History Main / NamingYourColonyWorld

* '''XK-37''': Don't like word names? Random letters and numbers work well, too. When a colonies planet or moon only has a number, this hints that it has a low rank in the pecking order, because no one cared to give it a name beyond its classification number.

* '''XK-37''': Don't like word names? Random letters and numbers work well, too.

* '''[[NewNeoCity New Something]]''': Take a place on Earth, any place at all. Now add "New" to the beginning. Great, you've named your world! Welcome to New Detroit! Or New Paris! (Or [[GratuitousLatin Nova Lutetia]]!) New North Wales! New New York! New New New York! Why bother to be creative when you can steal somewhere else's name, and have TruthInTelevision on your side into the bargain -- a lot of cities and landmasses use this very same convention in reality. A variation is to change "New" to "Nu", symbolizing gradual language drift phoneticizing the planet's name, or the use of other languages' words for new (i.e. Nova Tierra, Neau Terre, Neue Erde, etc.)

* ''TabletopGame/TechInfantry'' has Hrothgar, after a character in Beowulf; Avalon, after a location in [[Myth/KingArthur Arthurian Myth]], and Enoch and Babylon, named for places in Literature/TheBible.

* '''[[NewNeoCity New Something]]''': Take a place on Earth, any place at all. Now add "New" to the beginning. Great! you've named your world! Welcome to New Detroit! Or New Paris! (Or [[GratuitousLatin Nova Lutetia]]!) New North Wales! New New York! Or New New New York! Why bother to be creative when you can steal somewhere else's name, and have TruthInTelevision on your side into the bargain -- a lot of cities and landmasses use this very same convention in reality. A variation is to change "New" to "Nu", symbolizing gradual language drift phoneticizing the planet's name, or the use of other languages' words for new (i.e. Nova Tierra, Neau Terre, Neue Erde, etc.)

* '''XK-37''': Don't like names? Random letters and numbers work well, too.

* '''Namesake''': If your own name doesn't seem fit for a planet, try someone else's. Show your appreciation for a person you hold dear, or honour someone famous (and capitalize on their good reputation).

* ''Literature/TheRobotsOfDawn'': Aurora, in the Tau Ceti system, was originally named New Earth, but as the Spacers and Earthers diverged, the colonists decided to rename themselves after the roman goddess of dawn. Their largest city is named Eos, the Greek name for dawn.

* Another example was the dwarf planet Ceres, called by its discoverer Guiseppe Piazzi ''Ceres Ferdinandea'' to honour king Ferdinand of Naples, his patron. He stayed about the only person who ever used the full name while everyone else quickly reduced it to Ceres.

* '''Starname''': Even better, just use the [[PlanetEngland star name for the planet as wel]], and forget the number. Or change the name slightly, like if the star is called "Alabazon", the planet can be "Alabazia". It certainly won't be confusing. If the planet is particularly important, you can always split the difference with NumberedHomeworld and add "Prime" on the end.

* '''Planet ShoutOut''': Today's pop culture is the future's mythology, so why not name your planet after a creator, place or character of existing fiction? If you don't want to run the AllHailTheGreatGodMickey angle, you can just say that the people who named the planet in-universe were also nerds.
* '''Propagandica''': Name your planet after something that will give good PR like Richworld. Alternatively, make a name that will flatter the guy who pays your salary. "Yes sir Mr. Jones, I've named the new planet Jonesworld after you!"

** If you do choose a symbolic name, be prepared for it to quickly become either heavily ironic, or eerily appropriate. Definitely don't name anything Icarus, because that myth involves him becoming too proud of his technology, flying too close to the sun, having his technology break, and falling to death. If your floating city or space colony is named this, the fate it meets is likely to be...[[ColonyDrop unpleasant]].
** Similarly, fiction is littered with planets called Hell, Hades, and similar names. They're usually called this for good reason. In many cases the original colonists were not there voluntarily, or didn't know what it was like when they left and couldn't turn back when they arrived (e.g.a GenerationShip or other one-way STL vessel).

* '''NumberedHomeworld''': This combines the familiarity of a name with the simplicity of a number. Does the star your planet's in orbit around have a name? If so, all you have to do is count how many planets are in your system. On the second planet from the star Polaris? Your planet is now named Polaris 2. Or Polaris II if you prefer Roman numerals.
* '''Starname''': Even better, someone already came up with a name for the star long ago. Let's just [[PlanetEngland call the planet the same thing]], and forget the number. No, that wouldn't be confusing, why do you ask? If the planet is particularly important, you can always split the difference with NumberedHomeworld and slap a "Prime" on the end.
* '''{{Egopolis}}''': Just name the planet after yourself! Thousands of years from now your descendants will still be singing your praises every day on Planet Bob.

* '''Propagandica''': Name your planet after something that will give good PR like Richworld. Alternatively make a name to please the ObstructiveBureaucrat in charge of your salary like Admiralsworld.

* '''[[NewNeoCity New Something]]''': Take a place on Earth, any place at all. Now add "New" to the beginning. Great! you've named your world! Welcome to New Detroit! Or New Paris! (Or [[GratuitousLatin Nova Lutetia]]!) New North Wales! New New South Wales! New New York! Or New New New York! Why bother to be creative when it's so much easier just to steal somewhere else's name, and have TruthInTelevision on your side into the bargain -- a lot of cities and landmasses use this very same convention in reality. A variation is to change "New" to "Nu", symbolizing gradual language drift phoneticizing the planet's name, or the use of other languages' words for new (i.e. Nova Tierra, Neau Terre, Neue Erde, etc.)

** If you do choose a symbolic name, be prepared for it to quickly become either heavily ironic, or eerily appropriate. Case in point, don't name anything Icarus, because that myth involves him becoming too proud, flying too close to the sun, then falling to earth and dying as his wings melt. If your floating city or space colony is named this, the fate it meets is likely to be...[[ColonyDrop unpleasant]].
** Similarly, fiction is littered with planets called Hell, Hades, and similar names. They're usually called this for ''very'' good reasons. In many cases the original colonists were not there voluntarily, or didn't know what it was like when they left and couldn't turn back when they arrived (e.g.a GenerationShip or other one-way STL vessel).

* '''NumberedHomeworld''': This combines the familiarity of a name, with the laziness of a number. Does the star your planet's in orbit around have a name? If so all you have to do is count how many planets are in your system. On the second planet from the star Polaris? Your planet is now named Polaris 2. Or Polaris II if you prefer Roman numerals.

* '''{{Egopolis}}''': Just name the planet after yourself! Thousands of years from now your descendants will still be singing your praises every day on [[WesternAnimation/TitanAE Planet Bob]].
* '''Named the Same''': You are feeling ''really'' lazy? Just copy a name from home. Don't bother to change it, they're far enough away from each other not to get confused.

* '''Planet ShoutOut''': Today's pop culture is the mythology of the future, so why not name your planets after planets, characters or creators of famous science fiction books, movies, and television shows?

!!Examples of Symbolically Named Planets

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* The Franchise/DCUniverse has Harmony.
* The Franchise/MarvelUniverse has Aerie and Mobius.
* The Sigilverse has Elysia, Erebus, Arcadia and Avalon.

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* In ''Fanfic/ManOfWood'', by Odon, it's mentioned that [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Captain Kirk]] lost his hair to the Phalacrosians of Alopecia IV.
[[/folder]]

