I need spaceship names, please.

[Bohandas]

You could also abstract this in a sort of scattergories type way...

Axiom
Corollary
Postulate
Syllogism
Premise
Proposition

Thunderbird
Firebird
Roc
Pheonix
Jiufeng
Peng

[Kane0]

Battletech and other wargames have similarly impressive lists of names to steal, both in terms of individual names/titles and classifications.

Spoiler

Show

Aquila
Banshee
Cutlass
Dragonfire
Hellcat
Ironside
Lancer
Oni
Poignard
Rusulka
Scarab
Stuka
Transgressor
Vandal
Xerxes

Pirate's Bane
Death's Knell
Anansi
Street Cleaner
Ember
Oxide
Grinner
Ebon Dragon
Purifier
Bloodlust
St Ive's Blues
Forentine
Loup De Guerre
Belial
Golden Child
Rainbow Crow
Deathwish
Jester
Underdog
Ilya Muromets
Hangover
Manul
Sköll
Pretty Baby
Skokomish
Knockout
La Malinche
Broadside
Boar's Head
Nanuq

[Isikyus]

Inspired by Scott Westerfeld's _Leviathan_, I could see some books of philosophy (and similar) working as ship names:

Behemoth
Utopia
Republic (surely a real ship)
Liberty (ditto)
Rhetoric (a warship: "Will Rhetoric persuade you?")
Symposium (a party boat?)
Stranger

Several more if you're going for more Culture-esque names:

Apology
Critique of Pure Reason
Also Sprach Zarathustra
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
Beyond Good and Evil
Human Nature
The Complete Works

Most of these are cherry-picked from a list of philosophy books from Goodreads (can't post links yet, sorry).

[Demostheknees]

I've always wanted to name ships after oil paint names:

Dreadnaught-Class "The Titanium White"
Star-fighter 363 "Pthalo Blue"
Freighter-Class "The Cadmium Yellow"
Stealth-Prototype 001 "Alizarin Crimson"

Etcetera

Also, I've always been a huge fan of the Halo AI names whenever I need sci-fi related name schemes. Things like 343 Guilty Spark,
033 Mendicant Bias - basically combining two weird or unrelated words that when put together sound deep/philosophical.

[Spore]

I enjoyed Outer Worlds' Unreliable, a joke about protagonist space pirates always beating the odds. Larger vessels would probably have a comitee preventing silly joke names but small ships or pirate vessels? Joke away.

"Stupid f*cking thing" for a poorly maintained ship.
"Queen's Larder"
"Emperor's Buttocks"
"RMS Middlefinger"

[Metastachydium]

Inspired by Scott Westerfeld's _Leviathan_, I could see some books of philosophy (and similar) working as ship names:

Behemoth
Utopia
Republic (surely a real ship)
Liberty (ditto)
Rhetoric (a warship: "Will Rhetoric persuade you?")
Symposium (a party boat?)
Stranger

Several more if you're going for more Culture-esque names:

Apology
Critique of Pure Reason
Also Sprach Zarathustra
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
Beyond Good and Evil
Human Nature
The Complete Works

Most of these are cherry-picked from a list of philosophy books from Goodreads (can't post links yet, sorry).

Heh. The Complete Works is just pure gold! More seriously, that's not a bad idea; in the same vein as my Euripidean series of names, one could name a small fleet after the Platonic dialogues, e.g. (and in no particular order)
—Menon; Gorgias; Hippias; Hippias (yes, there must be two of these); Euthydemos; Protagoras; Timaios; Nomoi (a group of big ships); Phaidon; Phaidros; Politeia; Kratylos; Lakhes; Kriton; Kritias; Theaitetos; Parmenides; Philebos; Menexenos; Kharmides; and probably a couple more.

I enjoyed Outer Worlds' Unreliable, a joke about protagonist space pirates always beating the odds. Larger vessels would probably have a comitee preventing silly joke names but small ships or pirate vessels? Joke away.

"Stupid f*cking thing" for a poorly maintained ship.
"Queen's Larder"
"Emperor's Buttocks"
"RMS Middlefinger"

And weird names are probably fair game anywhere! Let's see some:
—DDS–HT¹ Never Say No to a Panda;
—SPV–PT² Two Sicilies;
—DCV–LID/GA³ Har Har Mahadev;
—DCV–HC⁴ Uncountable;
—DCV–HC Numberless;
—RCS–LT⁵ Bear Market;
—RCS–MT⁶ Happy Mule;
—PRV⁷ Screw the Rules;
—RRV I've Got Money.

