Re: another explination attempt
Steven Boozer 
Wed, 25 Mar 1998 10:48:43 -0600 (CST)

: So far as I can tell, we have an incredible small sample of names
: from Vulcan only about 17: T'Pel, Selar, Saavik, T'Pau, T'Pal, T'Pan,
: Valeris, Sakketh, Sarek, Savar, Setok, Stonn, Spock, Sarek, Tuvok, 
: Vorick, and Torik. I call this a small sample since the poplulation
: of Vulcan lies in the tens of billions. Seventeen names out of many
: billions has no statistical significance.
: 
: Rob Z.

Not to mention the infamous T'Pring, "high priestess" T'Lar and Skonn
(Sarek's father, mentioned in ST3).  

Of these, several are from the same family (Spock, Sarek, Skonn, and T'Pau)
or the same region (T'Pau, Sarek, Spock, T'Pring, Stonn, T'Lar etc. - all
from Shi'Kahr?).  That these names are similar may also be the result of
familial, regional, ethnic, philosophical/religious preferences. 

The classic fan analysis is that Vulcan male names consist of five letters,
begin in "S" and end in "K" (often with "R" in between), apparently modeled
on "Surak".  Some have speculated that this pattern is primarily used by
those families particularly attached to Surak's philosophy.  *IF* this is
true, it is just possible that Tuvok and Torik are variations of this
restrictive pattern (substituting "T" for "S") and Vorick may be yet another
("V" for "S"). 

However fascinating it is to speculate, Rob is of course correct that such a
statistically insignificant sample is meaningless.  Still, it would be
interesting if someone were to collect *all* Vulcan names from every
authorized pro novel and episode just to see if there are any patterns in a
larger sample of (semi-canonical) material.
 

 

 
_________________________________________________________________________
Steven Boozer   The University of Chicago Library   s-boozer*uchicago,edu