Imperial Starship Naming Conventions

Consider if you will that the Empire had at least 25,000 ISDs at its disposal, plus at least as many VSDs, frigates, cruisers, etc.

So how did they give unique names to them all? They can't all be named things like "Avenger" and "Devestator".

This isn't meant as a deadly serious topic, as I doubt there's much out there on the subject, so I'm looking for speculation. Did individual sectors get to christen their ships whatever they felt like? Was it up to the Captain (as Zsinj had several Iron Fists)?

 

I really don't know. I just guessed that the Imperial Navy had a department that worded with KDY, Rendili, Loronar, SFS, et cetera when it came to determing new ship/class names.
I think it'd actually be kinda fun to know what exactly the process was for naming Imperial warships. I can think of some that really sounded like they were commissioned early on in the Empire, or even potentially during the Old Republic (i.e. Pride of the Senate).

 

It would seem to me that if all of them were unique, all you'd really need is a thesaurus.

I suspect quite a few place names were used too, which would make for unlimited nomenclature.

 

Periodically, you run accross a totally bizarre name too. Like the Garret Vader uses as his flag for part of TIE Fighter.

Personally, I'd be more interested in hearing where Rebel Alliance vessel names came from. Like the Frigate Hirutrekk. wt* is a (an?) Hirutrekk? I'm guessing some non-basic word, but it's still pretty odd sounding.


Curses have to be completely *'d out. You can say wth but can't replace the h with an f.

 

Garret sounds oddly cool.

For the truly strange names, the X-Wing game series is a good place to check out.
Priam
Bixbie
Korolev
As mentioned, Garret
Jowa
And what appears to be a little homage to Miss Jade, Mara

 

On a slightly related note, take a look at the names of the freighters in the very first mission of the original X-Wing and see if you notice a bit of a pattern.

LucasArts humour at its finest...

 

Considering how much the Empire hated aliens, the Rebellion probably tried to give as many of their ships as possible alien names. It would be kinda ironic to have something called the Pride of the Emperor get smacked down by the S.S. Wookie

 

Oh, the naming convention is definitely to use "unique" names (note, the same name is used for different ship classes).

While they save the shock-and-awe inducing ships like the Avenger, the Adjudicator, the Devastator, etc. for the high-profile missions.

I'm sure they send all of the slightly-less-than-fear-inducing ships like the Redresser, the Undoingator, the Deteriorator, the Dégringoladiator, the Atrophicator, and the Discomfiturator to patrol BFE.

In fact, this has been addressed to some degree in the Marvel Comic's Star Wars series. They had self-titled "the lost fleet" called that way because it was just one generic Imperial fleet out in the boondocks out of many generic Imperial fleets out in the boondocks.

 

I hope they named one Der Sturmunddrang

 

Since standardized by Congress in 1819, US Navy ships are named by the Secretary of the Navy.

The Secretary chooses from a list compilied by the US Naval Historical Society, which accepts submissions from members of congress and veteran groups.

The names are assigned based on the class of ship. Class 1 ships(ie aircraft carriers) are named according to geographical locations (USNS Abraham Lincoln named by a Midwestern Senator), while smaller ships are named after war heroes whose names are submitted by sponsors.

I'm sure in its heyday, the Empire had plenty of names submitted by those who wanted to find favor with the Emperor, or by those who were owed some sort of political favor..

 

I think that there might actually have been an Imperial ship named the Redresser...mayhap patrolling BFE (good lord, someone else uses that acronym!)

 

It strikes as odd -- and more than a little wrong, by the way -- that certain Imperial ships were named after Earth Mythological monsters. I mean, the Chimaera, the Gorgon, the Bassilisk, the Hydra. Cool sounding names, I agree, but not fitting to starships from a galaxy far far away.

 

maybe the GFFA has some funky Battlestar Galactica-type history....

The citizens of the GFFA actually visited Earth and we got our past from them!

(the Sphinx looks alot like Palpatine....)

 

It strikes as odd -- and more than a little wrong, by the way -- that certain Imperial ships were named after Earth Mythological monsters. I mean, the Chimaera, the Gorgon, the Bassilisk, the Hydra. Cool sounding names, I agree, but not fitting to starships from a galaxy far far away.

As always, the disclaimer -- the books we read are translated from Basic to English (or whichever language)... some translations are variations on a theme, rather than literal...

 

maybe the GFFA has some funky Battlestar Galactica-type history....The citizens of the GFFA actually visited Earth and we got our past from them!

Or you could say that the GFFA humans all sprout from Earth, that Earth was lost long ago or that it eventually became Coruscant, and that the "a long time ago in..." phrase is said from some alien race (The Whills?) point of view.

As always, the disclaimer -- the books we read are translated from Basic to English (or whichever language)... some translations are variations on a theme, rather than literal...

Uh huh. Right.

 

This was actually addressed in one of the old WEG:AJ short stories. I can't remember the author.. might have been CHarlene Newcomb, but I'm not sure.
Anyway, there is a child hacker, a little girl named SHannon, I think living in Kuat who hacks the Imperial Computers and changes the Star Destroyer names for the ships being built to cutesy names.

 

Well that would explain Vader's first flagship:

the SSD Stawberry Shortcake

 

the SSD Stawberry Shortcake

ROFL

 

"As always, the disclaimer -- the books we read are translated from Basic to English (or whichever language)... some translations are variations on a theme, rather than literal..."

Basic is English, just look at star wars: ANH. Also notice how Aurabesh phrases often times symbol for letter, convert into english phrases rather than other languages. I think there was an article in one of the starwars magazines that said as much as well.

What is the problem with earth mythological creatures existing in star wars, if Han mention an earth, mythological underworld in ESB.

 

Sure, you have the Star Destroyer Imperator (TIE Fighter), the Star Destroyer Avenger (The Empire Strikes Back) and the Star Destroyer Inexorable (Heir to the Empire), but what about the less shock-and-awe names?

What about the Star Destroyer Badi Dea (X-Wing)? The Star Destroyer Eleemosynary and the Star Destroyer Fi ("Who's Who: Imperial Grand Admirals")?

Allegedly, Grand Admiral Takel's flagship was the Star Destroyer Magic Dragon, but that didn't make the final cut of the article.

 

What is the problem with earth mythological creatures existing in star wars, if Han mention an earth, mythological underworld in ESB.

It's mythological???
No way! Sinners have to burn, wallow or otherwise rot in it!

Well then, it'd mean that the humans in the GFFA are children of Earth, and names of monsters or mythic places like H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks have survived and passed throughout generations.

 

Some say life here, evolved elsewhere...

Okay, Ill shut up now. Perhaps some ships are just given numerical designations, like Pelleaon's Victory class destroyers in Darksaber.

 

What if you don't believe in hell? What if you just believe in eternal sleep in the grave?

 

Methinks that KJA just wanted to convey the sheer size of the warlord fleets in the deep core. Remember, the 25,000 ISD figure in Specter of the Past hadn't been canonized yet.

 

Gandolf?s Top Ten Imperial Star Destroyer names that didn?t make it:

10. I.S.D. Titanic
9. I.S.D. Freedom
8. I.S.D. Indestructible XVIII
7. I.S.D. Minnow
6. I.S.D. Spartacus
5. I.S.D. Skcusenitiplap [Note: it almost slipped through, but not quite]
4. I.S.D. Lightsider
3. I.S.D. A manifestation of the strength of the Empire that inexorably overcomes the weak and pathetic rebel scum [Note: captured while still under construction, the Republic finished its construction and called it the ?Freedom?]
2. I.S.D. Pride of the Republic
1. I.S.D. Enterprise