History Main / LawOfAlienNames

* The Deviluke in Manga/ToLoveRu seem to mostly follow the "duplication" structure, with their princesses named Lala, Momo, and Nana. Their male names don't seem to follow it, i.e. Gid and Peke.
* The Ctarl-ctarl in [[Manga/OutlawStar Outlaw Star]] also reduplicate, like their ambassador Aisha Clan-clan and their flagship the Orta Hone-hone.

* Franchise/{{Superman}}'s cousin is named Kara, which is an example of the trope, but an odd one in that the name became popular in English as an actual name after the introduction of the character, to the point where on ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' she just calls herself Kara and there's nothing weird about the name. In truth, it isn't actually alien, rather of Proto-Italo-Celtic origin (Italian "beloved", Irish "friend"), but as stated above, it was hardly ever used as a given name until long after Supergirl started.

* ''Comicbook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}}'' has a lot of made-up or spelling altered names: Tinya, Brin, Luornu, Jo Nah, Wimena... to name a few.

* There are plenty of alien personal names in ''Fanfic/WithStringsAttached'': Stal, Keelan, Grynun, Fi'ar, Remlar, Terdan, Lyndess, Grunnel, Brox, As'taris, Ma'ar, Kerrun, Sapsa, Deris, Bayanis... but just try to figure out which ones are male and which are female.
** WordOfGod has it that the names are internally consistent based on a scheme of the author's own.
* The now defunct ''FanFic/BothSyllables'' series expands on the [[WesternAnimation/InvaderZim Irken]] naming themes mentioned below. Specifically, it's stated that Irkens tend to have longer names, but contract them to a compound of the first letter and last syllable; for example, Zim's full name is '''Z'''ernin'''im'''.

* Zigzagged in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''.

* In Homestuck the trolls usually have two names that are each 6 letters long, 12 in total; for example: 'Karkat Vantas'.

* ''WesternAnimation: VoltronLegendaryDefender''

**

** In the novelization of the "reboot" movie ''Film/StarTrek'', Nero explains that Romulan names are all but impossible for humans to pronounce correctly, so it is customary to render them into English by pronouncing the closest phonetic equivalent ''backwards'' (Which Romulans find less grating than hearing their names consistently butchered). Nero's name is really closer to "Oren", but the "r" can not be faithfully reproduced by a human.

'''Ed:''' [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frusen_Gl%C3%A4dj%C3%A9 Frusen Glädjé]].\\

'''Ed:''' Frusen Glädjé.\\

'''Ed:''' Froozhen-Gla-Jah.\\

*** Many of the aliens on the show are really humans, and descended from natives of Earth. While their cultures had millennia to evolve independently, the presence of significant cultural continuity with Earth is a common plot point. This means the show has its own "Laws of Names," with character names being one (of ''many'') hints as to what ancient Earth culture their ancestors represented.
*** Even ''more'' oddly, it's the ''SG-1'' (which takes place in ''this'' galaxy) characters who are likely to follow the Law, but in ''Atlantis'', a great many aliens have two names and stay far from the PunctuationShaker. Milky Way, we get Teal'c, Shak'l, Fro'tak, and all those -n names (most of the above list comes from SG-1.) Pegasus, we get Acastus Kolya, Teyla Emmagan, Ronon Dex, Lucius Lavin, the aforementioned Ladon Radim... okay, there ''are'' still several -n names, but it's not as ubiquitous. Earth-style names are actually quite unusual for the Milky Way. You're still hard-pressed to find women whose given names don't end with A, though.
*** The more normal names in ''Atlantis'' are in keeping with the show's theme -- almost everything there was influenced strongly by the Ancients, and the Ancients have a very Latin naming scheme to associate them with the Romans (the Romans being to roads what the Ancients were to stargates, more or less). Even the Ancient language is basically CanisLatinicus.

