Named After Their Planet: Difference between revisions

* In the ''[[Sector General]]'' books, everyone calls his race "human" and his homeworld "Earth" when run through the translator. Every race is given a four-letter code that describes their environment and requirements. Generally, the other species are named after their world but humans are just called "Earth-humans" suggesting that either [[Humans Are Special]], or they're just unimaginative.

** Or that unlike other species they are not limited to a single planet?

* The asteroid belt miners in [[Larry Niven]]'s stories call themselves "Belters".

* The Race in [[Harry Turtledove]]'s ''Worldwar'' series call their homeworld "Home" and Earth "Tosev 3". (Tosev being the Sun.) Humans are dubbed Tosevites.

* The ''[[Young Wizards]]'' universe simultaneously uses and averts this trope; almost every species (or, every dominant species, anyway - this isn't an issue with the other wizarding species on Earth, of which we see whales and cats) calls themselves "humans" and their planet "Earth" in their own language, but after this is noted in ''High Wizardry'', they're usually referred to by names derived from their homeworld's name. It gets a [[Call Back]] occasionally, such as the conversation at the start of ''Wizards at War'', when [[Human Aliens|Roshaun]] objects to being called a humanoid: "''I'' am the human. ''You're'' the humanoids."

 

* Common in ''[[Star Trek]]''. The vast majority of the species are named after their homeworld. They do have exceptions, like the Humans (Earth), Klingons (Qo'nos), Borg (homeworld unknown as no origin story was ever told for them)...

** Of course, in the [[Parallel Universe]] featured in DS9, humans are all called Terrans.

*** Well, "terra" is Latin for "earth"; you just wouldn't use this form in Latin.

** The Romulans are notable for calling themselves after a world they didn't originate on. They left Vulcan 2000 years ago after refusing to follow Surak's philosophy, found a habitable planet, called it Romulus, and changed their own name. Actually, some [[Expanded Universe]] novels claim that this is [[Translation Convention]] by humans.

** All of which is basically the same as calling someone from New York a "New Yorker" or someone from Germany a "German".

** In one episode, a human alien refers to SG-1 as ''Earthens''. Jonas Quinn then "corrects" her to ''Earthlings''. Otherwise, humans from Earth go by the Goa'uld name Tau'ri to distinguish from other humans. It is implied that this name was used for the planet as well, but as both names were assigned by the Goa'uld on discovery, this doesn't quite count.

** According to [[Word of God]], "Centauri" is a misnomer of sorts - the first human/Centauri contact occurred in the Alpha Centauri system, and the humans assumed the Centauri home planet was in that area. It wasn't, but the term stuck in the English language.

** [[Abusive Precursors|The Shadows]] come from Z'ha'dum, although their true name is unknown. They just like everybody calling them "Shadows".

** Lampshaded with the Slitheen (of the Raxacoricofallapatorius Slitheen), who correct the cast, stating that it's their last name, not their species. Sometimes the name is applied to the species as well, especially in fandom, but they are correctly known as Raxacoricofallapatorians.

** In the [[Extended Universe]], Sontar is an inversion: a general named Sontar conquered the planet, had all future members of the [[Me's a Crowd|species be his clones]] and [[Egopolis|re-named the world and species after himself.]]

** Also, the Cybermen weren't always called Cybermen. It was only after they were forced to become cyborgs that they renamed themselves. The Daleks are also an artificial race (a forced mutation of the [[Human Alien]] Kaleds by a [[Mad Scientist]]).

* Every alien race in ''[[Tracker]]''.

* The Jaridians in ''[[Earth: Final Conflict]]'' come from Jaridia, although it may not be their original homeworld, given that they used to be the same species as the Taelons. After the split, the Taelons settled another world in the Q'ruu'faa system of the Ma'hu'ra'va galaxy, calling it Taelon. This makes it the reverse case. This was the Taelon homeworld for hundreds of millions of years.

** It's implied that the [[Our Vampires Are Different|Atavus]] homeworld (which isn't named in the show) was the original homeworld of the Jaridians and Taelons.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* ''[[D20 Modern|d20 Future]]'' both plays this trope straight and averts it, seemingly at random. Aleerins hail from the planet Aleer, in the Vax Aleer system; Dralasites hail from the planet Terledrom, in the Fromeltar system; Fraal hail from the planet Yrvuun, in a supernova'd system; Sesheyans hail from the planet Sheya, in the Vechlar system; T'sa hail from the planet Ki'inroh, in the T'saka system; Vrusk hail from the planet K'zah-Kit, in the K'aken-Kar system; Weren hail from the planet Kurg, in the Taragwa system; and Yazirians hail from the planet Hakosoar, in the Scree Fron system.

 

== Toys ==

* In ''[[Invader Zim]]'', the Irkens are from Irk. Amusingly, Zim follows a version of the trope himself: before landing on Earth he referred to its inhabitants as "Earthenoids," and referred to the extinct Martians as "Marsoids."

** The species from planet Vort are referred to as Vorts. ([[Beam Me Up, Scotty|Not Vortians]].) [[Averted]] with the creatures from Blorch, [[Descriptively Named Species|which are called]] [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|the Slaughtering Rat People]].

** This is also averted with the Mutants, who hailed from Plundarr.

* Neosapiens in ''[[Exo Squad]]'' always refer to ''homo sapiens sapiens'' as "Terrans." This works because the Neosapiens were created on Mars and regard it as their homeworld, and it is simpler than using the full species name. "Human" refers to both species.

* [[Transformers|Cybertronians]] are from the planet Cybertron.

 

== Web Original ==