First post asking for help I need to name a star ship, now this is no regular star ship. Think Alantis from stargate meets bablyon 5. The A.S. XXXXXXXXX is a city ship, it's construction is o par with building the prymids, mustering the entire resources of a star system. Names I have thought of: Intrepid (to american military and star trekish) Edison (I like it I'm not sure) Kepler Arth (since it was a giant Earth project, but I thought this might be confusing) Help please
Since it's a city ship, you need some larger than life names, like Cosmopolis or Olympus. If one faction of the system pitches in more than the others, maybe an inspiration can come from their cultural backgrounds, say... Hyspania, Europa or Rhineland. If you only wish the name to sound cool without having a deeper meaning, you can't go wrong with Greek mythology. Atlas, Astraeus, Clymene, Ophion(titans), Caerus, Hybris, Techne(personified concepts) and Alectrona, Erynies, Phorcys(domain deities) are some of my favorites. Or... make one up. Hope this helps.
You don't need the name to start the story. Use a placeholder name. These are not the big decisions of writing. Train yourself to come up with the answers on your own, in preparation for the tougher decisions. A well exercised imagination is as nimble as a star footballer, and with the definition of a body builder's six pack.
Look up the names of famous ships in your own countries history, and search for the largest class ever produced, the capital ships and the massive gunboats. Just before the age of the battleship ended and the age of the aircraft carrier arrived there were some truly monstrous ones. If you want a cheat code to find the best ones, just look up British capital ships prior to the outbreak of WW2. Look at the names they gave those ships. The Dauntless. The Invincible. You want something that conveys scale, grandeur, and enormity. The Leviathan. The Behemoth. The Titan (although Titan A.E. kind of beat you to that one, lol). Then perhaps you should add a secondary title that speaks to cultural heritage. The Leviathan of Perth (or whatever). Hope that helped some!
how about Heimat a German word for home or homeland since it is earth project and some sort of future city or base of operations ,figured sounds better than homeland and later in the story someone can explain its meaning giving it depth and more meaning as they know it means home...
Damn, The Paradigm Shift would be an awesome name for a starship indeed. And it's really appropriate, seeing as a whole planet contributed to building it. The world's paradigm has changed from planet dwelling insular societies to a star-faring cooperative race.
If you haven't developed your story or setting sufficiently for a name to jump out at you, it's probably too early to name it. Names tend to lend themselves to the aesthetic of the story you're trying to write and a lot is drawn from the name you give something important like a space-faring citadel. Names of ancient deities or religious allusions confer notions of the ship's purpose: the Destiny-Ascension (Mass Effect) is the flagship of a race of universalist psychics. The Litany of Fury (Warhammer 40k) is a flying fortress. Words like Dauntless, Monsoon and Bulwark have their respective connotations and relevant historical references carry with them the artefacts of past events (if your story doesn't take place in our future, consider fabricating history to flesh out your world) Naming a primary set piece can be a big deal. I'd leave it until you find something that fits.
Is this star-ship built by humans? Then you really should call it "Bob". I mean, who will ever remember a city star-ship called "Hypertron XI0" or "Magalopolis"? Bob, however, is catchy. Additionally, you could add a funny anecdote to you story about how the conqueror of star systems could have gotten such silly name [<- is present perfect correct in this sentence? If so, why?]
Then go for it. You kinda struck gold there. Not only is it a great name for a ship, but a great title for the story, too. And there's no rule preventing you from using it in both places.
Perhaps a very stupid idea, but have you tried looking at random generators? One example is seventhsanctum.com, they've got generators on basically everything. I use it sometimes to get ideas. I might not use exactly what they suggest, but it might spark an idea for a name. Oh, and I think Paradigm Shift is an awesome name, too! good luck! - Achira
I agree i think you have asked the wrong question, instead of help finding the name you should be asking us for help with ways of brainstorming you own. I see you already have Kepler so you've probably been looking up astronomical words and terms, I did the same myself and am using Kepler as the last name of the main guy in my own story. bit small for a city ship though. have you thought of going the 'New' route, if its a city ship it could be called New Europe or New America, named like a city (new york, new brunswick, new jersey ect) other than that greek and roman mythology will serve you well, names like Colossus and Titan would fit well. hope you come up with something, but as said don't let it hold you back - in the book i'm writing i still have people and places marked out with placeholders and i'm 20k works into writing it.
Maybe a place to start for you to decide how ships are named: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_ship_naming_conventions
The A.S. Paradigm Shift I'm feeling it out. The ships name is not holding me up, I'm about 26k in to the first story in my trilogy, and about 5k into number 2, and number 3 is plastered on my office wall. i might post some picks of that soon. It's funny.