* The ''Literature/AllianceUnion'' universe (of which the book is a part) also includes Glory, Thule, Eldorado, Venture, Esperance, Paradise and Fargone. ''Literature/FortyThousandInGehenna'' is set on the planet of the same name.
* [[http://theopinionguy.com/OG25.pdf "Assumption"]] by Desmond Warzel makes brief reference to a planet named Gehenna.
* ''Literature/{{Catteni}}'': Botany, founded as a PenalColony, is named after Botany Bay, the site of Britain's first penal colony in Australia.
* ''Literature/ChildeCycle'':
** Harmony and Association were settled by several fundamentalist sects' the names were an attempt to try to ease tensions. It doesn't work.
** Another example is Newton, and appropriately named technocratic planet.
* ''Literature/CiaphasCain'': Parodied; the series often gives grandiose-sounding CanisLatinicus names that are actually BilingualBonus jokes, e.g. Nusquam Fundimentibus[[note]]"arse end of nowhere"[[/note]] and the ice planet Simia Orichalcae[[note]]"brass monkey", as in "cold enough to freeze the balls off of"[[/note]].
* ''Literature/CoDominium'' has the likes of Covenant, Haven, Arrarat, Friedland, Tabletop, and Xanadu.
* In ''Literature/ConfederationOfValor'', the main character grew up on a colony called Paradise.
* In ''Literature/TheCunningBlood'', Zeta Tucanae I and II were nicknamed Longshadow and Hell, respectively.
* ''Literature/CylinderVanTroffa'' has Filia ("Daughter", in Latin).
* ''Literature/DragonsEgg'': The title refers to a neutron star, so named because it first appeared beneath Draco, as if the constellation had laid an egg.
* ''Literature/EndersGame'': The series includes the planets Path, Hijra and Divine Wind.
* ''Literature/TheForeverWar'': ''Forever Free'' has the planet Middle Finger. Whoever named that one had an weird sense of humour.
* ''Literature/{{Foundation}}'':
** The main continuity includes Terminus at the edge of the galaxy itself, as well as Haven and Gaia[[spoiler:/Galaxia]].
** Roger [=McBride=] Allen's ''Caliban'' trilogy, set in the same universe, ignores the stricture above about calling your planet "Hell". It's set on Inferno.
* ''Literature/{{Furthest}}'' is set on a planet of the same name, which literally is the furthest from...pretty much anywhere.
* The ''Literature/{{Gaea}}'' trilogy has Gaea.
* ''Literature/AGameOfUniverse'': The protagonist grew up on the mining colony Hades. It's well named.
* Creator/HalClement's stories include Tenebra and Enigma 88.
%%* ''Literature/{{Hegira}}'', by Greg Bear.
* ''Literature/{{Hellspark}}'': The titular planet is purposely spelled as one word, specifically to cause ambiguity on how it's to be pronounced: either "Hell Spark" or "Hell's Park". It was originally settled by linguists, according to the planet's popular history.
* The ''Literature/HeritageUniverse'', by Creator/CharlesSheffield, has Opal, Quake, Plesureworld, Iceworld, Deadworld and Sentinel Gate.
* ''Literature/TheHistoryOfTheGalaxy'' series has the planet of Paradise
* The ''Literature/HonorHarrington'':
** Hades (nicknamed Hell) is very aptly named. There's also Haven, which was originally a symbolic name but became far more ironic over time. Hope and Refuge also fit under this trope, as does the planet Torch, specifically named for its symbolic connotations.
** There's also the planet Masada, home to religious zealots, which clearly derived its name from the RealLife Zealots' last stand in the Roman War Against the Jews in 70 A.D..
** Other examples include Blackbird, Air, Flax, Lynx, Phoenix, Pontifex, Shuttlesport, Smoking Frog, Basilica, Marsh, Midsummer, Unicorn.
* ''Literature/HumanxCommonwealth'' has Hivehom, the homeward of the insectoid Thranx, as well as Dawn, Willow-Wane, Midworld, Horseye, Longtunnel, Moth, Prism and Comagrave.
* ''Literature/HyperionCantos'': Renaissance Vector, Mare Infinitus, Garden, God's Grove, Nordholm, Heaven's Gate, Whirl, Madre De Dios, Esperance, Sibiatu's Bitterness (a.k.a. Inevitable Grace), Nevermore (which is apparently in perpetual twilight)...
* ''Literature/InTheMouthOfTheWhale'', by Paul J. [=McAuley=], has a planet called Whale's Mouth, referencing the star Fomalhaut in the constellation Piscis Austrinus.

** "Literature/TheMule": Delicass is the name of Neotrantor in the BackStory of the [[VestigialEmpire collapsing Empire]]. The planet used to be one of twenty worlds that supplied Trantor with food on a daily basis. Delicass evokes the word delicacy, a type of food.
** ''Literature/TheCurrentsOfSpace'': Florina, the planet of "kyrt" plants, is presumably covered in the "little flowers" of the plants, because it is their primary export.
** ''Literature/FoundationsEdge'': Gaia's name, by way of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_hypothesis Gaia hypothesis]], is derived from [[Characters/ClassicalMythologyProtogenoi Gaia]], the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek goddess]] who personified the Earth and is the ancestral mother of all life. Both planet and star share the same name, and the name Gaia was chosen to symbolize its [[GeniusLoci planetary consciousness]].
** "Literature/TheTraders": [[NumberedHomeworld Glyptal IV]] is [[GarnishingTheStory briefly mentioned]] as a planet within the Foundation's sphere of trading/mail, where Les Gorm was given the job of delivering a message to Ponyets. The Greek word glyptos means carving or engraving, as in writing.
** "Literature/TheMule": Haven is the system that the protagonists escape to when "Part 1" ends and the Mule conquers Terminus. It (briefly) serves as a home base against the Mule's military, but they are eventually invaded as well, and the protagonists must escape again.
** ''Literature/PreludeToFoundation'': Helicon, homeworld of Hari Seldon, shares its name with a mountain from Greece (and [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]]). In myth, the mountain is host to [[TheMuse the Muses]]. This can also be seen as symbolic, as Seldon is the "poet" inspired to create psychohistory and the Seldon Plan.
** ''Literature/FoundationAndEarth'': Melpomenia is named for [[Characters/ClassicalMythologyMinorDeities Melpomene]], the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Muse of Tragedy]]. Its tragic ending is that it was rendered uninhabitable for humans due to radical climate change; the only life form able to survive that was a carbon dioxide feeding 'moss'.
** ''Literature/TheStarsLikeDust'': Nephelos, one of the planets conquered by the Tyranni, is named to evoke the term Nephilim, a Hebrew word for "the fallen". The planet has fallen to the Tyrants.
** ''Literature/TheFoundationTrilogy": Since "Literature/Foundation1942", Terminus has been the capital panet of the (First) Foundation. It is given this name because it is the furthest habitable planet from the galactic core, the 'terminus' of the galaxy. It also shares its name with the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Roman god]] of boundary stones and property disputes.
** ''Literature/TheStarsLikeDust'': Tyrann is a planet named to evoke the terms tyrant and tyranny, with a Greek root that is equivalent to Emperor. The Tyranni are [[GalacticConqueror conquering the planets]] within and nearby the Horsehead Nebula.
* Creator/JackVance:
** ''Literature/BigPlanet'' has the titular (not very imaginatively named) planet.
** ''Literature/TheDemonPrinces'': The Rigel Concourse includes Barleycorn, Chrysanthe, Elfland, Goshen, Hardacres, Image, Lyonesse, Nowhere, Somewhere, Tantamount, Unicorn, Xion and Ys.
* ''Literature/JacobsLadderTrilogy'': The crew of the ''Jacob's Ladder'' call their destination planet "Grail", because it's the goal of their long quest and because Jacob Dust gave the ship medieval-Arthurian storybook stylings.
* ''Literature/KnownSpace'' has Wunderland, Hearth, Home, We Made It (with its capital city Crashlanding), Primary, Jinx, Plateau, Cue Ball, Canyon, Down, Sheathclaws, and Silvereyes.
** People from We Made It are referred to as "Crashlanders". See if you can guess why!
** Because of its thick Venus-like atmosphere, Plateau is uninhabitable apart from a single mountain, 40 kilometres high, with the colony huddled on its flat top. That is obviously how the planet got its name, but the mountain itself is named for the remark by the captain of the first colony ship when he spotted it, after cruising around for hours looking for a landing site: Mount Lookitthat.
** Canyon used to be named Warhead, until the military base there got taken out by [[WaveMotionGun the Wunderland Peacemaker]], and is now named after its new geographic feature, a giant canyon roughly the size of Baja California.
** Silvereyes is home to large fields of "sunflowers", plants that reflect and concentrate sunlight into deadly beams to burn away competing vegetation, grazers, diseased fellows and anything that comes in their vicinity. These are large enough to be visible from space, and resemble giant, silvery eyes.
* ''Literature/{{Mirabile}}'' is about a colony world of that name; it means "wonderful" or "marvelous" in Latin and Italian.
* ''Literature/MostlyHarmless'' has [=NowWhat=] and its capital [=OhWell=].
* The ''Literature/NoonUniverse'' has Ark, Hope, Pandora and Rainbow.
* Creator/PeterFHamilton:
** ''Literature/TheNightsDawnTrilogy'' has Eden, Felicity, Atlantis and Tranquility.
** The ''Commonwealth'' saga has Far Away, a planet [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin far away from commonwealth space]], and Half Way, a planet [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin half way to Far Away]].
* ''Literature/RevelationSpace'' has lots of these : Diadem, Sky's Edge, Haven, Grand Teton, Spindrift, Turqoise, Resurgam ("resurgent/re-emergeant")...
* ''Literature/{{Rocheworld}}'': The titular "world" is a pair of planets called Roche ("Rock", in French) and Eau ("Water"). One of the sequels involves the planet Gargantua.
* ''Literature/TheSagaOfSevenSuns'': Corvus Landing, Palisade, Rendezvous, Hurricane Depot, Sunshine, Happiness.
* In ''Literature/{{Spaceforce}}'''s United Worlds of Earth, the older colony worlds were given 'cheesy' names like Hope, Inspiration and Horizon.
* ''Literature/SpacePrison'': Ragnarok.
* ''Literature/StarCarrier'': All three of the extrasolar colonies visited series use this version for their local names. (Their navigation names fall under NumberedHomeworld instead.
** Eta Boötis IV's local name, "Al Haris al Sama", means "Guardian of Heaven" in Arabic.
** 70 Ophiuchi is orbited by a garden world named Osiris, after the [[Myth/EgyptianMythology Egyptian deity]].
** 36 Ophiuchi A is orbited by a proto-garden world dubbed [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arianrhod Arianrhod]] after a figure from Myth/CelticMythology, specifically the ''Literature/{{Mabinogion}}''.
* ''Literature/{{Starling}}'' has Empyrean, a name meaning "belonging to or deriving from heaven", populated by a race of bird-like people.
* ''Franchise/StarWars'': ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' has Bastion, Despayre (a prison planet), Foundry and Necropolis.
* Creator/RobertAHeinlein's stories include such worlds as Faraway, Sanctuary, Sheol, Inferno, Whistle Stop, Far-Star, Ultima Thule, Heavenly Mountains, Thule, Blessed, Felicity and Landfall.
* ''Literature/TheUnteleportedMan'', by Creator/PhilipKDick, has Whale's Mouth, , referencing the star Fomalhaut in the constellation Piscis Austrinus.
* In ''Literature/{{Uplift}}'', two of humans' first extrasolar colonies are named [=NuDawn=] and Atlast. (After making contact with Galactic Civilization and acquiring later planets ''legally'', humans tend to use the names aliens had already given them.)
* ''Literature/{{Utopia}}'': OlderThanSteam: The original {{Utopia}} was named because it literally means both "nowhere" (''outopia'') and a "good place" (''eutopia'') in Greek.
* ''Literature/{{Xenogenesis}}'': While not the name of one planet, but of towns in recolonized Earth, it's remarked that quite a large number of new settlements are named "Phoenix" because everyone thought it would be symbolic and original.

