History Main / LawOfAlienNames

** Even Krill names fit (though Ed and Gordon couldn't have known it at the time). Examples: Teleya (female), Haros, Sazeron, Arnak (male) and the only known family name being

* ''Series/TheOrville'' lampshades this in the episode "Krill," when Ed and Gordon try to come up with plausible names for their alien disguises.

** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': The name of the war obsessed alien Commander Kel-X manages to combine multiple harsh sounds.

** The existence of a partial Ork phraseology means that many names can be translated as deed names or boasts. For example, Nazdreg Ug Urdgrub means (roughly) Wealthy Destroyer With Lots of Cunning (though it can also be read as White Cut From Swarm of Hidden things, the Ork language being both context-dependent and made to do an awful lot of work with only a few glyphs).

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' universe has some ''two dozen'' plus races, [[MassiveRaceSelection 10 (to date) playable]] and many more [[LoadsAndLoadsOfRaces present or mentioned]]. Nearly all of them have their own {{Fantastic Naming Convention}}s, with the [[OurElvesAreBetter races of Mer (Elves)]] and the BeastFolk races being quite alien. To note:

As a corollary, you can often tell a lot about a race just from the names of its members: the harshness of the species is often directly proportionate to the harshness of its language. You will probably never see a race of peaceful agrarians with names such as "Gorthog" or "Churgzak," nor will you ever see a race of bloody warriors with names like "Mathiella" or "Farlian". You can bet that someplace called "Jakrizag" isn't going to be a world of green meadows and fluffy bunnies. Someplace like that will have a pleasant-sounding name like "Elasolia". In some cases, even the ''same name'' will appear harsher in the transcription that an author adopts for the language of a harsher culture: [[http://www.zompist.com/kitlong.html#orthography "Dhârkalen" sounds harsher than "Darcaln"]] despite being pronounced almost the same way.

** Gets parodied again in "Decision 3012," which spoofs the Obama "birther" theories with [[AmericaTakesOverTheWorld Earthican]] presidential candidate Chris Travers, a nondescript human who is rumored to be an (extraterrestrial) alien after his middle name is discovered to be "Zaxxar."

** Gets parodied again in "Decision 3012," which spoofs the Obama "birther" theories with [[AmericaTakesOverTheWorld Earthican]] presidential candidate Chris Travers, a nondescript human who is rumored to be an illegal (extraterrestrial) alien after his middle name is discovered to be "Zaxxar."

** Lrrr and Ndnd[[notes]]pronounced "Un-dun-da"[[/notes]], Kif (a rather mild example), Morbo, Melllvar ("that's Melllvar with three L's"), and main character Turanga Leela ([[spoiler:who's actually a human mutant]]).

* The Ctarl-ctarl in ''Manga/OutlawStar'' also reduplicate, like their ambassador Aisha Clan-clan and their flagship the Orta Hone-hone.

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

* It was discovered in the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' that every sentient human species whose vocal apparatus was similar enough to that of humans and whose language was in the frequency range to be audible by humans, somehow tended to have names that were rather similar to Terran names. This was driven home rather powerfully when the High Chancellor of the Pelkon Confederacy, Luuk Skeewa Kirr, visited earth.

** Lrr, Ndnd, Kif (a rather mild example), Morbo, Melllvar ("that's Melllvar with three L's"), and Turanga Leela (even though she is actually a human mutant who was passed off as an alien).
** An episode features the interplanetary registration lines to apply for Mars University. It's alphabetized by first letter of family name: A through J, K through Y, and the longest line, Z. Guess which two were made up of humans and which one was all aliens.

* Extra-terrestrial ''PowerRangers'' have names like Andros, Zhane, Karone, Maya, Trip, [[PunnyName Kat Manx, Anubis "Doggie" Kruger,]] and Tyzonn.

* In ''Manga/SgtFrog'', the Keronian race and a select few from other alien races have names that adhere strictly to an ABB rhyming pattern. Keroro, Giroro, Tamama, Kururu, Dororo, you get the idea.

* ''ComicBook/LegendsOfTheDeadEarth'': In ''Wonder Woman'' Annual #5, the Unremembered are a group of humans who have lived on a GenerationShip for 10,000 generations. All of their names feature a capital "X": [=AlyXa=], [=ValXan=], [=KarXyn=], [=CatXon=], [=GanXul=] and [=OlXus=]. In all but the last case, it is the fourth letter.

* 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 ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} started.

