Some naming ideas for Star Trek or other space/alien kind of worlds that are not name+last name or the other way round (some are based on already existing human naming traditions):
You have a name and several last names. They may be your parents' or they may be related to important people in your life or in the life of your parents, even if there is one you use more often for whatever the reason (it's shorter, it's more convenient, you don't want to explain,...). It is accepted to change your last name but never your name or the other way round.
You have several names and no last name. Some names you were given, some you chose for yourself. They may tell the story of your life, they may honor important people in your family or in your life. You tend to use one but other people who met you under a different name use another. Or there is The Official Name and then the family name or the leisure name. Maybe even A Secret Name that is not documented anywhere and only a few people know.
You have a name and patronymics and/or matronymics but no last name. You are systematically called by the patronymic/matronymic, only a few use your first name. Or the other way round, knowing the patronymic/matronymic is a proof of confidence.
There is an absolute refusal of hierarchy/polite terms in your culture and language, so you always carry dressing and decoration with your family name and your personal name so that even unknown people can call you by one of your names because using any other word to refer to anyone would be impolite. The international relationships have created new costumes with the name in different languages (the most frequent ones with whom you deal) so as to make it easier for everyone. Outsiders still fail miserably often.
Children have no name until they choose one and they must stick to it because it cannot be changed. This gives some funny and interesting names but it also gives unnamed teenagers because they don't want to get it wrong. They are addressed by some physical characteristic until they do and as such, many just stay with the nickname instead. That is it, that is the only name you'll have. No last name or family name of any kind. Just a nickname.
There is a very rigid naming system. There are not short versions of names, of affectionate ways of using the name. The last name is chosen by the government according to a system that only makes sense to the natives of that culture. It is not related to family, or to a job, or to a place of origin. The first name is chosen by the birthing parent, exclusively, in secret, after they check the archives to make sure it will be a unique name, it's some kind of deep quest that takes place from the moment the pregnancy is confirmed. There is a ceremony before the birth to announce. Nobody shares their first name with anyone else. It cannot be a word that already exists in that language.
All first names must be abstract names related to emotions, feelings, experiences, etc. Or, all first names must be tangible everyday things like furniture, food, tools... The family name is related to nature or, since space exploration began, the cosmos.
Every person who is born and lives in the same village, town or city until their teenage years is given the last name of the place and it is understood that is their family. If the parents (or family-blood) or the child move to another place, the child will move nameless and will remain nameless until they decide which of the two places is their family-place (most people choose the last place of living). By the time they come of age, they all should have a last name so that the family-place can be identified. Their personal name is the name of the family-blood, so they all share the same name, regardless of their gender or age. Yes, it is confusing for outsiders, but outsiders don't know they are almost a hive mind with little to none understanding of "individual", even when they are apart. For them it's just like a long arm stretching far away. Yes, sometimes it hurts.
hi!! do you have any mystical-scif like stage name suggestions that would fit IVE's Kim Gaeul? she's an aespa addition and she's the main rapper and lead vocalist of the group! tysm!!
hi! here are 10 names that i think would best fit with your addition! i hope these are enough~ feel free to send another ask if you'd like more :
I love those dp x dc fics where Danny is a boy on the run and for some reason or another the bats are trying to track him down, but Danny is a boy on the run. Cause they always give off this vibe
I love how ominous such basic names like "The Organization" or "The Institute" or "The Initiative" or "The Facility" or etc. are when placed in like a shady sci-fi context, like there's no reason for them to sound that suspicious, but without elaboration, it's like here is a place where they are doing things™ and I am like ooohh, because the blank state, the refusal to give you any more detail makes you think they're hiding something on purpose and leaves the darkest corner of the imagination left to fill in the rest.
“Terrance the Terran from Terra” alternatively known as Earthboy the Earthling from Earth
So we’ve seen the joke in sci-fi where a translator doesn’t stop so the Sahara Desert becomes Desert Desert.
But I also think we’re missing a vital piece of comedy gold in terms of character naming. Specifically the name Terrance.
Why Terrance you might be wondering to yourself? Where’s the comedy in that? It sounds like a pretty standard human name?