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'': Acheron, Halcyon, Serendipity
* ''Series/BlakesSeven'': Destiny, Goth, Horizon (a planet on the edge of the galaxy, used as a jumping off point for exploring the next galaxy), Albion, Obsidian (which has a supervolcano), Teal, [[NamedworldAndNamedland Spaceworld, Ultraworld]], [[ViceCity Freedom City, Space City]], Terminal, Star One (a single planet orbiting a star). In "City At The Edge Of The World", Vila discovers a new world suitable for colonization, and there's a joking debate over whether to call it Homeworld or Vilaworld.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'' universe -- Anathema, Arcadia, Heaven, Hell, Eden, Oblivion, Sheol.
* ''Fireball [=XL5=]'' does this by way of [[PunnyName puns]]: Amazonia, Aridan, Conva, Granatoid, Herbos, Magneton, Minerra, Platonia, and Triad.
* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': Haven, Shadow, Hope, Angel, Beaumonde, Lilac, Triumph, Whitefall, Greenleaf, Harvest, Highgate, Newhall, Silverhold, Three Hills, Verbena, and -- of course -- Serenity
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'': Babel, Eden, Gaia, Genesis, Gideon, Haven, Hell, Parliament, Tantalus, Ultima Thule.
* ''Series/SpaceAboveAndBeyond'': Anvil.
* The [[GenerationShips colony ship]] in ''Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy'' was named Terra Venture.
* ''Series/StargateSG1'' has an InUniverse use of this when the three superpowers of Jonas Quinn's homeworld name the planet Langara after a word found in all three of their ancient languages, in order to be symbolic of planetary unity. It was chosen by committee. (Out of universe, it's named afer [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langara_College a college in Vancouver]].)
* ''Series/StargateUniverse'': The Icarus Base, [[IcarusAllusion which of course gets blown up in the pilot]]. One imagines General Jack O'Neill, the DeadpanSnarker former lead of ''SG-1'', carving somebody a new one for jinxing the project.

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/TwentyThreeHundredAD'': Sheol, Limbes ("Limbo" in French).
* ''TabletopGame/{{Rifts}}'' one of the parallel universes has a planet named Wormwood.
* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'':
** No one has any idea in what universe it was a good idea to name a planet [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Armageddon]]. No matter [[TheEmpire the Imperium]] has been fighting so many wars against the orks on this planet that Armageddon has come to mean "paradise" in Ork.
** One planet home to vicious giant spiders received its name from the punctuated transmission of one of the SpaceMarines deployed to its surface:
---> This. World. Is. Murder.
** One industrial world was originally know as Mordax by its human owners, but the orks took over and gave it a name better suited to its specific industry: {{Moredakka}}.
** Abandoned Hope: Whatever's on it, the Inquisition has blocked off all access.
** Archipelaga, a world mostly covered by water.
** Cinderus IX, whose minerals are used in producing the Titan-killing Volcano Cannon.
** The planet Eldritch, which used to belong to the C'tan-serving Necrons, now a dead world after being subject to Exterminatus.
** Firestorm, a DeathWorld home to a SpaceMarine Chapter.
** Fortress, a... [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin fortress world]].

* ''VideoGame/ABlurredLine'' gives us Paradise.
* ''VideoGame/{{Elite}}'': Eden, Discovery, Merlin.
** And until it was discovered during playtesting and hastily DummiedOut, Arse. This was a complete accident arising from the game's then-groundbreaking use of ProceduralGeneration out-of-universe, and we can only speculate as to what the Watsonian explanation for calling a newly-discovered planet ''that'' would have been.
* ''VideoGame/EscapeVelocity: Nova'': Nirvana, Gem, Snowmelt, Diva.
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' features a number of symbolic planet names, the most prominent being [[VideoGame/HaloReach Reach]] (the first extrasolar human colony) and Harvest (an extremely fertile agricultural colony). Others include Tribute, Circumstance, Threshold, Basis, and Onyx. A number of Covenant worlds have this too, such Weeping Shadows of Sorrow, the prison planet; in fact, a number of Elite worlds in particular translate to this type, e.g. Malurok = "Decided Heart".
* ''VideoGame/{{Homeworld}}'': The artefact that proves that the planet's population are descended from AncientAstronauts has a star-map etched on it, with their language's word for "home" (Hiigara) above a particular set of coordinates. Whether this is what their ancestors actually called it when they lived there is never stated outright, but the name "Hiigara" sticks. The manual for ''Homeworld II'' implies that this was indeed the name of the planet.
* ''Franchise/MassEffect'': The intro mission in ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'' takes place on a colony planet named Eden Prime. Come to that, Eden Prime is in the Utopia system, and all the planets of that system have some sort of symbolism to them (i.e., Arcadia, Eden Prime, Zion, Nirvana, and Xanadu).
* ''VideoGame/NexusTheJupiterIncident'' has the Noah colony, founded by the people aboard the ''Noah's Ark'' colony ship.
* ''VideoGame/Outpost2'': One of the factions named their colony Eden. The other, breakaway faction decided on the equally symbolic but more down-to-earth "Plymouth". [[spoiler: Both these names end up being quite appropriate in their own ways, as the single-player campaign ends with the player's faction being forced off the planet in a spaceship. Especially "Eden", given that it was their faction who got everyone into this mess when their {{terraforming}} technology went GreyGoo and ultimately destroyed the planet.]]
* ''VideoGame/PirateGalaxy'': Axiom.
* ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri'': Most base names have some connection to the faction's ideology (and if they were founded as a land-base or a sea-base):
** [[GreenThumb Gaian]] bases mostly have suitably environmental names, like "Velvetgrass Point" and "Song of Planet."
** [[TheSpartanWay Spartan]] bases generally have names that would do the NRA and Creator/RobertAHeinlein proud: Fort Liberty, Commander's Keep, and Blast Rifle Crag being among the more memorable.
** The [[ChurchMilitant Believers]] tend to have names with a definite [[Literature/TheBible Biblical]] ring to them: besides New Jerusalem (the Headquarters), there's Far Zion, Sanctity Base, He Walked On Water, Loaves and Fishes...
** The [[MadScientist University]], by contrast, has names that often sound like research installations (often dual Russian and English) or university departments: Bibliotyek Letters, Bibliotyek Science, Gagarin Memorial, Zarya Sunrise (after the Russian module of the ISS!), Oceanographic Lab...
** The [[MegaCorp Morganites]] name their bases like corporate subsidiaries: Morgan Industries, Morgan Robotics, Morgan Cybernetics (I think), Morgan Transport, Morgan Bank, Morgan Collections, Morgan Hydrochemical...
** The [[LawfulGood Peacekeepers]], who regard themselves as the continuation of the UsefulNotes/UnitedNations mandate to settle Planet, also have a theme in that everything is "UN [Something Human Rightsy/Bureaucratic]," like UN Equality Village.
** [[DirtyCommunists Hive]] bases all have names that seem to be pulled out of a strange mishmash of Mao's China (not just RedChina, but Mao's specifically), [[UsefulNotes/{{Taoism}} Taoist]] philosophy, Creator/FriedrichNietzsche, and ''[[Literature/NineteenEightyFour 1984]]''. Great Collective, Huddling of the People, Fecundity Tower (yeah...), Sea Collective, and, of course, The Hive.
** This continues in the ExpansionPack with the new factions:
*** The [[{{Cyborg}} Cybernetic Consciousness]] names bases with the "[Greek letter] [some other word]" template (e.g. Alpha Prime, Delta Trench, Omicron Quadrangle).
*** The Free Drones name their bases after the ideas of liberation and worker equality (e.g. Free Drone Central, Worker's Paradise, Chainlink Break).
*** The [[{{Pirate}} Nautilus Pirates]], naturally, use nautical names for both land and sea bases (being a sea-based faction, they have more sea base names than others). Examples: Deadman Tavern, Landlubber Inn, Safe Haven, Cutlass Cay, Port Svensgaard.
*** The Cult of Planet are another religious faction (except non-Christian), and their base names reflect that: Dawn of Planet, Seers of Chiron, Planetvision Gate, Ark of the Edicts.
*** The [[TheCracker Data]] [[PlayfulHacker Angels]] have, for the most part, CyberPunk-related base names: Data [=DeCentral=], [[Creator/WilliamGibson Gibson]] Base, Trojan Source, Stack Heap, [[Film/BladeRunner Tears in Rain]].
*** The Planetary Caretakers, being aliens, have strange-sounding names that, nevertheless, carry their point of keeping Planet from Transcending in memor of their destroyed homeworld (e.g. Tau Ceti Memory, Hymn : Modulation, Adapt to Live, Home : Hearth.
*** The Planetary Usurpers are the other side of the coin, being warriors by nature they have appropriate base names (e.g. Courage : To Question, Strafing Run, Tusk and Claw, Salt : Wound, Tau Ceti Mantle).
* ''VideoGame/SiliconDreams'': The ''Snowball 9'' was travelling the the planet Eden.
* ''VideoGame/StarControlII'': Gaia.
* ''VideoGame/TerraNova: Strike Force Centauri'': [=NewHope=].
* ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'''s Michtam was formerly named Abraxas, which is a representation of the driving force of individuation, which is of thematic importance to the plot.

