Whats in a name

[Spey_Phantom]

how do i come up with names for my whiffs.....

[ChrisF]

Ive been thinking about this one myself... As i have a MIG29 in RAF service on my bench now :/

Any ideas ?

[Maverick]

Chris, I'd think it depends on the backstory.  Is it a Russian aircraft being used by the RAF?  If so, 'Fighting Fulcrum' seems the most appropriate, but if it is the product of an alternate universe and is from BAe, Supermarine or an other iconic manufacturers' stable, then the world is your oyster.

Regards,

Mav

[Mossie]

With my whiffs I like to try & find as close a name as possible to what might have been used.  So like others that means using naming conventions, but also trying to match those used by the relevant forces at the time.  For instance, during WWII names that sat well with the USAAF didn't with the RAF & were changed.  So I check lists of names & stuff to see what would have fitted, also to see what's available in the time frame.

For NATO code names, it's relatively easy as they're a set letter.  So I type 'H words' into Google for example, for helicopters & there are several links listing hundreds of words, for Scrable fans for instance.  I go down the list & pick out a few I like.  Random words of one or two syllables are used so it's not difficult to find several that sond right.  For my aborted Ka-58 build I picked out about 30 words!  The intention was to use a different name in each update & see what settled, but people jumped on the very first one I chose (Hagfish) & that settled.

For ship names, Wiki has dozens of lists for navies, often by ship type.  Just type 'list of Royal Navy frigates' into Google for example & there's a Wiki list.  This can help you in two ways, to find a historical name that might fit, or avoid using a name that's already taken.

[scooter]

For ship names, Wiki has dozens of lists for navies, often by ship type.  Just type 'list of Royal Navy frigates' into Google for example & there's a Wiki list.  This can help you in two ways, to find a historical name that might fit, or avoid using a name that's already taken.

I just dig into my handy reprint copy of Jane's Fighting Ships of World War II

[Weaver]

The standard joke with ship names is to take a series of "characteristic" names and add unflattering ones to it.

So

Furious
Courageous
Invincible
Excellent

might spawn:

Spurious (the real nickname of HMS Furious...)
Outrageous (ditto for Courageous)
Insufferable
Execrable

[ChernayaAkula]

Funny, absurd option: Use Captchas! 
These annoying things must be good for something. And they work surprisingly well with ships!

Haven't you heard about the...
HMS Warrok Denty?
ORP Woziha Bijew?
INS Unbadnar?
IJN Misasai?

[Weaver]

Another joke name principle is the "Asterix name" as used in the comic books. The idea here is that the name looks authentic when written down, i.e. it conforms to the stereotype of what a word in that language "should" look like, but when said out loud, it actually sounds like something funny or ironic.

Some real examples from Asterix:

Unhygenix (Gaulish fishmonger - his wife was called Bacteria)
Vitalstatistix (fat Gaulish chieftain)
Dubius Status (Roman spy)
Truli Devius (another Roman spy)

and to my mind, the pinnacle of achievment in this field:

Senda Victorius and Appian Glorius (two Roman guards in the Collesium)  

You can apply this to any language that has an expected "look". Russian is a favorite with it's "-ov" and "-ova" endings:

Ivan Armov (wounded Russian war hero)
Ivan Adabolokov (really unlucky wounded Russian war hero)
Ukan Bugarov (KGB Border Guard vessel)
Tarachuk and Opitova (two defecting Russian ballet dancers)


Japanese is good for it too:

IJN Yuanusame (defiant Japanese warship)
IJN Bongo (Japanese warship with particularly loud props)

[philp]

Most of my Whiff builds are also just repaints so the name pretty much stays the same but I do have a few odd ones. 

My Hawker Henneway is named as a joke (what's a Henneway? About 5 pounds).

My JagdSherman still needs an "official" name (probably a US Civil War General).

So, guess I am kinda all over the board.

[tigercat]

Apparently some of our Escort Carriers had a series of names revived from 1797 ending in -er which are said to be derived from a pack of foxhounds belonging to the second Earl of Spencer who wqs the first lord of the Admirality.

[NARSES2]

Apparently some of our Escort Carriers had a series of names revived from 1797 ending in -er which are said to be derived from a pack of foxhounds belonging to the second Earl of Spencer who wqs the first lord of the Admirality.

Probably correct when you think about them  I always thought they sounded like Santa's reserve reindeer 

Must admit I try not to reuse old names but then realise that both the RAF and USAAC/USAAF/USAF always have (it's traditional in the RN so no problem there), does anyone know if there's a "decent period of time" before the RAF will reuse a name ?

[Weaver]

Apparently some of our Escort Carriers had a series of names revived from 1797 ending in -er which are said to be derived from a pack of foxhounds belonging to the second Earl of Spencer who wqs the first lord of the Admirality.

Probably correct when you think about them   I always thought they sounded like Santa's reserve reindeer  

Must admit I try not to reuse old names but then realise that both the RAF and USAAC/USAAF/USAF always have (it's traditional in the RN so no problem there), does anyone know if there's a "decent period of time" before the RAF will reuse a name ?

Well a name certainly can't be re-used until there are no examples of the previous plane in service anywhere. Beyond that, how many have the RAF actually re-used? I can think of:

Typhoon
Tornado (hardly a re-use, given that the WWII version never entered service)
Nimrod
Venom (again, barely counts: the Vickers Venom was a private name for a private-venture prototype)
Lightning
Argosy


Not enough to establish a trend really, and when you look into how names are assigned, the process seems highly variable. Sometimes it goes to committees, sometimes it comes from the industry, sometimes there's a public or service competition, sometimes it gets all political, sometimes the Chief of the Air Staff just tells everybody and that's that.

[tigercat]

when, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
but a Escort Carrier Group, and eight tiny carri - eer,
with reliable old Swordfish , so stately and slow,
but still able to strike a devastating blow.

Smaller than Eagle these carriers were,
Combustable, Vulnerable and Expendable, a torpedo lure
"Now, Biter! Now, Stalker! Now, Striker, and Vindex!
"On, Tracker! On, Trouncer! On, Ranee and Rajah!

The Royal Navy seem to be more organised with a ship naming committee and at one point all names having to be signed off by the Monarch. They also seemed to have tried to keep names relating to similarly powerful ships so a name applied to a first rate in sailing days would grace a battleship and then a carrier although changes had to be made as ship types changed and the navy grew then shrunk.

[tigercat]

"the modern royal navy has a class naming structure and is slowly going through the alphabet giving names such as the current type 45 are all D, so they could be called the "D" class destroyers the next available letter is "F" so my type 26 will have the name beginning with that letter"


Just out of curiousity why not E class?

[NARSES2]

Well a name certainly can't be re-used until there are no examples of the previous plane in service anywhere. Beyond that, how many have the RAF actually re-used? I can think of:

Typhoon
Tornado (hardly a re-use, given that the WWII version never entered service)
Nimrod
Venom (again, barely counts: the Vickers Venom was a private name for a private-venture prototype)
Lightning
Argosy


Not enough to establish a trend really, and when you look into how names are assigned, the process seems highly variable. Sometimes it goes to committees, sometimes it comes from the industry, sometimes there's a public or service competition, sometimes it gets all political, sometimes the Chief of the Air Staff just tells everybody and that's that.

Youre right there's only a couple more I can think of - Walrus, Bulldog, Domminie - dosn't seem to be a trend at all