______________________________

¹Dual-Designation Spacecraft – Heavy Transport
²Special Purpose Vessel – Personal Transport
³Designated Combat Vessel – Light Interdictor/Ground Assault
⁴Designated Combat Vessel – Heavy Carrier
⁵Registered Commercial Spacecraft – Light Transport
⁶Registered Commercial Spacecraft – Medium Transport
⁷Registered Recreational Vessel

[Postmodernist]

I had a character who was an astral sea pirate with a ship named the "Deus Ex Machina," and it always showed up surprisingly opportune times...

[Metastachydium]

And since I'm feeling creative today, here's another set of names for ships operated by folks whose language and names should totally not sound English: denominations that result from the slight tweaking of names for groups of organic compounds! Examples could include:
—Alkaan; Alkadieen; Aldehiid; Aketon; Amiid; Amiin; Eeter; Ariil; Alkuul; Alkenol; Merkaptaan; Sulfidriil; Tioketaal; Halalkaan; Tioster; Aketaal; Alkenaal; Iinol; Aketeen; Diketeen.

[Beleriphon]

And weird names are probably fair game anywhere! Let's see some:
—DDS–HT¹ Never Say No to a Panda;
—SPV–PT² Two Sicilies;
—DCV–LID/GA³ Har Har Mahadev;
—DCV–HC⁴ Uncountable;
—DCV–HC Numberless;
—RCS–LT⁵ Bear Market;
—RCS–MT⁶ Happy Mule;
—PRV⁷ Screw the Rules;
—RRV I've Got Money.

______________________________

¹Dual-Designation Spacecraft – Heavy Transport
²Special Purpose Vessel – Personal Transport
³Designated Combat Vessel – Light Interdictor/Ground Assault
⁴Designated Combat Vessel – Heavy Carrier
⁵Registered Commercial Spacecraft – Light Transport
⁶Registered Commercial Spacecraft – Medium Transport
⁷Registered Recreational Vessel

I have a whole list of military vessel hull registration styles.
They are admittedly stolen from the US Navy for the most part, but I added some extra

ICAV = Inter-Cosmological Alliance Vessel
SARV = Solar Alliance Research Vessel
IV = Interstellar Vessel

Hull classifications

Battleship BB
Carrier CV
Cruiser CC - Command Cruiser
CL - Light Cruiser
Corvette KT
Destroyer DD
Dreadnought DT
Frigate FF

A - atmospheric entry capable
B - primary boarding weapons
G - primary weapon Guided-missiles
M - primary weapon Mass Accelerator Gun
L - mine layer
S - mine sweeper
N - unmanned


Research Vessels - stellar phenomena, celestial bodies, and scientists
- SARV Nova
- SARV Luna
- SARV Tethys
- SARV Issac Asimov

Support ships - Mythological and legendary figures/creatures
- ICAV Hyrda
- ICAV Thor
- ICAV King Arthur

Small craft-classes
Landing craft - unnamed; only receive a hull number. Ex. LCA 463
Troop transports - unnamed; only receive a hull number.

Capital Ship types

Corvettes - Birds
- ICAV Falcon (KTA)
- ICAV Sparrow (KTM)
- ICAV Peregrine (KTGA)

Destroyers - Rivers
- ICAV Mekong (DDG 001)
- ICAV Nile (DDG 002)
- ICAV Amazon (DDGA 048)

Frigate - Lakes
- ICAV Te Anau (FFG 005)
- ICAV Superior (FFG 00
- ICAV Bikal
- ICAV Titicaca

Cruiser - Famous Military Commanders or Heads of State
- ICAV Leonidas
- ICAV Tokugawa Ieyasu
- ICAV Winston Churchill
- ICAV Abbas al-Aswan (CG

Battleship - Battles
- ICAV Thermopylae
- ICAV Gaixia
- ICAV Stalingrad
- ICAV Panipat

Dreadnought - Countries/Off Planet Colonies
- ICAV Canada (
- ICAV Colombia
- ICAV Australia
- ICAV Armstrong
- ICAV Port Sally Ride

Carriers - Stars
- ICAV Sol (CVS 001)
- ICAV Aldhafera (CVS 003)
- ICAV Sirius (CVS 004)
- ICAV Enterprise (CVS 012)

The Milano
The Pirouette
The Goldfish
Bordeaux
Snowball
Chessman
Lexington
Harvest Wheat
Puff Pastry

For real fun the Milano is named for Alyssa Milano. The follow up is the Benetar, obviously named for Pat Benetar.