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/{{Outsider}}'': The human colony worlds orbiting Tau Ceti and 82 Eridani are named Aldea and Esperanza, respectively, meaning "Vilage" and "Hope" in Spanish.
[[/folder]]

* ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'': Twilight, the oceanic world of Pacifica, Arcadia, Fons Luminis, Silence, Halcyon, Atlantis, Ecotopia, Felicidade, Trees, Newlife, Newhope, Root, Metropolis.
* ''TabletopGame/TechInfantry'' has Avalon, a paradise of a planet thanks to liberal application of Life Magic, and the new capital of the Earth Federation after Earth itself is destroyed.

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' has had many that also count as {{Punny Name}}s: Athenia, Beest, Combatron, Dread, Eurythma, Gigantion, Goo, Greengard, Hive, Hub, Junk, Master, Methuselah, Micro, Monacus, Paradise, Vehicon, Velocitron, Wednesday...

!!Examples of Mythologically-Named Planets

* Franchise/DCUniverse: Argo, Scylla.

[[folder:Film]]
* ''Film/{{Avatar}}'': Polyphemus and its moon Pandora.
* ''Film/EarthStarVoyager'': Demeter.

%%* The collaborative world-building project set on the planet Medea.%%Title?
* In ''Literature/ArrivalsFromTheDark'', two of the first human extrasolar colonies are named Baal and Astarte.
* The ''Literature/ChildeCycle'' has Mara, named after the Buddhist equivalent of Satan. In-universe, the name was a holdover from when the Exotics were the Chantry Guild, specifically occultists. Possibly Zombri, which is close enough to "Zombie".
* ''Literature/{{Chthon}}'': The titular planet.
* ''Literature/CoDominium'' has Krishna.
* ''Literature/TheDemonPrinces'' has Jezebel.
* ''Literature/{{Deucalion}}'' has the titular planet, while its capital New Geneva is an example of New Something naming.
* ''Literature/EndersGame'' has Eros.
* ''Literature/TheExpanse'': The Ganymedan refugees who establish humanity's first exosolar colony name their planet "Ilus", in contrast to the later colonists from Earth who refer to it as "New Terra".
* Creator/HBeamPiper's ''Terro-Human Future History'' goes this route, (Uller, Niflheim, and Zarathustra being some of the most noticable) reserving Greek and Roman names for the Solar System. Then they gave up on it because they were running out of names.
* ''Literature/{{Heorot}}'': Tau Ceti IV, a.k.a. Avalon.
* In ''Literature/TheHistoryOfTheGalaxy'', the first LostColony attacked by the Earth Alliance is named [[Myth/SlavicMythology Dabog]].
* The ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' series is full of Mnemosyne names like Manticore, Sphinx, Medusa, Hades (nicknamed Hell, see symbolic names), and Gryphon. There's also Beowulf and Grendelsbane. Some other mythological names include Asgard, Durandel, and Enki.
* ''Literature/HumanxCommonwealth'' has Annubis (sic).
* ''Literature/HyperionCantos'':
** Hyperion itself. Also one of its cities, Endymion. Plus, during the last book, several Ouster colonies are given symbolic names by the Pax for the seven deadly sins: Belphegor (sloth), Leviathon (envy), Beelzebub (gluttony), Satan (anger), Asmodeus (lechery), Mammon (avarice) and Lucifer (pride).
** Lusus, Ixion, and Parvati are also examples.

** ''Literature/TheRobotsOfDawn'': Aurora, in the Tau Ceti system, was originally named New Earth, but as the Spacers and Earthers diverged, the colonists decided to rename themselves after the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Roman goddess of dawn]]. Their largest city is named Eos, the Greek name for the goddess of dawn. The moons are called [[NumberedHomeworld Tithonus I]] and [[NumberedHomeworld Tithonus II]], named after the Greek prince of Troy, and lover of Eos.
** ''Literature/RobotsAndEmpire'': Euterpe, Spacer world that Gladia Delmarre once visited. It takes its name from the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Muse]] of music.

** "Literature/MotherEarth": Hesperos, a planet reused in ''Literature/RobotsAndEmpire'', is named for the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek god]] associated with the evening star. When it appears in ''Robots and Empire'', a daughter from Aurora awaited news of her father's death.
** "Literature/TheMule": Lyonesse is amoung several territories mentioned by [[KingBobTheNth Mayor Indbur III]] that the Foundation is engaged in negotiations with. Lyonesse is from Myth/CelticMythology, an island near Cornwall that had [[{{Atlantis}} drowned]].

