cant see how on earth you figure this out, explain me please.

[JJJacksonTyler]

I know for a fact that Moho refers to Operation Mohole

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Mohole

Project Mohole was an ambitious attempt to drill through the Earth's crust into the MohoroviÄÂić discontinuity (Nicknamed "Moho", and to provide an Earth science complement to the high-profile Space Race. The project was initially led by the American Miscellaneous Society with funding from the National Science Foundation.

[Skyler4856]

This is a tad bit of a guess but minmus in latin means the smallest of a group