* ''Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' gives us Vl'hurgs, G'Gugvunts and Silastic Armourfiends of Striterax (whose army is called something even scarier), though Douglas Adams was deliberately and famously [[RefugeInAudacity having fun with this trope]] throughout the series. He also parodied it with Trillian, which sounds at first to the audience like an alien name, but we soon find out the character is actually a human woman from modern-day Earth, and she just has an odd nickname (it's short for Tricia [=McMillan=]). He also dips into various different aesthetics of science fiction for his alien names - Zaphod Beeblebrox's name is ssupposed to sound RaygunGothic, 'Vogon' is supposed to sound a bit ''Doctor Who'', Hotblack Desiato is supposed to sound like a character from a dystopic science-fiction story, and so on.

'''Gordon:''' Häagen-Dazs.\\

* Averted in several HumansAreCthulhu Tumblr blogs, where "Steve" is [[OneSteveLimit a hilariously common name amongst sapient races,]] requiring everyone named that to add a SpecieseSurname to their designation.

** [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Orcs (Orsimer)]] have traditionally Orcish sounding first names and surnames, and the surname gets the prefix "gro-" for male orcs, "gra-" for females. (Ex. Yadba gro-Khash, Borba gra-Uzgash, etc.) The surname in most cases is the name of the Orc's same-sex parent. In other cases, the surname is the Orc's home stronghold. (Ex. Burz gro-Kash is "Burz of Kash").

* ''Plan 7 of 9 from Outer Space''. IntrepidReporter Buster Kincaid tells [[Main/TheAdventuresOfCaptainProton Captain Proton]] that Planet X is "the most unimaginative name in history." A Martian points out that "Earth" is hardly any better.

* ''Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' gives us Vl'hurgs, G'Gugvunts and Silastic Armourfiends of Striterax (whose army is called something even scarier), though Douglas Adams was deliberately and famously [[RefugeInAudacity having fun with this trope]] throughout the series. He also parodied it with Trillian, which sounds at first to the audience like an alien name, but we soon find out the character is actually a human woman from modern-day Earth, and she just has an odd nickname (it's short for Trisha [=McMillan=]). He also dips into various different aesthetics of science fiction for his alien names - Zaphod Beeblebrox's name is ssupposed to sound RaygunGothic, 'Vogon' is supposed to sound a bit ''Doctor Who'', Hotblack Desiato is supposed to sound like a character from a dystopic science-fiction story, and so on.

* All the [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Orsimer]] in ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' have names like "Bug gro-Muzgob". Nobody is surprised. Ditto goes for Wood Elves, High Elves, Argonians and Khajiits. The rest of the races are more down-to-earth: Bretons had old Briton names that were replaced in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'' by French names, Imperial names are CanisLatinicus, Dunmer have Assyrian-sounding names, Nord names sound vaguely... [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin well, nordic]], with descriptive surnames, and Redguard names are all over the place.
** Some Redguards have names that sound like {{Ghetto Name}}s (Redguards are Tamrielic black people). Try imagining a white person named "Trayvond." It's as difficult as imagining a non-green person named "Burz gro-Kash" or a non-Viking named "Ongar."
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'' offers an explanation for Orcs. "Burz" is the given name, "Kash" is his home stronghold. Also, the gro- suffix becomes gra- for females.
** As of ''Skyrim'', Redguard naming conventions and culture have become a mixture of Arabic and Moorish. They now have names like Nazir, Saadia, and Iman. The latter being Arabic for 'faith'. This could, however, be explained as a regionalism, since the Redguards' country of Hammerfell is home to various sub-cultures, and the Redguard in ''Skyrim'' might have more ties with he Alik'r.
** Cyrodiilic names in ''Skyrim'' shifted from Latin towards Italian (i.e. Adrienne Avenicci).
** Dunmer are a varied bunch. Velothi (Ashlanders and rural House Dunmer) names sound Assyrian, which works well with their native Daedra worship (most daedric ruins have similar names, such az Ashurnabitashpi). Noble names and associated locations veer into a strange linguistic mix, with names such as Baladas Demnevanni, Ranis Athrys or Ralen Hlaalo.
** Conversely, the visually Assyrian Dwemer mostly used piles of consonants as names, such as "Nblthd". The name of their high priest, Kagrenak, is one of the more vowel-laden Dwermer names in the whole series. Hardly ProudWarriorRaceGuys (although their military was impressive), the naming convention mostly reinforces their enigmatic nature and [[FlatEarthAtheist alien culture]].