** ''Literature/TheRobotsOfDawn'': Pallas, one of the Spacer worlds, is named after the epithet of Athena, from [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]].
** ''Literature/TheFoundationTrilogy": Since "Literature/Foundation1942", Terminus has been the capital planet of the (First) Foundation. It is given this name because it is the furthest habitable planet from the galactic core, the 'terminus' of the galaxy. It also shares its name with the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Roman god]] of boundary stones and property disputes.
** ''Literature/FoundationAndChaos'': Eos, barren and extremely cold. Robots are repaired and maintained. Dors was constructed on this planet. Eos was the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Titan of the dawn]], and the planet was named after the capital city of Aurora.
* ''Literature/KnownSpace'' has Fafnir and Kobold.
* ''Literature/{{Minerva}}'' has the titular planet, now known as [[spoiler:the Asteroid Belt]].
* ''Literature/TheNightsDawnTrilogy'' has Perseus, Romulus, Remus, and Pallas.
* Creator/PoulAnderson:
** ''Literature/FireTime'' is set on Ishtar, whose triple suns are named Anu, Bel, and Ea.
** ''Literature/HarvestOfStars'' has Demeter.
* ''Literature/RevelationSpace'' includes examples such as Zion, Ararat, Golgota, (Biblical), Fand (Myth/CelticMythology), Roc (giant bird from Persian mythology), Hades, Cerberus (Myth/ClassicalMythology), Hela and Haldora (Myth/NorseMythology).
* Creator/RobertAHeinlein's stories include Elysia, Mithra, Tangaroa, Hespera, Hekate and Valhalla.
* ''Literature/SagaOfTheSevenSuns'': Charybdis.
* ''Literature/{{Singularity}}'': Bifrost and Heimdall.
* ''Literature/TheSnowQueen'', by Joan D. Vinge, has Tiamat.
* ''Literature/StarCorps'': Marduk and its moon Ishtar.
* ''Literature/TerranTradeAuthority'': Procyon II, also named Sisyphus.
* ''Literature/ViagensInterplanetarias'' uses this, ThemeNaming different systems with different mythologies: Tau Ceti has Krishna, Vishnu, and Ganesha (Myth/HinduMythology), Procyon has Osiris, Isis, and Thoth (Myth/EgyptianMythology), Epsilon Eridani has Kulkulkan (Myth/MayanMythology).
* ''Literature/AWorldOfDifference'' has the planet Minerva, placed where Mars would be.
* ''Literature/AWrinkleInTime'' has Uriel, unaffected by [[{{Satan}} the Black Thing]] and named for an angel; Camazotz, a CrapsaccharineWorld named after a scary Mayan bat-god; and its neighboring planet Ixchel, which [[DarkIsNotevil only seems scary]] and is named after a nicer Mayan goddess.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'' has Tartarus and Hephaestus
* ''Series/DoctorWho'' has Olympus and Vulcan.
* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': Osiris, Ezra, Persephone, Bellorophon, Ares, Sihnon, Hera[[note]]That's the planet Serenity Valley was located on, incidentally.[[/note]]
* ''Series/SpaceAboveAndBeyond'': Vesta, Tellus, Ixion.
* ''Series/StarMaidens'': Medusa.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'': Romulus (and its brother planet Remus), Qo'noS (transliterated to Kronos in English) & Vulcan.

* ''TabletopGame/TwentyThreeHundredAD'' has Moiroi, and it's moons Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos.
* ''TabletopGame/BluePlanet'' has Lambda Serpentis II, named Poseidon.
* ''Literature/FightingFantasy'': Titan.
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'' most of the planets of the Sword Worlds are named after swords. Some mythological and some from the works of Creator/JRRTolkien as Sword Worlders hold him in awe.

[[folder:Videogames]]
* ''VideoGame/AlienLegacy'': The remarkable similarity of the Beta Caeli system structure to the Solar System is reflected in the planets' names, except the colonists go with Greek names rather than Roman ones. The names are Hermes (Mercury), Rhea (if Venus was habitable, but named after the mother of the gods), Prometheus (Rhea's moon), Gaea (Earth), Ares (Mars), Zeus (Jupiter), Hera (Io), Hebe (Ganymede), Cronus (Saturn), Poseidon (Uranus/Neptune), Thetis (Triton), and Hades (Pluto).
* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'': Pandora, Promethea and Elpis. Also, most of the planets mentioned in background lore such as Hephaestus and Hieronymus.
* ''VideoGame/{{Colony}}'' is set on Minerva, the first human interstellar colony.
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' has some: Gilgamesh, Endymion (Halsey's homeworld, named after the Greek shepherd), Tantalus (another Greek figure), etc.
* ''VideoGame/PandoraFirstContact'': Yet another example of someone naming a planet Pandora (cartographic designation - Nashira 667 Cc).
* ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri'': The planet is officially named Chiron, after a centaur in Myth/ClassicalMythology (namely, one of only two good ones). In practice, everyone simply calls it Planet.
** Various other celestial bodies in the Alpha Centauri system are also given names related to Greek centaurs and their complex relationship with [[Characters/ClassicalMythology Hercules]].
*** The two moons of Chiron/Planet are named Pholus and Nessus. Pholus was the other good centaur and had been one of Hercules' teachers. Nessus was a typically violent and malevolent but atypically cunning centaur who (in one telling) managed to kill Hercules after he was dead; Nessus tried to rape Hercules' wife Deianira, which Heracles prevented by killing the centaur. As he lay dying, Nessus tricked Deianira into putting his blood on to Hercules' shirt. His blood was actually poison, and the blood kills Heracles in excruciating pain.
*** The only other planet in the Alpha Centauri A system, a little-mentioned Mercury-like rock, is named Eurytion, a centaur who forced King Dexamenus to give one of his daughters (Mnesimache or Deianira, depending on the myth) to him in marriage, and was killed by Hercules for his trouble.
*** For reasons that should be obvious from the above, Alpha Centauri B gets the name Hercules. Also, did we mention that Hercules accidentally killed the mythological Chiron? ''And'', indirectly, the mythological Pholus--with one arrow?[[note]]According to most myths, Hercules was hunting the nigh-unkillable Erythmian Boar using arrows coated in the viciously poisonous blood of the Hydra, and accidentally grazed Chiron. Since Chiron was immortal, he was merely put in such immense pain that he begged the gods to allow him to die. Pholus then either [[IdiotBall stupidly picked up the arrowhead]] to marvel at its ability to kill so great and strong a one as Chiron, or accidentally pricked himself with the arrow while preparing Chiron's body for burial.[[/note]] And that Alpha Centauri B's perihelions (in the game) are responsible for significant climate changes that result in Mind Worms attacking your bases even more ferociously than usual?
** Finally, the "Map of Planet" (the canonical "standard" map) features landmarks named mostly after Greek mythological figures: the Isle of Dexamenus, the Isle of Deianira, the Sea of Mnesimache, the Pholus Ridge, Eurytion Bay, the Straits of Endymion....
* ''VideoGame/TerminalVelocity1995'': Ymir.
* ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'' has the planet Ariadne, named after the mythical princess of Crete. There is also Michtam, presumably named for the psalms. Finally, there is the asteroid Pleroma.

* ''Literature/ArtemisNeo'' has the planet Artemis, named after the Greek Goddess.
* ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'': Dionysus, Nessus, Daedelus, Deucalion, Vulcan, Gaia, Zarathustra, Diwali, Ain Soph Aur.
* ''TabletopGame/TechInfantry'' has Hrothgar, after a character in Beowulf; Avalon, after a location in [[Myth/KingArthur Arthurian Myth]], and Enoch and Babylon, named for places in Literature/TheBible.

* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'': Gaea, Jörmungandr, Hyperion.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* The names of most of the bodies in our solar system, such as Venus, Jupiter, Mars, Pluto, Io, Europa, Titan, Ceres, Eris...
* A certain asteroid that has a relatively high chance of hitting Earth sometime in the near future (meaning not ''that'' high of a chance, just higher than usual for an asteroid) is named Apophis. Subverted: although apt mythologically (seeing as Apophis in Myth/EgyptianMythology was the evil snake who kept trying to eat Ra[=/=]Usefulnotes/TheSun every night), the astronomer who discovered it was definitely thinking of the evil Goa'uld Apophis from ''Series/StargateSG1''.
* The extrasolar gas giant HD 209458 b has been unofficially named Osiris.
* [[UsefulNotes/TheMoonsOfSaturn Saturn's largest moon Titan]], having a rich array of geological (Titanological?) features recently discovered, has a few of these:
** ''Maria''--large hydrocarbon seas--are named after mythological sea creatures/sea monsters. There are three of them: Kraken Mare (after, um, the Kraken), Ligea Mare (after one of the Sirens of Myth/ClassicalMythology), and Punga Mare (after Punga, the ancestor of [[ThreateningShark sharks]] in Myth/PacificMythology).
** ''Fluminae''--hydrocarbon rivers--are named after mythological rivers (e.g. Celadon Flumina, after the river in the ''Iliad'', and Elivagar Flumina, after a group of ice rivers in Myth/NorseMythology).
** Albedo features--areas darker or lighter than surrounding terrain--are named after various paradises in mythology.
** Several different kinds of features are named after deities of happiness; craters and "large ringed features" are named after deities of wisdom; ''virgae'' (large colored features) are named after rain gods; and ''fluctus''es (flow features) are named after deities of beauty.

!!Examples of Numbers And Letters Planets

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* Franchise/DCUniverse has 1417.196.E and J586
[[/folder]]

* ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'': The first film is set on [=LV426=]. ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' renames it Acheron, a reference to the mythological river of the underworld.

