Naming Policy, The Art of Naming your Rockets.

[Hallofo]

Ok... I think the "Arrogant Greasy Secretary" wins the naming contest for now.

For me, I'll normally have a few naming conventions in use:

- A "test" series for farming contracts. Something liked "aaaManned test" and "aaaRobotest" that I'll tweak for specific contracts without cluttering up my ship list.

- Names based on the ship's design, i.e. the "Trifecta" series that's based on having 3 engine nacelles coming off the core of the ship.

- Epic-sounding names for major developments or mission types. Think "Constellation Class".

- One-off exploration ships that I'm only using for scouting or whatnot usually get named after explorers such as "Lewis and Clark" or "Magellan".

- Ships I'll be using for several missions get a class name based on function ("mun resupply) or ("minumus base") that are individually renamed for the mission.

- Updates to ship classes get a roman numeral "mark" name. So If I update the Trifecta class a few times, the class name will be "Trifecta mk. III", with a new name for the ship after launch (maybe).

Maybe I think about it too much though.

[Franklin]

I can barely find a reason to name most of my builds in career mode since it'll be scrapped and a new one will be made for the next contract.

Obviously some cases require a re-usable build, like putting up satellites, and landers, and rescue missions can all use a similar build, but part testing is usually unique enough and quick & easy enough to build some cheap rocket that all my rockets are never named.

[Slam_Jones]

Usually, I'll just use descriptive names so it's easy to remember what they are ("Mun Probe I", "Space Bus", "Delta-1 Surveyor")

But occasionally, I'll make a new save for sh*ts and giggles, and I'll use my Three-Random-Word process. Basically, any three (or more) random words that, when put together, make me laugh. ("Alley Cat Assault Wagon", "Evil Flying Spud", "Robot Unicorn Massacre", "OH GOD THE BEES" etc)

[katateochi]

I go through phases of having some really good names and then having really dull ones. I'm thinking of naming craft in my next career after some of the students of the legendary Japanese sword smith Masamune (mostly 'cos they sound cool!)

I try to name them according to what they do or after a particular characteristic they have, so one of my recent ones that was a hybrid rocket-plane was called Chimera; "a monstrous fire-breathing hybrid creature"

Then I get bored of coming up with names, especially for experimental craft and they just get called Prototype-Nx (N being a class designation P for plane, S for SSTO, HL for heavy lifter etc and x being the next number in the sequence).

Craft that I don't expect to work out at all well get silly names, but quite a few have exceeded expectations, like the "SS-this-wont-land-well" which in-fact touched down perfectly!

[Doomedspeed]

Two of my test ships are called 'Gary' and 'Graham'...

I feel its nice giving them 'human' names (that is, until they burst into flames) ...

[SBaL]

A mix. Most of my probes are given names of real world programs, like Explorer, Pioneer, Surveyor and such with roman numerals at the end. While my manned crafts are given names after Roman, Greek or Norse gods such as Thor, Artemis and Prometheus (for interplanetary ships).

My planes are usually called F-{some number} for regular planes, D-{some number} for high altitude planes, and P-{some number} for space planes. The F doesn't mean anything, but the D is for Daedalus, Icarus' father, and the P is for Phoenix.

[LABHOUSE]

I just call mine heavy lifter or minmus mission or satellite... I'm not creative with names.

[dfscott]

I tend to use:

[Celestial Body] [purpose] [rev #]

Ex: "Mun Lander II" or "Minmus Orbiter III"

If I'm particularly happy with a craft, I'll pull save everything below the capsule/probe as a subassembly and just add "Lifter" to the name.

Very boring, but helps me keep up with things.

[pincushionman]

I used spmething like KLS-002A (Kerbal-crewed, liquid-fuel, spaceplane, 2nd vehicle) or PSR-001 (probe, solid fuel, rocket) for my Science Sandbox save, but that quickly became unworkable and new parts became available and the saved ships folder became large. My new career save is going more like number-whatimdoingwithit.

[Hobbnob]

I usually name mine after animals that serve the same purpose as my creation. So for example, a flyer would be something like Raven Alpha for the first iteration, or Falcon Charlie or Rattlesnake Bravo for a rover.

