Sci-Fi Names: Beyond Zorg and Zalga

What? No Slartibartfast? Haha. Only kidding, but Hitchhiker’s Guide does have a lot of wonderful names like Arthur, Ford, Marvin, and Fenchurch.

Also, my favorite sci-fi movie from last year was Moon, which had the classic names Sam and Tess (along with GERTY).

Really good blog, btw! I love science fiction and all of the names that come out of it.

No Simon? What is this sadness? That’s the only name out of Firefly that I might actually use!

I never realized all those treasures were hidden in sci-fi. I’ll have to watch some of these! Great blog!

I immediately thought of Ryker, although when I looked it up I found it’s actually Riker, as in William Riker from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Riker doesn’t appear in the top 1000, but Ryker was at #353 last year.

For girls, I thought of Ziyal. I’m not a huge fan of the spelling – I had to look it up. But the pronunciation “Zee-elle” is pretty. She was a half Cardassian, half Bajoran character on Star Trek: DS9.

Another possible one for girls is Kes, an Ocampa from Star Trek: Voyager.

River is also used in Doctor Who and the character is fantastic. (giggle. To any Doctor Who new series fans, I did that on purpose).

There are some great names in that series too and in its spinoffs (Torchwood and the Sara Jane Adventures).

I’ll admit to not really being all that into Sci-Fi. I did watch Star Trek NG regularly though. My husband is, like so many guys, into Star Wars, but not that much (when I compare him to a super-fan like his friend Danny, he’s not even on the scale!)… We had a running half-joke during my last pregnancy that our son’s middle would be Skywalker. He kept suggesting it only half in jest. I did finally concede Jedi if he really needed to have a Star Wars name in the middle, but he dropped it.

All that said, had I realized all the names that are not strictly Sci-Fi, but are instead *also* sci-fi, I’d have been much more receptive. (After all, my name is up there under Star Wars and I frankly had no idea it featured in the books.)

I really enjoy Malcolm, Korben (although the spelling would be tough for me to embrace), Holden, and even Davin on the boys side. For girls, Samara, Deanna, Liara, Lorelei, and Athene are nice ones. And people like me would never know there was a sci-fi connection!

Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Darkover series had quite a few names that would work well:

Girls: Callista, Cleindori, Diotima (Dio), Dorilys, Ellemir, Elorie, Marguerida, Miralys, Yllana

Katherine Kurtz’s Deryni series:
Boys: Aidan, Alaric, Brion, Camber, Cathal, Conall, Javan, Joram, Kelson, Nygel, Rhys, Tieg

Girls: Araxie, Evaine, Jehana, Jenniver, Jerusha, Meraude, Rhysel, Richeldis, Rohana, Sidana

I’m not one for made up names, (of course I know many of these are in fact, not made up), but I do actually like the sound of these:

LIARA
INARA
SERENITY
MOYA
ZHORA
PADMÉ
DELIAH BLUE
BRIA
WINTER
SELA
LORELEI
HARISHKA
RINYA

Interesting list, but I have to say I’m a bit disappointed in the names that actually made the cut here.

You list Leia, but not Han? And I would far rather name my child after a cool Star Wars character, even Boba Fett or Bossk before I name him Dengar.

Seriously? Dengar?

Woe to the person to actually names their child Dengar — the LAMEST bounty hunter in creation, who looks like his head has been wrapped in toilet paper.

I would have to highly recommend to anyone who may fall in love with any of the names on this list to please read the source materials before naming your child after them if you haven’t already.

Sure Jubal may be a ‘jovial writer’ but he is also a self described “bon vivant, gourmet, sybarite, popular author extraordinary, neo-pessimist philosopher, devout agnostic, professional clown, amateur subversive, and parasite by choice.”

And a bit of a misogynist. And not a character I would want to name my baby after.

Not sure if it was just me, but Firefly began to soud like a very cool mn choice!

Lorelei Lee is also the name of Rory, from Gilmore Girls.

Deliah has to be my favourite.

I had a bit of a laugh reading this, I am named Alia after the character in Dune. Actually most Alias I a have met, especially those born in the late 70′s to 80′s have been named after this character.
Obviously this book inspired a few brave namers.

I am not a huge sci-fi fan, but these names are really great! I really liked Cade…just Cade…for a boy, and Talon/Talyn.
Liara and Bria are really pretty and could totally see that as a sibset.

Jubal is also a biblical name, the inventor of the harp. I’ve got a second cousin named Jubal.

Thanks for all the other name ideas, guys! Obviously I couldn’t hit every fabulous sci-fi series, as it was long already, and I tried not to include well-known, commonly used names (which is why Simon and Han aren’t listed). The goal was to find sci-fi names that are more rare/unique but are actually usable, and we all know tastes vary on that front.

As a side note, I struggled long and hard before including Corellia on this list. It’s my choice if I have a second daughter, and I don’t want it stolen. But I shared in the spirit of nameberry!

Linelei–I had Corellia on MY short list too!

Oh, wait, among us baby namers sharing a favorite name could either bond us or make us enemies…..erm…..

I’d like to respectfully add Duncan and Liet to the list. I know in the Dune books Liet Kynes is a guy, but I always thought it would be a killer nn for Juliet.

Also, no Jean-Luc or Sisko? Or Vala from Stargate?

And last but certainly not least, names from OSC’s Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow series: Ender, Valentine and Petra. Not to mention Bean/Julian. Can’t tell you how many babies I’ve met who’ve been nn-ed “Bean”, especially while in utero.

Great blog. I really enjoyed reading about sci-fi names. There are so many, it’s hard to get them all.

Technically, Kaylee Frye from Firefly is Kaywinnit Lee Frye. I like Kaywinnit way too much.

Sachiko – Fabulous names, and important additions. I should have added Stargate names! I adore Stargate!

And, since I love your name choices for your kids, I’ll say that our shared favorite will bond us. I’d call Corellia Cora for short.

[...] And some science fiction names for your baby. Also [...]

Have to mention the names of the children of a friend of mine. His oldest daughter is Perelandra, from the Narnia books, and a son named Elric, from Michael Moorcock of course.

It would be Bail Organa, not Antilles… Antilles was the name of the captain of the blockade runner that Leia was on, who owned the two droids before being killed by Vader.

Ok my husband and I are having a baby girl and we really like the name Inara Grace. The only problem is EVERYONE we have told this name to hates it. It’s not that I care so much, as long as we like it, but do I have blinders on or something? I think it is a super cute name and I know I personally would probably call her Ina for short. Any opinions??

My son is named Gabriel Sephiroth and my daughter is Seraphim Serenity

Sci-Fi is the best, i love sci-fi movies, books and stuffs like that. I am a man of science that is why i love it ”;

How about Sci-Fi game names
Boy – Valerian, Raynor, Brann, Arthas, Lothar
Girl – Kerrigan, Jaina, Samantha, Ripley

These are from Warcraft, Starcraft, Aliens, and Samantha was already mentioned, but she is from Stargate.