[Metastachydium]

ICAV = Inter-Cosmological Alliance Vessel

Cosmological is not a term I'd use in this phrase, but you gave me an IDEA! How about an organization called ISAACS (i.e. the Inter-Systematic Association for Astrophysical and Cosmological Studies) the senior members of which spend most of their time squatting inside their HQ, a space station called the DR "A"¹ ISAACS?

________________________________
¹Domain of Residence "A".

The follow up is the Benetar, obviously named for Pat Benetar.

Well, at least it's not David Benatar.

♣

And while I'm here, allow me to present an incredibly demented thought that just occurred to me. Let's say we have a species/system with a strict caste-based society, where the military caste (indocrinated from birth, of course) and elements of the ruling political caste that oversee military operations have a special language exclusive to them. The language (here comes the good part!) is tonal (with six tones) and has erratic patterns of accent (expressed through increasing the quantity of vowels to half-long).
Now, what does this have to do with ship names, you may ask (although you probably don't; I think it's pretty obvious where this is headed)? Well, everything! The navy of this society gives its vessels names in the military language, names that have at least three, but preferably four vowels in them; something like, say, Iereon. This is a good thing (for them) because with six tones and four vowels to place accents on, they can use the "same" name for up to 5184 differnt spacecraft and anyone from outside their own military will have some trouble reliably telling these 5184 ships apart based on their name, which can be a pain for hostile intelligence officers and hapless enemy pilots alike.

[BRC]

A few ships from my Sci-Fi Setting:

The Symposium: More of a mobile space station, a giant flying university, headquarters for an interstellar scientific organization (The Conclave of Science...Science was the name of the God of Knowledge, it's a long story)

The Magellen : Named after "Mage Ellen", The researcher ("Mage" or "Mag" is still a term used for renowned scientists, even if they don't specifically study Magic) whose work paved the way for a lot of FTL Tech.

The Drakesgrave: Pirate Flagship, formerly a Draconic Hoardship (Without getting too much into setting details, Dragons like to build very large spaceships).

Otherwise a fun thing is to take a famous relevant Quote and chop it down.

A research ship with long-range scanning capability called the Shoulder's Of Giants, for example.

Or a warship called the Politics By Other Means

[Mordante]

Celestial Object + Movement Verb (but "noun" the verb)

Sun + Dancer
Star + Chaser
Moon + Skipper
Asteroid + Crawler
Blackhole + Jumper

Names like this basically create a sentence of "The ship verbs the object" which is a nice description for a ship or class of ships.

This can be expanded to other verbs.

Planet + Eater
Comet + Collector

Puddle Jumper
Mud Skipper

[Mordante]

Explorer Class
EAS Cortez
EAS De Soto
Hyperion Class
EAS Aegean
EAS Amundsen
EAS Clarkstown
EAS Hyperion
EAS Lexington
EAS Prometheus
EAS Trafalgar
Nova Class
EAS Schwarzkopf
Omega Class
EAS Acheron
EAS Achilles
EAS Agamemnon
EAS Agrippa
EAS Alexander
EAS Apollo
EAS Cadmus
EAS Cerberus
EAS Charon
EAS Churchill
EAS Damocles
EAS Delphi
EAS Excalibur
EAS Furies
EAS Heracles
EAS Heraclion
EAS Hermes
EAS Hydra
EAS Juno
EAS Medusa
EAS Nemesis
EAS Nimrod
EAS Olympic
EAS Orion
EAS Persephone
EAS Pollux
EAS Pournelle
EAS Roanoke
EAS Talos
EAS Theseus
EAS Vesta
EAS Zeus

[Morgaln]

Explorer Class
EAS Cortez
EAS De Soto
Hyperion Class
EAS Aegean
EAS Amundsen
EAS Clarkstown
EAS Hyperion
EAS Lexington
EAS Prometheus
EAS Trafalgar
Nova Class
EAS Schwarzkopf
Omega Class
EAS Acheron
EAS Achilles
EAS Agamemnon
EAS Agrippa
EAS Alexander
EAS Apollo
EAS Cadmus
EAS Cerberus
EAS Charon
EAS Churchill
EAS Damocles
EAS Delphi
EAS Excalibur
EAS Furies
EAS Heracles
EAS Heraclion
EAS Hermes
EAS Hydra
EAS Juno
EAS Medusa
EAS Nemesis
EAS Nimrod
EAS Olympic
EAS Orion
EAS Persephone
EAS Pollux
EAS Pournelle
EAS Roanoke
EAS Talos
EAS Theseus
EAS Vesta
EAS Zeus

Ah, Babylon 5 ;)

[Metastachydium]

EAS Schwarzkopf

Is it wrong that this name mostly reminds me of shampoo and baking powder? (Yes, I know, the latter's not your typical Schwarzkopf product, but I keep confusing that brand with Dr. Oetker.)