** The ''Franchise/StarTrek'' Franchise/StarTrekNovelVerse Novel Verse has a series of "rules". While there are exceptions to all of these (no one culture or race can be truly homogenous in any custom), we have the following trends.

** The Franchise/StarTrekNovelVerse has a series of "rules". While there are exceptions to all of these (no one culture or race can be truly homogenous in any custom), we have the following trends.

** Then again, the languages and orthographies very much follow the "harshness of language = harshness of species" rule: the Elvish languages Quenya and Sindarin are very vowel-heavy with a lot of L's and R's; particularly Quenya, which looks and sounds a lot like Latin. Non-Elvish languages seem to go in a scale from softer to harsher as follows: [[{{Atlantis}} Adû]][[AndManGrewProud naic]], [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame Dwarvish]] (which in the first drafts of the mythology were an evil race, later becoming neutral, and only turning good when ''Literature/TheHobbit'' became canon) and then of course [[BlackSpeech Orkish / Black Speech]]. Harshness is also reflected in the different orthographies.[[labelnote: such as:]]For Quenya, the spelling is quite based on Latin's (mind the hard C's and G's!), with accents for long vowels; Sindarin sounds less like Latin, but also uses its conventions for C/G and long vowels, with extra-long vowels marked with a circumflex. The harsher languages invariably use K instead of C and use circumflexes for simple long vowels.[[/labelnote]]

** Then again, the languages and orthographies very much follow the "harshness of language = harshness of species" rule: the Elvish languages Quenya and Sindarin are very vowel-heavy with a lot of L's and R's; particularly Quenya, which looks and sounds a lot like Latin. Non-Elvish languages seem to go in a scale from softer to harsher as follows: [[{{Atlantis}} Adû]][[AndManGrewProud naic]], [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame Dwarvish]] (which in the first drafts of the mythology were an evil race, later becoming neutral, and only turning good when ''Literature/TheHobbit'' became canon) and then of course [[BlackSpeech Orkish / Black Speech]]. Harshness is also reflected in the different orthographies ([[labelnote: such as:]]For Quenya, the spelling is quite based on Latin's (mind the hard C's and G's!), with accents for long vowels; Sindarin sounds less like Latin, but also uses its conventions for C/G and long vowels, with extra-long vowels marked with a circumflex. The harsher languages invariably use K instead of C and use circumflexes for simple long vowels.[[/labelnote]]).

** Yeerk names indicate the parental grub and have a number designation afterward that refers to their order of origination from the tri-parent. Originally the number changed as rank changed, but it was retconned to be permenant. In the case of a twin, one is the prime and one the lesser, like Visser Three and his brother. The prime gets all the best hosts and assignments. So, Visser Three is Espin9466 prime, the 9466th grub from the Espin tri-parent and the prime twin.

'''Gordon:''' Zang Obtozon.\\

* In ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime 2: Echos'', the Luminoth have names like U-Mos, A-Kul, and other variations that involve a letter, dash, then three more letters. There is also V-Mos, so the second part might be like a last name.

Perhaps it's just because they want something that sounds pleasing to their Anglophone audiences, or maybe they're uncreative, but in the end their countless alien species will have remarkably similar (and boring) sounding names. They seem to be especially common amongst relatively unimportant characters.

* ''LeagueOfLegends'' has the Voidborn champions follow the [=<harsh syllable>'<harsh syllable>=] naming convention: Cho'gath, Kha'zix, Vel'koz, Kog'maw and Rek'sai.