Yeah, another thread of mine. Recently, I've been asked about locations in my novel and how I've chosen the names for exoplanets and cities. I've responded to those questions, but it's an interesting thing to discuss. One day, our children might do such things. Imo, major planets should have names, based on cities of earth (Washington, Vegas, Mekka, New Bern), celestial bodies of solar system (Novy Ganymede, Titania), geographical locations (Sayan, Atlas, Guinea etc.)
I'm a bit confused what you're asking here. Do you want to rename the planets that already exist in the system, or are you trying to create an entirely different solar system where you name them differently?
I just wanna hear some opinions about naming entirely new systems. When I said about real planets, I meant something like trappist - 1d, teegarden b etc, not Mars, Jupiter and others. I've just watched Dark Matter, and planet names aren't corresponding with any real places they probably should named from. They are mb named after discoverer's surname or just random. I'm bit lazy to think about many making-sense-names, that's why I done what I've done. Yes, all of this is complicated but again I've been asked, and also was confused as well.
Well, the way they tend to name objects now is based on the constellation where the object is located. But that goes out the window when you leave the sol system and change the vantage point. So they'd have to rename everything I would imagine once interstellar travel becomes possible.
If you name entire planets for small locations on Earth it gives them the feeling of being a single location (which leads to things like a "jungle planet" - ie entire planets with one ecosystem - which is crazy) so I would avoid that. In John Barnes "Million Open Doors" the planets are named after Nobel Laureates - which means they just sound like normal human names, but not ones that we have an association for. As an Example (looking at Australean Laureates) we might have Florey, Burnet, Eccles, Prokohrov and Katz. Are you looking for a name that is distinctive or one that brings baggage? I would also avoid names with "New" on the front - but I think that is a mistake on Earth as well. How new is New York now?
I'm afraid science has already established Exoplanet naming conventions unless you are speaking strictly about fictional names.
I named my continent sized object Australo Mark I and its breakaway Utah (for shape). Just food for thought.
But when and if we ever get there, what's the betting we will ditch them and start labelling the places in the good old chaotic and personal ways...?
I tend to name my major planets after paradise in various myths. My top choices are Paradesia, Eden, Elysia, Xanadu etc. I base this on the fact that if you call a planet Hell's Arse (or New Coventry), no one is going to want to live there. My favourite planet name is Terra Nova though.
None of these planets are made of single biome. For example, both American planet Vegas and Russian Sayan are rocky celestial bodies with moderate geological activity. They both are densely populated, but only in few key places because of geology. Washington, Titania, Novy Ganymede, Mekka are capitals of the most powerful realms. They're clearly not one-biome worlds( this is mentioned in the my novel itself). Actually, not that many worlds are densely populated. And of course, all of them have multiple cities on surface, so not Star wars style. It's around 110 billion people alive at the start of the story. And realms, where all the story takes place, are not the most populated.
I would imagine that the first finders/explorers would name a planet as they wish. Kind of like how discoverers of new species get to name them, or historically how many places were named. Then, over time those original names might morph into something else. Take Santa Fe - it’s original name was La Villa Real de Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asis. May still be in a legalistic sense. San Francisco was the familial patron saint of the main founder.
Are you sure about that? Also, places could be named after the discoverer, their sponsor (there are dozens of places in Australia named Macquarie Something, after a man called Lachlan Macquarie), or for propaganda purposes (like Greenland).