EAS Roanoke

Truly, an excellent name! Just don't forget to also have an Icarus (it's never a bad idea to name something kind-of flying through the kind-of sky that) and when if it's destroyed or something, an Icarus 2 at the ready!

[Alcore]

Once, and will again, played a game called Hades Star. Here is a few of my ship names that I remember;


Battleships;
Rainbow Blitz
Harmony
Sentinel - which is both meaningful and job specific.
Defiance - my PvP ship

Transports;
Hamster Express - named after a real semi truck
Greed Inc
Boxboy

Miners;
Old Rusty
Unicron - with the crunch module installed he fit the name.

[Tyrrell]

I name appropriate ships after scientists, but not the most famous of them. I go for the next tier more specific; not the most famous chemists, but the most famous analytical chemists, not the most famous geologists, but the most famous hydrogeologists and so on.

[DavidSh]

A line of passenger ships might take musical names. I like:
Adagio
Andante
Allegro
Presto
(Assuming that the owners don't know the literal Italian meanings.)

[Lord Shark]

And weird names are probably fair game anywhere! Let's see some:
—DDS–HT¹ Never Say No to a Panda;
—SPV–PT² Two Sicilies;
—DCV–LID/GA³ Har Har Mahadev;
—DCV–HC⁴ Uncountable;
—DCV–HC Numberless;
—RCS–LT⁵ Bear Market;
—RCS–MT⁶ Happy Mule;
—PRV⁷ Screw the Rules;
—RRV I've Got Money.

Reminds me of Ian Banks's Culture ships, which have names like It Was Like That When I Got Here, Now Look What You Made Me Do, Lightly Seared on the Reality Grill, Just the Washing Instruction Chip in Life's Rich Tapestry, I Blame My Mother, Size Isn't Everything...

[Excession]

For something more real world, https://www.marinetraffic.com/ will show you all of the ships. Mostly good for boring cargo ship names.

[oudeis]

I'm stockpiling as many names as I can to offer a better lived-in feel for my game universe. I don't want all the ship names to sound like I, alone, came up with them. You fine folks all have varying mindsets so suggest away as long as it isn't explicit. I'm sticking to a PG-13 feel. Feel free to elaborate why a name is awesome and/or it's meaning and origin. I'll even take names for space stations if you've got them. Thank you.

Edit: I should mention that this setting has fantasy races and magic in addition to technology so a wider range of options open up in that sense.

'Fantasy races and magic' conjures up automatic associations with legendary heroes, fabled treasures, epic battles, revered kings, shining cities, ancient gods, and all the other elements of the genre. Going with these:

• The Nerevar
• Glamdring's Kiss
• The Stair of Grief
• King Omund's Mercy
• The Spirit of Havnor
• Grabthar's Hammer

[Lacco]

How about:

• Error! Name Not Found
• /Unidentified Vehicle/
• Randomly Named Vessel
• Ugly Cookie

[SimonMoon6]

How about:

• Error! Name Not Found
• /Unidentified Vehicle/
• Randomly Named Vessel
• Ugly Cookie

Reminds me of this xkcd strip:
https://xkcd.com/327/

So maybe name a ship after little Bobby Tables.

[Metastachydium]

[*]Ugly Cookie

Gotta love that one!

♣

While I'm here, I might as well fire off a few of my own as well, though:

1. Coldbringer. Make it big. Make it loud.

2. The name of any Sumerian(-adjacent) city( or toponym) one can think of, such as:
—Eridu; Bad-Tibira; Larak; Sippar; Shuruppak; Awan; Hamazi; Lagash; Adab; Akshak; Agade; Gutium; Isin.

[Hagashager]

Some ship names I use in my own sci-fi setting:
The High-Breasted Diva
The Manna From Heavan
The Grand Poo-Bah
The Narwhal
The Rusty Bucket
The Crackerbarrel

[Mutazoia]

Back in the pre-historic days of playing "Tradewars", I always named my ships after famous shipwrecks:

The Ruben James
The Edmund Fitzgerald
The Andrea Doria
The Dona Paz
The Carpathia
The Rhone
The Vasa
The Sultana
The Mary Rose

etc.