* ''Literature/BlindLake'' has [=HR8832/B=] and [=UMa47/E=].
* ''Literature/DragonridersOfPern'': No numbers, but "Pern" started out as an acronym for "Parallel Earth, Resources Negligible". The later colonists just get lazy and call it by the acronym. The eventual collapse of civilization on Pern prompts everyone to forget the origins of the name.
* ''Literature/HyperionCantos'' has [=NGCes=] 2629-4BIV
* In ''Literature/TheLittlePrince'', the title character lives on asteroid B612.
* ''Franchise/StarWars'': ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' has M2398 and M4-78
* The ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'' has Beta Colony and Orient IV.

* In ''Series/BabylonFive'' this used to be near-standard practice for the Centauri during their golden age, following a precise scheme: while secondary capitals for use in case their homeworld has to be evacuated have proper names, worlds projected to be major colonies are named Centauri Alpha followed by a number (with "Centauri" usually omitted outside official documents), secondary colonies are named Centauri Beta followed by a number ("Centauri" being again omitted), and lesser systems being named "Quadrant" followed by a number. Interestingly, they applied this scheme to ''their home system'': their homeworld is technically named Durana but is usually referred to as Centauri Prime out of sheer pride, while the inhabited moon is Beta One.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'' has S14 and UX-4732
* ''Series/Earth2'' has G889
* ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace'': Andros hails from KO-35.
* ''Series/StargateSG1'':
** P number letter-(118, 234, 382, 513, 729, 774, 797, 866, 888, 974, 989, 1279, 7763, 8596, etc.)
** ''Series/StargateAtlantis'': Pegasus Galaxy planets start with M instead of P.
** In both cases, however, planets with an actual civilization on them will often have a more normal name as well (Chu'lak, Tollana, Abydos, Asuras, etc). Once it's known by the SGC or Atlantis, this name usually replaces the alphanumeric registry code.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'' has AR-558, L374, M-113, [=MS1=] and MZV.

* ''VideoGame/AlienVsPredator 2'' is set on LV-1201
* ''VideoGame/Borderlands'': The Eden system, notably Eden-6 and Eden-5. Also a case of Symbolica/Mnemosyne, depending on how you look at it.
* The ''VideoGame/EscapeVelocity'' series features a number of these, usually assigned to uninhabited and/or inhospitable worlds. ''EV Nova'' often uses the format "UHP-####", where UHP stands for '''[[FunWithAcronyms U]]'''[[FunWithAcronyms nin]]'''[[FunWithAcronyms h]]'''[[FunWithAcronyms abited]] '''[[FunWithAcronyms P]]'''[[FunWithAcronyms lanet]]. If a planet is settled later on, the name changes. UHP-1002 was renamed "Nirvana" when it was settled, after the company that {{terraform}}ed it.
* ''VideoGame/EVEOnline'': Systems in 0.0 space have numeric names like [=B-VIP9=]. Some of the constellations and regions also have numeric names.
* ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'': Samus grew up on K-2L and [=SR388=] is the Metroid home planet.
* In ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri'', when your Faction runs out of base names, you start on a list going Alpha Sector, Beta Sector, Gamma Sector, etc., through the Greek alphabet.

* ''TabletopGame/TechInfantry'' has this scheme for newly-discovered planets, but once they get colonized and settled, places named things like "H4" get renamed things like "New Madrid".

* Every star has anywhere from one to a dozen different referents depending on the number of catalogs it is recorded in, with each catalog having its own nomenclature. It can be the number of the star in the order it was discovered/examined, or a positional code. Most of the moons of the gas giants in our own system also fit this trope. Jupiter alone has 63 moons, the smaller ones only have a Roman numeral. A great many asteroids are also only known by a catalog number.
* Since we started discovering them in 1995, extrasolar planets are typically given the name of the star they orbit followed by a ''lower-case'' letter, starting with "b" and going in the order that the planets were discovered. The star Gliese 581, for example, has planets named Gliese 581b, Gliese 581c, and Gliese 581d.

!!Examples of Planets Named After the Star

[[folder:Anime And Manga]]
* ''Anime/AquarionEvol'': Vega and Altair.
* ''Anime/UFORoboGrendizer'': Vega.

[[folder:Card Games]]
* In ''TabletopGame/RaceForTheGalaxy'', two of the starting worlds are simply named Alpha Centauri and Epsilon Eridani.

[[folder:Comics]]
* ''Antares'' is set on a planet of the same name, orbiting the star of the same name.
* ''Monty'': One of the characters is an alien who claims to be from the planet Rigel.

[[folder:Film]]
* ''Film/MoonPilot'' had an alien from the planet Beta Lyrae.
* ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}'' visits "the Moon Of Vega", although this being ''Spaceballs'' it's not supposed to make sense.
* ''Franchise/StarWars'': According to ExpandedUniverse materials, this is common practice. Of the planets featured in the movies, Alderaan, Bespin, Coruscant, Hoth, Kamino, Kashyyyk, Naboo, Utapau, and Yavin share names with their star. (Others, like Tatooine and its twin suns Tatoo I and Tatoo II, are close.) Numbers are also attached to planets, to make it it clear ''which'' planet is being referenced (or moon, as in the case of Yavin IV, the fourth moon the gas giant Yavin).

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/AllianceUnion'': Most Stations are named after the stars they orbit: Alpha Centauri, Barnard's, Kapteyn, Kruger 60, GRM 34, 82 Eridani, 40 Eridani, Beta Cassiopeia, etc.
* ''Literature/AndromedaNebula'': 61 Cygni.
* Creator/AnneMcCaffrey:
** ''Literature/TheRowan'' has the planet Altair.
** In ''Literature/TowerAndTheHive'', the planet Deneb circles the star Deneb.
* ''Literature/CitizenOfTheGalaxy'' has Proxima.
* ''Literature/{{Dune}}'' mentions a planet called Bela Tegeuse, which may be a corruption of Betelgeuse.
* ''Literature/DyingEarth'': One story references Sadal Suud (from Sadalsuud, now more commonly known as Beta Aquarii).
* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'': The mythologically-named planet Manticore is located in the star system of Manticore.
* ''Literature/HyperionCantos'':
** The Weintraub family hails from Barnard's World, orbiting, of course, Barnard's Star.
** There's also Tau Ceti Center, the capital of the [[HegemonicEmpire Hegemony]].
* Creator/IsaacAsimov:%%Alphabetical by planet
** "Literature/TheEncyclopedists": 61 Cygni is mentioned as one of several star systems that lay claim to being the homeworld of humanity.
** "Literature/TheEncyclopedists": Alpha Centauri is mentioned as one of several star systems that lay claim to being the homeworld of humanity.
** ''Literature/FoundationAndEarth'': Alpha, which the protagonists identify as meaning "First", is a planet around Alpha Centauri covered entirely by ocean, with the exception of a single island, having been terraformed to evacuate the last humans on Earth.
** "Literature/TheEncyclopedists": The third planet of Arcturus, Lord Dorwin says, is a candidate proposed by Lameth and Gleen for the homeworld of humanity. In RealLife, the star is also called Alpha Bootis.
** ''(Empire Novels?)'': The planet Fomalhaut is mentioned for their extreme dialect of [[CommonTongue Galactic Standard]]. In RealLife, there's a star named Fomalhaut in the constellation of Piscis Austrinus.
** ''Literature/FoundationsEdge'': Gaia's name, by way of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_hypothesis Gaia hypothesis]], is derived from [[Characters/ClassicalMythologyProtogenoi Gaia]], the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek goddess]] who personified the Earth and is the ancestral mother of all life. Both planet and star share the same name, and the name Gaia was chosen to symbolize its [[GenusLoci planetary consciousness]].
** ''Literature/PebbleInTheSky'': The planet Ophiuchus takes its name from the constellation of Ophiuchus, rather than just one star.
** ''Literature/FoundationsEdge'': Sayshell, capital of the Sayshell Union, takes its name from the Seychelles islands on Earth in the Indian Ocean. References to ornamental script, bright clothing, spicy vegetarian foods, and meditation suggest the planet was deliberately named for their ancestral home. However, it should also be mentioned that the territory of the Sayshell Union (a nation) extends beyond the star system of Sayshell, and shares its name with the capital city and capital planet.
--->"Sayshell City," he said, "the capital of the planet. City - planet - star - all named Sayshell."
** "Literature/TheEncyclopedists": Sirius is mentioned as one of several star systems that lay claim to being the homeworld of humanity.
** "Literature/TheEncyclopedists": Vega is mentioned for its export of tobacco, and is named for the star Vega, also known as Alpha Lyrae.
* ''Literature/NonStop'': Procyon.
* ''Literature/OnTheSandPlanet'', by Creator/CordwainerSmith, has Misser, which is probably a corruption of Mizar. "Misr" is also Arabic for Egypt, which the planet's climate and culture parallels.
* ''Literature/SpaceOpera'' had Sirius Planet.
* ''Literature/{{Stargonauts}}'' has Algol.

