Planet/System Name Generators for a Space Opera Setting

[Orius]

I'm looking for a name generator for planets and/or systems for a space opera sci-fi setting. I'm looking for something free and relatively easy to use preferably a browser-based random generator or a set of dice tables that can be downloaded from something like DriveThru. System neutral is preferable, but it doesn't really matter. I need something that I can use to quickly generate dozens of names for systems. I'm doing some preliminary work on doing a space game, and I'll use at least in part a generation system based on Traveller's subsectors (which should give an idea of how many worlds I'll need to name), but I can't come up with enough useful names on my own.

Now I did find this in my list of materials:

donjon; SciFi Name Generator

A collection of random generators for Dungeons & Dragons and other tabletop role-playing games

donjon.bin.sh

It's okay in a pinch, but there's a few problems with it:

1: Real universe references. Some worlds are named New ___ which are named after locations on Earth or other bodies in the Solar System. Some other names are taken from constellations or other stars. I'm going to be using a completely fictional universe, so real universe names won't do.

2. Mythological names. This is related to #1, stuff taken from the real world will feel out of place to me. And this is complicated by how many bodies in the Solar System already have mythological names. And there's names taken from multiple mythologies as well as Tolkien (which I'm counting in this category for refence).

3. Unpronounceable names. The generator isn't too bad at this, but there's a couple of results that really needed to buy some vowels from Pat Sajak.

4. Limited generation pool. Some of these names keep repeating, so it's not working with a lot of random bits.

5. Apostrophes. Need I say anything more?

For example, here's a few results that just won't do it for me:

New Kenya
New Amazon
New Athens
New Kalahari
New Triton
New Rhea
New Vesta
New Venus
New Earth
New Terra (sigh)
New Gaia (eyeroll)

These would be fine for a real universe game though.

And the mythological references:

Amenhotep
Orome
Bragi V
Midgard
Ungoliant
Draugluin V
Imhotep
New Deseret (Space Mormons!)

These seems to be mostly Egyptian, Mesopotamian, and Norse mythology with some Tolkien. There's a few historical names as well. Greek mythology too, but those names are also used heavily in the Solar System so that runs up against #1 AND #2. I got a Thalassa Prime, and while that's both mythology and a moon of Neptune, Thalassa is also simply the Greek word for the sea, so that's passable for an ocean world. It generates a number of Chinese names that I'm unfamiliar with too, but I'm not sure those are mythological/historical or not. I did get a result of Liu Bei II which I did recognize, so I suspect the names all have a real world basis.

9807 Eridani VII
5100 Fornacis II

These come from constellation names.

And the ridiculuous:

V'Gouza (gag)
S'Groidi (choke)
N'Dreesha (puke)
Mr'Meniea (clearly ruled by Mr. Meanie)
U'Wooki (I can HEAR Chewbacca laughing at me)

This generator does come up with a few decent names here and there, but I have to roll dozens of times just to get a halfway decent list of stuff. Anyway, I'm looking for any other alternatives. Browser-based stuff is fine, but I don't want to download any sort of .exe files for this. Or worse, a pile of source code. Free dice tables from DriveThru is fine too, but I don't really want to spend anything on this, and I don't like downloading Pay What You Want for free (feels like an insult to the creator). My snarking above I hope gives some idea of the sort of results I'm looking for. The kind of names I want are the sort of things that would be more or less typical of English-language space opera, so like the kind of names that would pop up in Star Trek, Star Wars, Babylon 5, Stargate, etc.

 

[FrogReaver]

find a list with names you like/curate your own from multiple sources. Go to a site to produce a random number between 1 and the number of items on the list.

You seem to have some rather stringent requirements so probably won’t find anything ready made that meets your specs.