[*]Grabthar's Hammer[/LIST]

Don't forget her sister ship, the Suns of Warvan

[Bohandas]

You could name them after movies

The Neverending Story
The Matrix
The Lord of the Rings
The New Hope
The Endgame
The Edge of Tomorrow
The Great Escape
Sophie's Choice
The Mummy
The Color Out of Space
The Call of Cthulhu
The Driller Killer
The Hurt Locker
The World's End
The Human Centipede
The Blazing Saddle
The Phantom Menace
The Killing Joke
The Dark Knight
The Avatar
The Terminator
The Golden Child
The Mystic Pizza
The Fifth Element
The Mouse That Roared
The Night At The Opera
The Phantom of the Opera
The Revenge of the Pink Panther
The Bride of Frankenstein
The Magic Christian
The English Patient
The Meaning Of Life
The Great Dictator
The Secret of the Ooze
The Song of the South
The Prince of Darkness
The Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
The Man Who Laughs
Christine
The Slingblade
The Machete
The Jagged Edge
The Repo Man
The Maltese Falcon
The Clear And Present Danger
The Broken Arrow
The Predator
The Punisher
The Last Knight
The Manchurian Candidate



etc

Back in the pre-historic days of playing "Tradewars", I always named my ships after famous shipwrecks:

The Ruben James
The Edmund Fitzgerald
The Andrea Doria
The Dona Paz
The Carpathia
The Rhone
The Vasa
The Sultana
The Mary Rose

etc.

Don't forget the Titanic, that fits both of our lists

[TemporalTravels]

Per Diem (small personal craft)
Jerryrig (beat up freighter)
Capital Grains (private bulk foodstuffs hauler)
Fiat Drayman (private bulk freighter)
Gold Digger (mining vessel)

[Melayl]

The Foolish Pride
The Astral Drake
The Solar Wind
The Fist of (insert name of diety, empire, corporation, etc)
The Bitter Price
The Bastard's Mistress
The Brass Balls
The Entropy
The Lazy Bastard
The Last Gasp
The Loan is Due
The Idiot's Bet
The Fenarian Brandywine
The Taltos
The Hearty Cheer
The Rosy Backside
The Rust Bucket
The Blue Rose
The Shatner
The Nimoy's Eyebrow
The Rat Bastard
The Three of Cups
The Odd Man Out
The Royal Bastard
The Gunslinger's Wish
The Last Gambit
The Meg's Bosom
The Happy Go Lucky
The Constable's Curse
The Dream of Flight
The Clodhopper
The Shattered Dream
The Shadow of Uncertainty
The Indominable Will
The Space Debris
The Star of Empires
The Ring of Truth
The Emperor's Hairy Backside
The Fragrant Vagabond
The Mighty Sparrow
The Reaper's Revenge
The Arrogant Oath
The Vanity
The Heir of Destiny
The Fall of Nations
The Only Hope
The Curse of Suns
The Mary Sue
The Dream of Empires
The Rutting Sow
The Cockatrice
The Shooting Star
The Name of the Stars
The Word of Peace
The Hungry Goblin
The Promise of Freedom
The Lure of Profit
The Old Lady
The Spear of (insert name of diety, empire, or corporation here)
The Triple Suns
The Nightsoil
The Silken Caress
The Titan's Grasp
The Warlock's Ire
The Great Old One
The Last Dance
The Chance of a Lifetime
The Chance of Failure
The Negotiable Virtue
The Questionable Judgment
The Fortune's Folly
The Gentlemans' Wager
The Promise of Exploration
The Price of Freedom
The Music of the Stars
The Last Oath
The Inescapable Fate
The Downtrodden
The Neutered Ox

[Mordante]

Ah, Babylon 5 ;)

Yes, I love that show, I have rewatched so many times.

This made me smile
Absolutely nothing happened in Sector 83 by 9 by 12 today. I repeat, nothing happened in Sector 83 by 9 by 12.

This made me cry
LONDO: ...My shoes are too tight.

VIR: ...Excuse me?

LONDO: Something my father said. He was... Old, very old at the time. I went into his room, and he was sitting, alone in the dark, crying. So I asked him what was wrong, and he said, "My shoes are too tight. But it doesn't matter, because I have forgotten how to dance." I never understood what that meant until now. My shoes are too tight, and I have forgotten how to dance.

Pause

VIR: ...I don't understand.

LONDO: Smiling wistfully Nor should you.