(Do I get the lurker award? )

[Janos1986]

In my last career I called my first rocket Lancelot because it was thin and long, and then I found myself with Bedivere, Galahad, Percival, Yvain, the Merlin lander and lastly my interplanetary cruiser, the King Arthur Mk.II.

In this new save I'm trying to keep the naming useful for identifying a craft and creative at the same time. For example, my orbital rescue vehicle for stranded kerbals is called Cavalry Mk.III

Edited December 22, 2014 by Janos1986

[annallia]

Planes and rovers get whatever goofy name I can come up with in 2 minutes after I finish building the prototype.

My rockets however get mission specific names.

Lifters are always called lifter shockingly enough. Lifter light MK1, Mk2, Mk3 (they all serve different purposes) or Lifter Heavy Mk1 and so on.

The bits I put on the lifters are also mission specific. Mun lander Mk1 and so on or Eve lander, Jool probe... whatever I am doing.

[Tw1]

If it's in my roleplay or story making save, it gets something witty or appropriate, or silly.. With some indication of role and function.

In career, Most things are left unnamed, unless it's something I might re-use, then I use the above pattern.

[Wanderfound]

Obscure references and dodgy puns, usually.

[ddtim]

Rather unimaginative I know, but I normally name them after astronauts and cosmonauts, who are remembered for doing something related to the purpose of the spacecraft, e.g. Gagarin for early orbital missions, followed by Grissom, followed by Garriot, Followed by Leonov

[EdFred]

[Radial build type]-[Mission Destination]-[Mission Number]

So if I build a 3 symmetry rocket going to Duna and it's the 4th Duna mission of that variant...

TriDunaFour

[Beowolf]

In career mode, I name ships sortof NASA-style: A project name and a number. "Munshot 3", for example.

In sandbox mode, I tend to build large, long-term interplanetary ships that will be used for many missions. Those get named for golden-age science fiction authors; "Clark", "Heinlein", "Anderson", etc. The single-use craft that bring cargo and personnel from Kerbin to orbit just get placeholder names. "t1", etc.

And, to honor the Russian pioneers, there's often a "Korolev" and a "Tsiolkovsky" flying around somewhere.

[Greep]

Ever since the 90s X-com I've always name things and people in games in a super functional way xD So mine s r(rocket number)-PlanetSystem(#rockets to that system) - Mission type (or misc) e.g. r1-Kerbin1-Orbit.

[KotDemopan]

My naming system:

Think of simple name (example: Big Rocket)

Use only the capital letters for the name (BR)

Add random number (BR-43)

Give things nicknames (different example: GR-51 Anomaly)

Forget to give things nicknames after the 15th time

Spend a minute remembering what the things without nicknames look like

[sdj64]

In career, my ships are named with a number for the unique mission and a name that may be descriptive or an "exploration" name like many NASA missions. If I have used 7 unique craft previously in a career, my next might be "08 Multi Satellite Launcher". More important missions are likely to get more creative names, "11 Pioneer Station" was the first permanent space station (got a contract for it). Usually if they are permanent I'll get rid of the number by renaming the craft once it's in place. The number makes it easier to find out in the VAB which craft are new and high tech, and which are old and not as useful anymore. Sometimes a craft gets an upgrade and depending on the extent of the upgrade I might change the number or not.

My military ships in Reacher Industries are always RI, then the designation (example: CA for Carrier), and are named for a Kerbal name that sounded cool. The individual ships are renamed with something random, maybe an animal, soldier or fighting style, or place. RI DD Sonald is my standard destroyer-class ship and I had one named "RIMS Hoplite" (Reacher Industries Military Ship) in a certain battle.

[KrankesHirn]

I use these criteria for naming my rockets.

1) Pick a mythological creature or a videogame character.

2) Ships with similar purposes have related names. (All my manned orbiters have had names taken from Skyrim's Dragons. Paarthurnax, Odahviing and Alduin) All my munar rockets are named after things related to werewolves (Garou, Talbot, Philodox). For probes missions I use Lovecraftian names such as Byakhee or Shub-Niggurath.

3) If I do minor improvements to a ship (Probably due to a technology) or build a new ship based on an older design, I add a descriptor or "mark". (Shub-Niggurath Heavy, Paarthurnax Mk 2)

4) My space stations (So far I have only one called Sylphide) take its names after female greek mythological beings.

