Spaceship Name Generator

The best spaceship names borrow from centuries of real naval tradition. Navies name ships for virtues (Defiant, Intrepid, Resolute), battles (Saratoga, Agincourt), and people (Farragut, Agatha King), and prefix them with a service abbreviation: USS, HMS, or an invented one such as MCRN, ISV or SSV. Explorers and science vessels take the names of scientists and historic expedition ships, which is why so much fiction has a Beagle, an Endurance or a Magellan. Following that pattern makes a fleet feel like it has an admiralty behind it.

Civilian ships tell a different story. Freighters and smugglers' boats get personal, ironic or hopeful names chosen by owners with a sense of humor: Serenity, Rocinante, Millennium Falcon, Long Shot, Borrowed Time, Rusty Bucket. Iain M. Banks pushed this to its limit with the Culture's ship Minds, which name themselves things like So Much for Subtlety and A Shortfall of Gravitas, and SpaceX has since painted Culture names on real drone ships. Bird, wind and weapon names (Peregrine, Sirocco, Broadsword) suit fast couriers, fighters and small warships.

When you pick a name, decide who christened the ship. A navy clerk, a proud captain and a broke salvage crew all name differently, and the mismatch between name and vessel, like a rust-streaked freighter called Ascendant, is often the most memorable choice of all.