And it is. But here’s where the funny part comes in.
In a lot of ‘Humans are Space Orcs’ Earth gets renamed or mistranslated into Terra, and so humans are usually called Terrans. Are you seeing where I’m going with this yet?
If you write sci-fi of this particular genre, please consider having a character named, Terrance the Terran from Terra. And then having every other character’s translators short circiut. Because surely no mother actually named their child Earthboy the Earthling from Earth.
I’m reading Witch King by Martha Wells, and now that I have read more than one (1) series by this author, I have been suddenly brained with a two-by-four sharpied over with “realizing that I really enjoy novels by Martha Wells because they live in the specific niche created by the intersection of casually and thoroughly queer casts and non-romance storylines”
I am as ever a sucker for non-human main characters struggling with their very human feelings, which is why I jumped on Witch King the moment I saw “the author of Murderbot wrote another book with a main character that’s non-human,” but I live in this dichotomy where I can really enjoy reading queer romances but I don’t really identify with non-ace characters (which is not actually something I figured out how to differentiate until I was Last Week Years Old). so there are lots of books out there that I enjoy reading but it’s comparatively rare for me to read something that feels like it was written For Me and Martha Wells does that very well
anyway, give me more ace it-pronouns human-spliced robot main characters and people-eating demons who consider rank over gender when finding new bodies to inhabit
(as for the dysphoria one I think anyone with that level of cybernetics would be fucked up about it at least a little bit. Considering how the human brain handles amputation. I love digging into the biopsych aspect of that dude sorry.)
it's relatively easy to learn a language. what is harder is learning to speak a language. this barrier becomes even more insurmountable when you do not have the anatomical parts to produce a sound used in a language, or don't have the organs to interpret the medium of that language. then, miscommunication isn't simply a case of miscommunication - it's a case of incompatibility. for example. rrikrik is a kkariko, and soh is a ki. kkariko communicate auditorily, using a specialized organ to produce noise alongside their exoskeleton teeth and antennae noises. ki communicate using low frequency waves, and their antennae organ is poised specifically to interpret said waves. kkariko lack any sort of organ to sense low-frequency waves, and ki physically cannot make the noises required to speak kkariko languages. so how can rrikrik and soh communicate?
this is an issue which affects almost every single multi-species living space in the universe. especially more political or industrial spaces, where communication is incredibly important. a lot of time and energy has been invested into figuring out ways that species with drastically different anatomy can still communicate clearly with each other. there are three methods used in tandem among multi-species living environments to ease communication. press keep reading to learn more about them! :3
the first method: common lingua franca and assistive devices
most sophant species already have hundreds, if not thousands, of languages and dialects spoken within their own species populations. in many cases, a couple of languages may emerge as "lingua franca" among the population, typically due to complex political situations. this lingua franca is often expressed in multi-species environments too.
just because somebody cannot speak a language doesn't mean they can't learn it. there are also plenty of assistive devices used by / fore example, referring back to rrikrik and soh - rrikrik could use a technological device designed to pick up low frequency waves to hear what soh is saying, and soh could use a specialist voice synth program containing a kkariko noise library to communicate in a kkariko language.
this is obviously the most labor-intensive method of communication for all involved. however, it's the most reliable and often the most personable. it feels good to be able to communicate with your friends in a language they understand, and
the second method: universal sign communication
universal sign communication (USC) is a constructed language developed in the founding age of the ICDCI by a cross-species team of linguists. the goal of USC as a language was to level the playing field by offering up a universal language with a low theoretical accessibility barrier.
USC as a lexicon relies on simplistic movements of limbs, with movements designed to be replicated by those with varying body anatomy. due to this, USC has a "less is more" ethos and relies on the stringing together of movements as opposed to fine motor control and expressiveness, with one sign or movement meaning multiple things depending on context. the only thing that a person needs to be able to communicate in USC is a moderately flexible body and potentially one limb. although some individuals without conventional limbs will simply perform the USC signs with their whole body instead. USC can be modified as a vocabulary to accommodate other more static body plans if needed, too.
