Federation Ship Names L-Z
Ship naming in recent Star Trek is very political and therefore not a suited subject for an in-universe discussion.
Here is an alphabetical listing of Starfleet and Federation ship names (classic and Abramsverse). If the in-universe origin of the name is clear, it is given in the column "namesake". Uncertain naming (sometimes in-jokes) is discussed under "annotations". See also: Possible Namesakes of Federation Starships with many more suggestions but with a good deal of speculation.
L
Name & registry | Class | Namesake | Annotations |
---|---|---|---|
USS Lakota NCC-42768 |
Excelsior | Native American nation | |
SS Lakul NFT-7793 |
Whorfin | Unknown | |
USS Lalo NCC-43837 |
Mediterranean | Unknown | Interestingly, the composer of the "Mission Impossible" theme is named Lalo Schifrin. "Mission Impossible" was produced next to the TOS sets in the Desilu studios. But the more likely real-world namesake would be the French composer Edouard Lalo. |
USS Lantree NCC-1837 |
Miranda | Unknown | |
USS LaSalle NCC-6203 |
Deneva | Uncertain | The most probable namesake seems to be René Robert Cavalier de LaSalle (1643-1687), a French explorer in North America. |
USS Leeds NCC-70352 |
Nebula | British industrial city | |
USS Lexington NCC-1709 |
Constitution | USS Lexington CV-2 and USS Lexington CV-16, US aircraft carriers, also a battle site in the American Revolutionary War | |
USS Lexington NCC-30405 |
Excelsior | ||
USS Lexington NCC-61832 |
Nebula | ||
USS Liberator NCC-67016 |
Uncertain | May be named for the B-24 Liberator bomber or for the name of the primary spacecraft in "Blakes Seven" | |
USS Livingston NCC-34099 |
Excelsior | Robert R. Livingston (1746-1813), American politician who signed the Declaration of Independence | In the real world, it seems that the ship (like Picard's fish ;-)) was named for TNG producer David Livingston. |
M
Name & registry | Class | Namesake | Annotations |
---|---|---|---|
USS Madison | James Madison (1751-1836), fourth president of the United States, also name of the capital of Wisconsin | ||
USS Magellan NCC-3069 |
Constellation | Fernão Magalhaes (1480-1521), Portuguese explorer | Also the name of a space probe launched to Venus |
USS Magellan | Galaxy | ||
USS Majestic NCC-31060 |
Miranda | RMS Majestic (built 1914 as Bismarck), the largest ship of its time | |
USS Malinche NCC-38997 |
Excelsior | Mexican princess, who was originally a slave given as a peace offering to the Spanish conquistadors by the Tabascan Indians | There may be different interpretations about Malinche's role in history. It seems that she is still loathed by the native population of Mexico. On the other hand, there is a La Malinche National Park, as well as La Malinche Crater in Mexico. |
USS Malone | Unknown | Malone, Peterson and Clavyn (Clavin), the three ship names listed in Lt. Anaanda Ziff's personnel file, are all characters from "Cheers". | |
SS Manoa | Unknown | The ship's name can be read in TNG-R: "Inheritance". It was likely different in the original episode. | |
USS Matte Fringe NCC-12898 |
Unknown | Production jargon for an imperfection in pre-digital effects composition. | |
USS Mare Tranquilitatis | Region on the Moon, landing site of Apollo 11 | ||
USS Maryland NCC-45109 |
Renaissance | State of the USA | |
USS Max Planck NCC-28573 |
Max Planck (1858-1947), German physicist and Nobel Prize laureate | The name is misspelled "Plank" on the display in TNG: "Conspiracy", but according to EAS policy the misspelling is ignored. | |
USS Mayflower | Ship that carried the first colonists to North America in 1620 | ||
USS Mayflower NCC-1621 (alt.) |
The registry is NCC-1621, although the Mayflower's journey was in 1620. Perhaps this takes into account that upon their arrival the settlers spent the winter aboard the ship? | ||
USS Mediterranean | Mediterranean | Region around the Mediterranean Sea | |
USS Mekong NCC-72617 |
Danube | River in Southeast Asia that flows south to the Chinese Sea | |
USS Melbourne NCC-62043 |
Excelsior | City in Australia | |
USS Menehune NCC-52142 |
Steamrunner | Hawaiian mythological figures ("dwarfs") | |
SS Merchantman | Generic | ||
USS Merced | Merced | Uncertain | There is a small river and a city of that name in Central California, but more likely the name refers to Lake Merced near Starfleet Headquarters. |
USS Merrimack NCC-61827 |