* ''ComicBook/LegendsOfTheDeadEarth'': In ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' Annual #5, the Unremembered are a group of humans who have lived on a GenerationShip for 10,000 generations. All of their names feature a capital "X": [=AlyXa=], [=ValXan=], [=KarXyn=], [=CatXon=], [=GanXul=] and [=OlXus=]. In all but the last case, it is the fourth letter.
* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': Ectreba is probably the best fit from Wondy's crew, with even an "a" at the end to make the name feminine. Sakritt also deserves a mention.

* The ''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'''.

* Haabu from ''Fanfic/SaviorofDemons'' is an example of the double-vowel subtype, though this is because his name is a pun on haboob - instead of double o's, the author wrote him with double a's instead to obscure the pun.

* ''Series/{{Tracker}}'' doesn't really have any consistency with alien names. Most are one- or two-syllable names with fairly simple sounds, even though they come from 6 different species. For example, the protagonist's name is Daggon, while the BigBad is Zin. An interesting case with Nestov, who is a Desserian. Except it's not his real name, nor is it Desserian in origin, as he faked his prison records and gave himself a Nodulian name and origin. His real name is unpronounceable and only spoken once, which is odd, since many other Desserian characters have fairly simple names. Of the three alien females shown, all end in "a": Sedra, Vedra, and Lontoria. Male names tend to end in consonants, except for the pilot episode villain Rhee, who is a male Vardian in a [[Wrestling/{{Chyna}} human woman]]'s body, and Rhee's brother is named Remel. The GrandFinale shows some of these names written down in English, and the spelling isn't always straightforward, like with the name Yhir, which sounds more like "Yaheer" when spoken, or Tevv, which has double consonants for some reason.

** 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.

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' universe has some ''two dozen'' plus races, [[MassiveRaceSelection 10 (to date) playable]] and many more [[LoadsAndLoadsOfRaces present or mentioned]]. Nearly all of them have their own {{Fantastic Naming Convention}}s, with the [[OurElvesAreBetter races of Mer (Elves)]] and the {{Beast |Folk}}Races being quite alien. To note:

** The [[JackOfAllStats Dunmer (Dark Elves)]] are a varied bunch. Velothi (Ashlanders and rural House Dunmer) Dunmer names draw heavily from ancient Mesopotamia, leading to them sounding like they're straight out of ''Literature/TheEpicOfGilgamesh''. This works well with their ancient [[OurGodsAreDifferent Daedra]] worship (most Daedric ruins have similar names, such as Ashurnabitashpi). More "civilized" Dunmer have a characteristic "Dunmerish" sound (ex. Falanu Hlaalu, Nels Llendo, Hlireni Indavel). The Dunmer nobility also use the names of their [[TheClan Houses]] as prefix to their names (for example, Redoran Hlaren Ramoran, King Hlaalu Helseth, etc.). The Telvanni Masters use one name only (Mistress Dratha, Master Neloth, etc.).

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' universe has some ''two dozen'' plus races, [[MassiveRaceSelection 10 (to date) playable]] and many more [[LoadsAndLoadsOfRaces present or mentioned]]. Nearly all of them have their own {{Fantastic Naming Convention}}s, with the [[OurElvesAreBetter races of Mer (Elves)]] and the [[PettingZooPeople "Beast" races]] being quite alien. To note:

** Oddly enough, even though he's an alien, Jonas Quinn has a rather Earthly-sounding name. The actor's name is Corin Nemec.[[note]]"Corin" is a rare but ancient English name derived from the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Roman god Quirinus]]; Shakespeare used it in ''Theatre/AsYouLikeIt''. "Nemec" is an anglicization of the Czech surname "Němec"--roughly pronounced "ne-mets"--that translates to "German" or "mute" or (same word in Czech--like many Slavic languages, Czech calls Germans "mute" because they were the main kind of foreigners they ran into, and foreigners can't speak Slavic, can they?). The actor is an American of Czech descent whose parents worked in the arts, so his name was probably a Shakespeare reference.[[/note]] Does that seem right to you?

** Oddly enough, even though he's an alien, Jonas Quinn has a rather Earthly-sounding name. The actor's name is Corin Nemec. Does that seem right to you?

* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' have an odd one indeed: Hork-Bajir. A rather peaceful race, despite the tough-as-nails name. Except they have blades EVERYWHERE. But they wouldn't hurt a fly. Until the Yeerks got hold of 'em.
** And then there's the Andalites, whose names run the gamut, but are always at least three part. Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, anyone?
*** The middle name is from one of the parent middle names, if you look at Ax's parents' names in ''The Alien''.