this is the most common option when it comes to communicating in a work environment. USC is relatively easy to learn, is easy to understand, and doesn't require any technology. it can also be used in environments where other forms of communication are impossible. almost every cosmonaut knows at least rudimentary USC, and its required to work and live in many astral communities just because of how convenient it is in that environment. USC also has a pictographic "written" form which acts as diagrams in performing the specific signs.
of course, USC is largely inaccessible for those who lack visual senses. whilst there has been an attempt to "translate" USC into a spoken language, it sort of defeats the purpose of Universal Sign Communication. there has been discussion about developing a sort of spoken USC but it's a much more complicated feat due to the diversity of sounds vs the diversity of gestures and movements.
another pitfall of USC is the nature of its vocabulary. because USC was a language designed to be used in a professional environment, its vocab is often limited to professional topics. its easy to tell somebody what a certain lever does using USC, and even ask them how they are and if they rested well, but its significantly harder to chat about that piece of media you just love using USC. and forget about making jokes. some linguists have expanded the USC vocabulary with more casual gestures and signs, but these signs are often considered "non essential" for learners and seen as optional side studies for those more invested.
USC can also be easily misunderstood, especially by beginners. those communicating in USC are reminded to sign slowly and with intent.
the third method: received speakers.
received speakers are a specialized "memetic-will hybrid" device. "will" is a catch-all term for a grouping of energies exerted by beings onto the complex structure of energies/concepts referred to colloquially as "reality". memetic in this context refers to an idea or concept, translated into language, which can be brought into the consciousness of a being with behavioural changes apparent. this is a very basic description of both terms.
received speakers work by utilizing the memetic affect and will-energy together. the material that the received speaker made of is a sink and an amplifier of will-energy, a conductor of it. (the material used is a potentially-biological "fossil" alloy, found only in a few places.) before use, received speakers need to be calibrated to the specific will-energy of their user. after that, the received speaker will pick up on their user's will-energy and their user's will-energy only. however, a received speaker with no intentionality is useless. intentionality is built with memetic conditioning. the goal of the conditioning is to fix ideas in the consciousness of the user. these ideas are: 1: when the user communicates with a recipient, their intention with their words is transferred to the received speaker. 2: received speakers are able to send the intentionality of the communication between each other using will-energy waves. 3: despite the difference in language, the intention of the words are carried over perfectly to the recipient and they will understand the communication as it was intended. 4: likewise, the user will understand the recipient's communication with the same level of intentionality.
if both will-energy calibration and memetic conditioning are successful, then the received speaker will allow individuals with vastly different languages to communicate as if speaking the exact same dialect of the exact same language. they'll sense the communication almost instantly, and it'll be in their own voice, which can be a bit confusing to get used to. sarcasm and double-truth does not translate well using received speaker, which can be a good thing if you feel as if the individual you are communicating with is untrustworthy, but can be difficult when trying to tell a joke.
there are some issues with received speakers. first of all, they're single person use. you can't swap received speakers, or borrow them, or use one which has been used by another in the past. this is because calibration is very difficult to reverse. it's a very specialized task to reverse the calibration, and it takes a lot of time and energy. so once you've calibrated your received speaker, that's it. this also means that received speakers are a unrenewable resource. there is only so much material to make them, and there are more important things to use it for. for this reason, received speakers are often only provided to certain individuals. rrikrik was given one, as was some of the individuals they work with, but most of their crewmates do not use them.
different beings have different will-energy fields. even with the amplification that received speakers provide, some individuals just won't have the will-energy to broadcast their intention. some individuals also have high resistance to will-energy, and won't be able to receive the intention and often not be able to complete the calibration process. there is also the issue of memetic resistance. memetic resistance can be developed, but some people are just naturally resistant. for example, the sadum species is known for their memetic resistance. this makes sadum immune to cognitive diseases and other harmful things which spread via memetic transferral, but it also makes them immune to received speakers.
received speakers can also be very dangerous. if the memetic conditioning is replaced with a different sort of memetic conditioning, then a received speaker can be used to essentially brainwash or kill people.
tfw an idea for a simple yan blade short story has evolved into something that requires me to design an entire planet, the culture within said planet, in a way that adheres to the worldbuilding of honkai star rail which we honestly don't know too much about