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/BlakesSeven'': Cygnus Alpha.
* ''Series/Space1999'': Vega.
* ''Series/StargateSG1'': In "Tin Man", Harlan refers to his homeworld as "Altair".
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'': Alpha Centauri, Regulus, Aldebaran Colony, Vega Colony.

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' has Epsilon Eridani.
* ''TwentyThreeHundredAD'': The planet Beta Canum. Also the Station Arcture, which orbits Arcturus.

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/FreeSpace'' has Enif Station.
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'': Algolis, which orbits, you guessed it, Algol.
* ''Franchise/MassEffect'': Arcturus Station, capital of the Systems Alliance.
* ''VideoGame/MasterOfOrion'': The Antarans come from the planet Antares.
* ''VideoGame/SeriousSam'' has planet Sirius.
* ''VideoGame/{{Starflight}}'': Procya orbits Procyon, as if you couldn't guess.

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/{{Outsider}}'': The human colony worlds within the Alpha Centauri system are named Alpha (also referencing its status as the first extrasolar colony) and Proxima. Somewhat confusingly, Proxima does ''not'' orbit Proxima Centauri, but Alpha Centauri B.

[[folder:Web Original]]
%%* ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'': Caph.%%What about it?
* ''TabletopGame/TechInfantry'' has several cases of this, including Alpha Centauri, Wilke's Star, Jennifer's Star, and most of the rest of the planets, really, since if the planet isn't named for the star, the star is probably named for the principal inhabited planet.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* This is the official astronomical policy for naming extrasolar planets: the name of the star, followed by a lowercase Latin letter in order of discovery. Since most stars have number-soup names like HR 8799, the results also fall under the previous category. Those few that don't include 51 Pegasi b and Tau Boötis b.
[[/folder]]

!!Examples of Planets Named for Actual Places

* ''Film/AccionMutante'': The miner planet Axturias; [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asturias Asturias]] is a region of the northwest of Spain.

* ''Literature/{{Adaptation}}'' has Genoa and Texcoco.
* ''Literature/TheBlackCorridor'', by Michael Moorcock, has Munich 15040.
* In [[http://abyssandapex.com/201004-black.html "The Black Sheep of Vaerlosi"]] by Desmond Warzel, the name of the titular planet is, according to WordOfGod, a corruption of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaerlose Værløse]] (a small Danish town), used for no particular reason except that the author liked the sound.
* ''Literature/ChildeCycle'' has Ste. Marie, Freiland and Oriente.
* ''Literature/CoDominium'' has Frystaat, High Cathay, High Shanghai, Danube, Deigo, Santiago, Domingo, Dalarna, Makassar, Levant, Meiji, Zanj, and, last but not least, Sparta.
* ''Literature/TheDemonPrinces'' has the planets of Madagascar, Raratonga and Walpurgis.
* ''Literature/EmpireStar'': Tyre.
* ''Literature/EncounterWithTiber'': The titular planet, Tiber.
* ''Literature/EndersGame'': The broader series has Lusitania, Trondheim, Pacifica, Ganges, Moskva, Albion and Zanzibar.
* ''Literature/TheEschatonSeries'' has the planet of Moscow.
* ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy1'': The Planet Damogran has islands named Easter Island and France. This is lampshaded by Creator/DouglasAdams by mentioning that in Galacticspeke, "easter" means flat, small, and light-brown, which Easter Island is; the name France, whose meaning is not explained, is also an entirely meaningless coincidence. This is because one of the side effects of working on the Improbability-powered starship Heart Of Gold, which was built on France-the-island, is a whole string of entirely meaningless coincidences.
* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' has an example with the planet Montana. Which is also a PlanetOfHats who act like stereotypical Montanans. There's also Casimir, Congo, Prague, San Martin, Zulu, Dresden, and Zanzibar.
* ''Literature/HyperionCantos'' has a lot of these, since the series is essentially about humanity becoming stagnant despite moving to the stars: Maui-Covenant has mobile islands and intelligent dolphins, Tsingtao-Hsishuang Panna is populated mainly by Chinese and famed for its food, T'ien Shan is full of Chinese Buddhist temples, Fuji has its samurai businessmen, Hebron is the site of New Jerusalem, Qom-Riyadh has a Muslim population, Madhya is presumably Indian, etc.
* ''Literature/IotaCycle'': Iota Horologii is orbited by Australia, Asia, Europe, Africa, America, and Antarctica.

** ''Literature/TheCurrentsOfSpace'': Libair is mentioned as a planet with some of the galaxy's darkest-skinned people and takes its name from {{UsefulNotes/Liberia}}, a country in Africa, where humans tend to be naturally dark-skinned.
** "Literature/TheGeneralFoundation": Loris is a region in the Four Kingdoms, under seige by General Riose. The region is named after Locris, a region of {{UsefulNotes/Greece}} (the province was established in prehistoric times and still existed until 2006), and appears again as Captain Pritcher's homeworld in "Literature/TheMule".
** "Literature/SearchByTheMule": Rossem, one of the planets under the control of Tazenda, is [[SingleBiomePlanet an exceptionally cold world]], and populated only in the equatorial regions. The name itself is similar to both Russia (or "Rossiya") and to Rossum (or ''Theatre/RossumsUniversalRobots''). Dr Asimov was an emigrant from Russia and wrote about robots.

** "Literature/TheEncyclopedists": Smyrno is one of the Four Kingdoms nearby Terminus. It takes its name from Smyrna, part of the original Roman Empire that the series is based on. Its role as a centre for the Christian Church in Real Life parallels the early fate of the Four Kingdoms.
* Creator/MikhailAkhmanov:
** A variation in the ''Literature/ArrivalsFromTheDark'' series, where an Earth-like world found and settled by humans is named Gondwana after an ancient Earth supercontinent (the southern one). Basically, it's named after a place that ''used to be'' real.
** Deliberately done in Akhmanov's ''Dick Simon'' duology where the various Earth nations, after the discovery of the Ramp, moved whole cities to newly-discovered habitable worlds, leaving Earth covered in enormous craters. Interestingly, when the US, Canada, UK, and Japan chose to move to the same world, they named their new planet Columbia in honor of UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus, figuring he was there before Amerigo Vespucci. European nations call their new planet Europe and even named the four continents after old names for European places: Gallia (French), Iberia (Spanish), Teutonia (German), and Slavenia (Ukrainian, Czechs, and Poles). Russia moves to Russia, along with Kazakhstan, Bulgaria, India, and a dozen others. Most Asian nations went to China. Rich South American countries (including Brasil, Peru, and Argentina) went to Southmerica. The rest of the Latin American nations were sent to the less hospitable Latmerica, which continues to be the hotbed for wars and coups. Black-skinned Africans, and a few African-Americans forming the nation of New Alabama, went to a world they called Black Africa. Muslim countries split into three worlds: Ul-Islam (dominated by Iran), Allahu Akbar (mostly Arabs), and Seljukia (dominated by Turkey and Pakistan). Many other worlds were settled by smaller groups seeking independence: Manitou and Amazonia (Native Americans), Himalayas, Monaco, Kurdistan, Vasconia, Sicily-2, New Ireland, Tahiti, Singapore. And those are just the more important worlds, including the unimaginatively-named planets Galactic University (center of academic learning) and Firing Range (SpacePolice HQ). Overall, there are about 500 planets where humans are present, including a few worlds with natives, all by the end of the 21st century. Unsurprisingly, the most unstable worlds are Latmerica, Black Africa, Ul-Islam, and Allahu Akbar. All settled planets have Ramp stations, forming a PortalNetwork of sorts. The only planets that don't are prison worlds, [[LandfillBeyondTheStars garbage worlds]], and [[EarthThatWas Old Earth]] (cut off from the Ramp near the end of the Exodus).
* ''Literature/RevelationSpace'' has Yellowstone.
* ''Literature/ThousandCultures'': Hedon.
* In ''Literature/TheInterdependency'', the capital of the titular empire is on a lifeless rock known as Xi'an (in RealLife, it's the capital of Shaanxi Province in China). Two other colonies are also named [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalas%C3%BDsla Dalasýsla]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponthieu Ponthieu]].
* Many colonies in ''Literature/TheLostFleet'' are named after places on Earth: Glenlyon (a glen in Scotland), Kosatka (a village in Poland), Eire (the Irish name for Ireland), Adowa (a town in Ethiopia), Catalan (an ethnic group on the Iberian Peninsula), and Turan (a historic region in Central Asia).