 

[practicalm]

Try this

https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/planet-names.php

Probably isn't completely what you are looking for but there are a lot of other options on the site

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

If I wanted to divorce planetary names in a sci-fi setting from the RW as much as possible, I’d first determine how many sentient species are in it. Because:

1) each species would probably have their own system that works for them, and

2) the ones that communicate & (generally) coexist with each other would ALSO create common nomenclature that would be useful to all involved.

My guess is that the “common” would be very cold & clinical- perhaps some kind of 3D coordinate designation that locates the planet’s system relative to galactic center and a numerical designation for its orbital position within that system. In “humannese” it might look something like x556y4211z24199-3.

Then, of course, the inhabitants would screw everything up and give it a NAME that could be directly translated into various languages.

So x556y4211z24199-3 might be “Haven”

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

Don't skip on "vanity plate" naming patterns either. If you've got a Big Evil Megacorp in the setting there's probably a whole series of resource extraction worlds named after them ("Welcome to OmegaCorp Seven!"). Really OTT ones might be more petty, naming systems after executives or even for leverage - the Buck Godot comic has a world named after him as part of a corporate blckmail attempt.

Legendary explorer types might have named multiple systems (probably near each other) along a theme - "significant others" were popular in older scifi, with clusters of stars named Trudy, Rubee, Cate, etc. but it could also be a hobby interest (explaining why there are six systems named after obscure Terran birds or whatever) or sheer perversity (naming particularly objectionable systems with obscenities, or flipping that script with deceptive names and doing the Iceland/Greenland trick on a stellar scale).

Empires and similar regimes will probably have systems named after leaders, of course. The extravagant ones might even carve local planetoids into zero-gee statuary memorializing Maxxus XXVII or whoever.

 

[Orius]

Try this

https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/planet-names.php

Probably isn't completely what you are looking for but there are a lot of other options on the site

That's not too bad. There's a few names that have some very bizarre letter combinations, but there's some better results here. And I can alter a few of them by adding or removing letters so the names eventually look "right" to me.

If I wanted to divorce planetary names in a sci-fi setting from the RW as much as possible, I’d first determine how many sentient species are in it. Because:

1) each species would probably have their own system that works for them, and

2) the ones that communicate & (generally) coexist with each other would ALSO create common nomenclature that would be useful to all involved.

My guess is that the “common” would be very cold & clinical- perhaps some kind of 3D coordinate designation that locates the planet’s system relative to galactic center and a numerical designation for its orbital position within that system. In “humannese” it might look something like x556y4211z24199-3.

Then, of course, the inhabitants would screw everything up and give it a NAME that could be directly translated into various languages.

So x556y4211z24199-3 might be “Haven”

I'm not too worried about how many sentient species are around to name things, because the "standard" name will be more or less the usual human name for the planet. I'm leaning towards more hostile sentient species anyway to provide plenty of conflict and fewer playable ones because of party balance issues.

A generic alphanumeric system of nomenclature isn't out of the question, but it makes it harder for me to distinguish between different worlds. Or remember them.

Don't skip on "vanity plate" naming patterns either. If you've got a Big Evil Megacorp in the setting there's probably a whole series of resource extraction worlds named after them ("Welcome to OmegaCorp Seven!"). Really OTT ones might be more petty, naming systems after executives or even for leverage - the Buck Godot comic has a world named after him as part of a corporate blckmail attempt.

Legendary explorer types might have named multiple systems (probably near each other) along a theme - "significant others" were popular in older scifi, with clusters of stars named Trudy, Rubee, Cate, etc. but it could also be a hobby interest (explaining why there are six systems named after obscure Terran birds or whatever) or sheer perversity (naming particularly objectionable systems with obscenities, or flipping that script with deceptive names and doing the Iceland/Greenland trick on a stellar scale).

I put a few of these on my list but I don't want them to be common. But yes, I've considered worlds named after people with a starship hold filled with credits, egomaniacs, corporation names, explorers with no creativity, things like that. There's also the various sorts of obscene names, but I may avoid that in as a matter of good taste.