Nebula | Ironclad warship (later CSS Virginia) that fought for the Confederacy in the American Civil War | This particular ship is actually spelled "Merrimack" (and not "Merrimac"), after the river Merrimack in northeastern USA. Starfleet named the ship with a definite "Northern" bias, not choosing the name CSS Virginia that the ship bore during the battle with the USS Monitor. |
SS Milan NDT-50863 | City in Italy | Curiously, in the North Italian dialect the city of Milano is actually called Milan, just like the English version. | |
USS Minnow NCC-19585 |
Generic | In the real world, a reference to Gilligan's Island. But in-universe, the ship is probably unspecifically named for the fish. | |
USS Miranda | Miranda | Uncertain | Presumably named for Prospero's daughter, a character in William Shakespeare's last play "The Tempest". This is the explanation given in the Star Trek Encyclopedia, although it seems too obscure. Miranda is also the name of a moon of Uranus, but this one was also named for the character. |
USS Monitor NCC-61826 |
Nebula | Ironclad warship that fought for the Union in the American Civil War | Note that USS Merrimack and USS Monitor have adjacent registries as a reconciling gesture (although in such a case they should have properly named the other ship "USS Virginia" instead of USS Merrimack). |
USS Musashi | Miyamoto Musashi, a legendary Japanese samurai and swordsmith from the Tokugawa era, also name of a Japanese dreadnought of WW II that sunk during the Battle of Leyte Gulf on October 25, 1944 | ||
USS Mustang NCC-85343 |
Generic |
N
Name & registry | Class | Namesake | Annotations |
---|---|---|---|
USS Nash NCC-2010-5 |
Sydney | Unknown | The ship was named for Eric Nash, motion control technician at Image G. Unless he is starting a great political career, Starfleet probably wouldn't remember him despite all his merits. Read about the strange registry Uncertain Ship Names and Registries. |
USS Nautilus NCC-31910 |
Miranda | Captain Nemo's vessel in Jules Verne's novel 20,000 Leagues under the Sea and/or USS Nautilus SSN-571, the first submarine to reach the North Pole | |
USS Nebula | Nebula | Generic | |
Neptune | Neptune | Roman god of the seas (Greek equivalent: Poseidon), also name of the eighth planet of the Sol system | |
USS New Orleans | New Orleans | City in Louisiana, USA | The "City of New Orleans" legend |
USS Newton NCC-1727 |
Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727), English physicist, described the three laws of motion and laid the foundation for classical mechanics | ||
USS Niagara | Niagara | Niagara Falls, at the border between USA and Canada, also name of a brig that defeated the British Navy at the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812 | |
USS Neil Armstrong NCC-31806 |
Neil Armstrong (1930-2012), American astronaut and first man to set his foot on the Moon in 1969 | See also USS Armstrong | |
USS Niels Bohr | Niels Bohr (1885-1962), Danish Physicist, Nobel Prize Winner | ||
USS Nightwing NCC-8342 |
Unknown | ||
USS Non Sequitur NCC-12999 |
Uncertain | ||
USS Northridge | City in California, USA | ||
USS Norway | Norway | European country | If it was meant as a homage to Norway (rather than to the passenger ship Norway which happened to be named France previously), it was counterproductive to use the English name instead of the native Norge. |
USS Nobel NCC-55012 |
Olympic | Alfred Nobel (1833-1896), Swedish industrialist and initiator of the Nobel Prize | |
SS Norkova | Unknown | ||
USS Nova | Nova | A star explosion in astronomy |
O
Name & registry | Class | Namesake | Annotations |
---|---|---|---|
USS Oberth | Oberth | Hermann Oberth (1894-1989), German scientist and rocket pioneer | |
USS Odyssey NCC-71832 |
Galaxy | Homer's famous work about the journey of Odysseus, also name of the command module of Apollo 13 | The dedication plaque reads: "Its origin and purpose, still a total mystery." This is a clear homage to the movie "2001 - A Space Odyssey". Nevertheless, I think the ship rather has a real-world namesake. |
USS Odyssey | |||
SS Odin NGL-12535 | Germanic god, also known as Wodan | ||
USS Okinawa NCC-13958 |
Excelsior | Japanese island in the Chinese Sea | |
USS Olympia | Place in Greece, site of the ancient Olympic Games | ||
USS Olympic | Olympic | RMS Olympic, sister ship of the ill-fated Titanic | |
USS Omaha, Nebraska NCC-5252 |
Largest city of Nebraska | It is odd that the state name is appended to the name. | |
SS Oregon | State of the USA | ||