5) For my first manned Duna mission, I used a transfer ship and a lander which was specifically designed for landing in Duna. I called the transfer ship Polyphemus and the lander Galatea.

[OTHOAB]

I do it the Russian/Soviet way. I have a second mission to Eve? I name the ship Eve-2. The Russians did Venera, Mars, Luna.

Yeah. I do that too. The first mission related to the Mun is called 'Mun-1'. The second is 'Mun-2' and so on.

Flags are '%Mission name% (crew names starting from the commander)', so something like 'Mun-7 (Jebediah, Munbas, Scott)'. During a mission I add letters to numbers. R is for a rover, P is for a probe, M is for something manned, MS is for a mothership, etc. For example, 'Duna-3R'. Which means: the third Duna mission and this vessel is a rover.

Space stations are just 'SS-%celestial body%-%number of space station orbiting this celestial body%'. So, 'SS-Kerbin-2'.

Bases are much like space stations, but have 'OP' (outpost) instead of 'SS'.

Satellites are something like 'the first and the last letter of a planet (three letters if it is a natural satellite)-kind of orbit in two letters-number a satellite there'. So, 'KN-SO-1', 'MUN-LO-3'. LO is for low orbit, SO is synchronous orbit, etc.

Also there are launching rockets in a subassembles named for something kind of space related+letter in alphabetical order showing how much weight this rocket can deliver. Also, I add description to all of them. A rocket which has a capacity to deliver 20T on LKO is 'Dust-D'. The description is '20T-LKO'. A rocket for Dune one trip could be 'Star-B'. The description is '10T-DUNA TRANSFER '.

The whole system is pretty logical. I am glad I came onto this, so no need to be creative with vessel naming. The only weak point is launching rockets. Maybe I should call them after their "target"+weight letter+some letter if it can return payload back to the Kerbin.

Edited December 25, 2014 by OTHOAB

[Yukon0009]

My naming system:

For the "official" ones:

[destination] [program] [number]

Eg The third probe of my "Surveyor" program to explore Duna would be called Duna Surveyor 3

For the interesting ones:

[famous person i like] [vessel type]

[Rusty6899]

For interplanetary missions, I name each craft after the Greek equivalent of the Roman god that each planet's closest real world equivalent is named after. So my first mission to Duna was Ares I.

[Commander Zoom]

In my current/ongoing save, I took a page from Clarke and got away from those overused Greco-Roman deities...

The first one-kerbal capsule, and mission series, was Krishna, atop the "Orbiter" booster.

Next came the three-kerbal Rama capsule and missions, including the Mun landings. (The Ramans, as you may recall, do everything in threes.) The Rama X, a version optimized for orbital operations, is still used as a crew transfer vehicle within the Kerbin "system."

Then there were the Ganesh tankers, built around Rockomax's classic orange Jumbo tank. Ganesh D, Ganesh X (the interplanetary version, with a single nuclear engine), and most recently the Ganesh Super that uses the NASA parts to essentially double the fuel delivered per launch.

The Sita landers were named for Rama's consort, and also a pun: there's a one-seata', a two-seata', and now a three-seata' for landing on Laythe.

My interplanetary vessels are the Vedas. A Veda stack is composed of the Brahma command and hab module, the Vishnu service module (fuel, power, docking ports, etc), and the Shiva engine module.

The Lakshmi fuel tenders were designed to accompany the Jool expedition, to extend the range of the expedition's landers by accompanying them to their targets and refueling them in orbit.

Changing up the theme a bit are the Bugs, my all-purpose tugs, for moving stuff around and/or ferrying it down to the surface of various moons: Mun Bug, Dune Bug, Jool Bug, etc. Each has an additional, personal name: "Roustabout", "Discovery", "Hanuman", etc. The very similar Roc series of asteroid tugs were each named for birds of legend: "Garuda", "Simurgh", and "Phoenix".

Then there's the probes. My first interplanetary probes were the Janets, launched on the "Comet" booster. I've since launched several pairs of Yama - Yami probes, because ScanSAT instruments prefer different altitudes. Before I wrap up this save, I plan on sending a probe named Surya to get a good look at the Sun.

(My space stations etc get boring, practical names: Kerbin Station 1, Mun Base, Minmus Station, and so on.)

Edited December 25, 2014 by Commander Zoom