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'' has the planet Galena, which started out as a mining colony, switched to agriculture when the mines petered out, then to tourism when agriculture turned out to be not particularly profitable. This is also a capsule history of the town of Galena, Illinois.
* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' has Londinium (the Roman name for London), Penglai, Aberdeen, Deadwood, Jiangyin, Regina, St. Albans, Athens, Kerry, Salisbury, and Whittier.

[[folder:TapletopGames]]
* ''TwentyThreeHundredAD'': Tau Ceti II and Epsilon Eridani II, otherwise known as Kwantung and Dukou, respectively. Also, Tiranë and Montaña.
* ''FTL: 2448'' has America.
* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' has a planet receiving very little light from its sun, whose inhabitants have fallen so far behind in technology that the musket is still in use, while literary and cultural stunting is prevalent. The name of this misbegotten wreck, nicknmaed "the Blighted Planet"? [[TakeThat Birmingham.]]

* ''VideoGame/EscapeVelocity: Nova'' has Las Vegas.
* ''VideoGame/{{Freelancer}}'': Systems names like Pittsburgh, Houston, Leeds, etc. Most of the capitals follow the New Something rule, being named New Tokyo, New London, New Berlin, and [[OddNameOut Manhattan]]. Although Manhattan is in the New York system. Presumably, the capitals were the ones settled first (the hulks of the {{Sleeper Starship}}s make up memorable skyscrapers on those worlds). After that, it would make sense that colonists far away from Earth wouldn't much care about adding "new" to all names.
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':
** Arcadia colony appears in ''VideoGame/HaloWars''. Arcadia would also appear in a list of provinces in Greece.
** Other examples include Dwarka (after the city in India), Venezia (after Venice), Aleria (after a French town), and Oban (after a town in Scotland).
* ''Franchise/MassEffect'': Many planets and systems are named after locations on Earth. Each cluster usually follows a pattern. The Artemis Tau cluster, for instance, has the Athens, Sparta, Knossos, and Macedon systems. The Maroon Sea has Caspian, Matano, and Vostok (lakes). The Voyager Cluster has Columbia, Yangtze, and Amazon (rivers).
* ''VideoGame/Outpost2'': One of the factions named its colony Plymouth.
* ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri'': A few of these show up. The only one you're terribly likely to see, however, is the University base Baikonur, named after the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baikonur_Cosmodrome Baikonur Cosmodrome]] in Kazakhstan; this base name is the second on the University list and so will show up in any game where the University manages not to get destroyed within the first mission century. I suppose that's just what you get when you literally put a rocket scientist in charge of a faction.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'' this is the UNE's default naming convention for colonies. For instance you can end up with Tuscany orbiting Alpha Centauri.

* ''TabletopGame/TechInfantry'' has New Madrid, which in-universe is an example of "New Planet" naming as above. But the real reason it was named that was that the Midwestern people who wrote ''Tech Infantry'' named it for New Madrid, Missouri, and the earthquake-prone fault line that runs through it.
* ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'': Audubon, Tierra del Fuego, Penglai and Danzig.

* [[UsefulNotes/TheMoonsOfSaturn Saturn's largest moon Titan]], having a rich array of geological (Titanological?) features recently discovered, has a few of these:
** Faculae -- "bright spots" on the moon's surface -- are (save one) named after islands on Earth that are not countries unto themselves (e.g., Crete Facula, Mindanao Facula, Oahu Facula).
** The ''lacus'' and ''lacunae'' of Titan -- hydrocarbon lakes and dry lake beds, respectively--are named after Earth lakes (e.g. Ontario Lacus, Jingpo Lacus, Eyre Lacuna[[note]]For bonus points, Lake Eyre on Earth is a dry lakebed mos of the time.[[/note]]). Bays (''sinus'' in Latin) in both these and in the ''maria'' (hydrocarbon seas, named after mythical sea monsters) are also named after similar features on Earth (e.g. Moray Sinus, Puget Sinus).
* There are a number of cities in America that are named after places in Europe, as displayed by [[https://notalwaysright.com/giving-the-french-stick/10042 this]] ''WebSite/NotAlwaysRight''.

* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'': Pandora, Promethea and Elpis. Also, most of the planets mentioned in background lore such as Hephaestus, Hieronymus and Hermes.

* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'': Prometheus and Pandora. The {{MegaCorp}}s on Pandora seem to follow the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Titan]] theme naming, like Atlas and Hyperion.

** ''Literature/FoundationsEdge'': Gaia's name, by way of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_hypothesis Gaia hypothesis]], is derived from [[Characters/ClassicalMythologyProtogenoi Gaia]], the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek goddess]] who personified the Earth and is the ancestral mother of all life. Both planet and star share the same name, and the name Gaia was chosen to symbolize its [[GenusLoci planetary consciousness]].

** ''Literature/FoundationsEdge'': Gaia's name, by way of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_hypothesis Gaia hypothesis]], is derived from [[Characters/ClassicalMythologyProtogenoi Gaia]], the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek goddess]] who personified the Earth and is the ancestral mother of all life. Both planet and star share the same name, and the name Gaia was chosen to symbolize its [[GenusLoci planetary consciousness]].

* ''Literature/HyperionCantos'' : Renaissance Vector, Mare Infinitus, Garden, God's Grove, Nordholm, Heaven's Gate, Whirl, Madre De Dios, Esperance, Sibiatu's Bitterness (a.k.a. Inevitable Grace), Nevermore (which is apparently in perpetual twilight)...

* ''VideoGame/TerminalVelocity'': Ymir.

* ''Literature/AndromedaASpaceAgeTale'': 61 Cygni.

* '''Starname''': Even better, someone already came up with a name for the star long ago. Let's just [[PlanetEngland call the planet the same thing]], and forget the number. No, that wouldn't be confusing, why do you ask?

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' has Olympus

* ''Literature/AWrinkleInTime'' has Camazotz and Uriel

* Unlike the moons of the other planets (named for the associates of the gods in Myth/ClassicalMythology), the moons of Uranus are named after characters (generally female) from the works of Creator/WilliamShakespeare and ''Literature/TheRapeOfTheLock''. Originally, the names were given with the idea that Uranus, a sky god, would be attended by "spirits of the air" like the fairies Titania and Oberon from ''Theatre/AMidsummerNightsDream'' or the sylphs Ariel and Umbriel from ''The Rape of the Lock'', but later astronomers started to just take names from the works rather than continue with the air-spirits theme. These works aren't quite popular culture (they were already over 200 years old when the moons were named in the mid-19th century), but they are hardly mythology, either. And one must admit, it is rather fitting that the moons of the planet discovered by an Englishman (or rather an Anglicized German, but who's counting?) be named after the great works of English literature.

* ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri'': A few of these show up; the only one you're terribly likely to see, however, is the University base Baikonur, named after the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baikonur_Cosmodrome Baikonur Cosmodrome]] in Kazakhstan. I suppose that's just what you get when you literally put a rocket scientist in charge of a faction.

*** The two moons of Chiron/Planet are named Pholus and Nessus. Pholus was the other good centaur and had been one of Hercules' teachers. Nessus was a typical dumb, violent brute of a centaur who (in one telling) managed to kill Hercules after he was dead; Nessus tried to rape Hercules' wife Deianira, which Heracles prevented by killing the centaur. As he lay dying, Nessus tricked Deianira into putting his blood on to Hercules' shirt. His blood was actually poison, and the blood kills Heracles in excruciating pain.

* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' features a number of symbolic planet names, the most prominent being [[VideoGame/HaloReach Reach]] (the first extrasolar human colony) and Harvest (an extremely fertile agricultural colony). Others include Tribute, Circumstance, Threshold, Basis, and Onyx. A number of Covenant worlds have this too, such as prison planet Weeping Shadows of Sorrow, the prison planet; in fact, a number of Elite worlds in particular translate to this type, e.g. Malurok = "Decided Heart".

** Fortress, a... fortress world.

* ''Literature/Aeon14'': A {{justified}} Symbolica variant. ''Intrepid'' planned to settle the planet New Eden, orbiting 82 Eridani. [[spoiler:When Eden is denied them by a LightspeedLeapfrog courtesy of the TimeDilation through Kapteyn's Streamer, they name the star system they buy from the Transcend New Canaan, after the Biblical promised land. The rest of the system is similar: the main settlement is located on Carthage[[note]]Founded by inhabitants of the Canaanite city of Tyre. Angela also points out that main Carthaginian god was Tanit, of which Tanis is a variant.[[/note]], and the other planets are renamed Tyre, Troy, and Athens.]]