USS Orinoco NCC-72905 |
Danube | River in Venezuela |
P
R
Name & registry | Class | Namesake | Annotations |
---|---|---|---|
USS Rabin NCC-63923 |
Akira | Yitzhak Rabin (1922-1995), Israeli prime minister | |
USS Raman NCC-29487 |
Oberth | Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (1888-1970), physicist, Nobel Prize in physics 1930 | |
(U)SS Raven NAR-32450 |
Generic | Raven may refer to the novel by Edgar Allan Poe, but more likely the ship is just named for the bird in-universe. | |
USS Relativity NCV-474439-G | Wells | Theories of special and general relativity, conceived by Albert Einstein | The ship's motto is, "The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." (Albert Einstein) |
USS Reliant NCC-1864 |
Miranda | Generic | |
USS Renegade NCC-63102 |
New Orleans | Generic | |
USS Renaissance | Renaissance | Epoch in European history (ca. 1400-1600) | |
USS Republic NCC-1371 |
Constitution | Generic | More specifically, there is also USS Republic AP-33, a troop transport during World War II. |
USS Repulse NCC-2544 |
Excelsior | British battlecruiser in WW II | |
USS Revere NCC-595 |
Paul Revere (1734-1818), American participant in the Independence War | ||
USS Rio Grande NCC-72452 |
Danube | River in North America | |
USS Rhode Island NCC-72701 |
Nova | State of the USA | |
USS Rigel | Rigel | Brightest star in the constellation of Orion | |
SS Robert Fox NFT-1327 | Whorfin | Federation ambassador of the 23rd century | I wouldn't have named a ship for Robert Fox, but maybe most of his work was more successful than in TOS: "A Taste of Armageddon". |
USS Robert Louis Stevenson NCC-1281 |
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson (1850-1894), Scottish writer | ||
USS Roosevelt NCC-2573 |
Excelsior | Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) and/or Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945), Presidents of the United States | |
USS Rubicon NCC-72936 |
Danube | River in Italy that became famous when Julius Caesar's army crossed it in 49 B.C. | |
USS Rutledge NCC-57295 |
New Orleans | Edward Rutledge (1749-1800) and/or John Rutledge (1739-1800), American politicians |
S
T
Name & registry | Class | Namesake | Annotations |
---|---|---|---|
SS T'Pau NSP-17938 | Influential person on Vulcan in the 23rd century | ||
USS T'Kumbra | Nebula | Unknown | Obviously named for someone or something Vulcan |
T'Vran | Unknown | Obviously named for someone or something Vulcan | |
USS Tannu Tuva NCC-64924 |
Norway | Mountain region between Mongolia and Russia | |
USS Tecumseh NCC-14934 |
Excelsior | Shawnee Indian chief (1768-1813), directed Indian resistance to white rule in the Ohio River valley | |
USS Thomas Paine NCC-65530 |
New Orleans | Thomas Paine (1737-1809), American politician | |
USS Thunderchild NCC-63549 |
Akira | HMS Thunder Child, fictional vessel from H.G. Wells's novel The War of the Worlds | Curiously, it is indeed "Thunder Child" (two words) in the novel. |
USS Tian An Men NCC-21382 |
Miranda | Site where the Chinese democracy movement ended in a massacre in 1989 | |
USS Ticonderoga NCC-87270 |
Fort Ticonderoga in New York state | ||
USS Titan | Group of Greek mythological figures, also name of the largest moon of Saturn | This may also refer to the missile used to launch Cochrane's warp ship, but unlike the Phoenix the name Titan isn't that prominent in the Trek Universe. | |
USS Tolstoy NCC-62095 |
Rigel | Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910), Russian author | |
USS Tombaugh | Clyde William Tombaugh (1906-1997), American astronomer, discovered the planet Pluto in 1930 | ||
USS Tranquility Base NCC-19585 |
Landing site of the Apollo 11 mission | ||
USS Trial | Generic | ||
USS Trieste NCC-37124 |
Merced | Bathyscaphe of Jacques Piccard and Italian harbor city | |
USS Trinculo NCC-71867 |
Galaxy | Uncertain | Trinculo is a character in Shakespeare's The Tempest (see also Miranda). |
USS Tripoli NCC-19386 |
Hokule'a | Capital of Libya, site of a first battle of the US Marine Corps | |
USS Truman | Renaissance | Harry S. Truman (1884-1972), President of the United States | |
USS Truman (alt.) | |||
USS Tsiolkovsky NCC-53911 |
Oberth | Konstantin E. Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935), Soviet-Russian space pioneer | Embarrassingly, the plaque reads "K.Z. Tsiopkovskiy". |
USS Tycho NCC-85103 |
Craters on the Moon and on Mars, named for Tycho Brahe (1546-1601), Danish astronomer |
U
Name & registry | Class | Namesake | Annotations |
---|---|---|---|
USS Ulysses NCC-66808 |
Nebula | Greek name Odysseus, Hero in the Greek Homer's epics The Iliad and The Odyssey | |
USS Umibozu | Sea spirit in Japanese mythology | Name can be recognized in the remastered episode TNG-R: "Eye of the Beholder". | |
USS Unicorn | Generic |
V
W
Name & registry | Class | Namesake | Annotations |
---|---|---|---|
USS Wambundu | Wambundu | Unknown | The probably most mysterious ship name ever. Read Uncertain Ship Names and Registries. |
SS W.E.B. DuBois | American civil rights leader | ||
USS Wellington NCC-33821 |
Niagara | Arthur Wellesley, First Duke of Wellington (1769-1852), British politician, also name of New Zealand's capital | |
USS Wells | Wells | H.G. Wells (1866-1946), author of The Time Machine | |
USS White Sands NAR-0002 |
White Sands National Monument in New Mexico | The ship's name can be read in TNG-R: "Conspiracy" and may have been the same in the original episode. | |
SS Wisconsin | State of the USA | The ship's name can be read in TNG-R: "Inheritance". It was likely different in the original episode. | |
SS Whorfin | Whorfin | John Whorfin, captain of the historical vessel SS Buckaroo Banzai | John Whorfin was listed as the captain of the SS Buckaroo Banzai on an Okudagram in TNG: "Up the Long Ladder". This was an in-joke referring to John Lithgow's character in the film "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension". The in-joke was picked up in "Star Trek VI" as well as "Star Trek VII" by naming ships for Whorfin. |
USS Whorfin NCC-1024 |
|||
SS Woden | Woden, also known as Wodan or Odin, Norse/Germanic god | Woden is also a small city in Iowa. | |
USS Wolcott (alt.) | Unknown | ||
USS Wyoming NCC-43730 |
Mediterranean | State of the USA, also name of the battleship USS Wyoming BB-32 |
Y
Name & registry | Class | Namesake | Annotations |
---|---|---|---|
USS Yamaguchi NCC-26510 |
Ambassador | City in western Honshu, Japan | No, I don't think that the ship was named for the figure skater. Another possible namesake, however, is Vice Admiral Tamon Yamaguchi (1892-1942), who was killed in the Battle of Midway. |
USS Yamato NCC-71807 |
Galaxy | Japanese battleship in WW II, sunk near Okinawa on April 7, 1945 | Ship's quote: "I have sworn eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." (Thomas Jefferson) |
USS Yangtzee Kiang NCC-72453 |
Danube | Longest River of China | |
USS Yeager NCC-61947 |
Saber | Chuck Yeager, American pilot, first to break the sound barrier in 1947 | This registry, of course, is a homage to the date of the flight |
USS Yeager NCC-65674 |
|||
USS Yellowstone NCC-70073 |
Sequoia | Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA | |
USS Yellowstone NX-74751 |
Danube | ||
USS Yorkshire | Yorkshire | County in northern England | |
USS Yorktown NCC-1717 |
Constitution | US Navy aircraft carriers USS Yorktown CV-5 and USS Yorktown CV-10, both named for a battle site in Virginia during the American Revolutionary War | |
USS Yorktown | |||
USS Yorktown NCC-61137 |
Zodiac | ||
USS Yosemite NCC-19002 |
Oberth | Yosemite National Park, California, USA | |
USS Yukon NCC-74602 |
Danube | River in Alaska and Canada | |
USS Yuri Gagarin NCC-25306 |
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin (1934-1968), Soviet cosmonaut and first man in space |
Z
Name & registry | Class | Namesake | Annotations |
---|---|---|---|
USS Zapata NCC-33184 |
Surak | Emiliano Zapata (1879-1919), Mexican revolutionary | |
USS Zhukov NCC-26136 |
Ambassador | Unknown | The intended namesake was Marshal Grigory Konstantinovich Zhukov (1896-1974). But I don't think that the 24th century should honor a Soviet general, particularly not one of the Stalin era. |
USS Zodiac | Zodiac | Generic |
Credits
Some information taken from The Mighty Monkey of Mim's Ship List and Spike's Star Trek Page. Thanks to Maarten Diesen, Jan-Patrick Ziegler, Kyle Hill, Juan Carlos Holmes, Jeff, CJ Sitter, Dan Carlson, Thorsten, G2K, Marcin Synak, James Wade, Gregory Sheets, Raskol, Jonathan Doorse, GARba, Triton, Eugene Chan, Benjamin Recchie, Joseph Guendert, Ruben Hilbers, Micah Haber, Martin Blakey, Tyler, Bob Durie, Brian, Shik, Matt Chin and Weili Wang for additional hints and to Stacy Smith for two dedication plaques (from the Christie's auction catalogue).
Ships @ Spike's Star Trek Page |
Dedication plaques @ Memory Alpha |
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