Why are there so many words in science fiction that end in the sound ‘ck’?

I’ve been wondering about the vocabulary of science fiction, especially word endings like ‘ck’ and ‘x’. I thought the answer to why there were so many was easy and obvious. But as usual, when I looked into it, the reasons for science fiction using so many ‘ck’ and ‘c’ endings is complicated and raises other questions. My first thought was that in the Star Trek universe there is a theory that thanks to the success of Captain Kirk writers inventing sci fi names have to include a ‘K’ sound. Thus we got Captain Picard and Captain Sisko. Captain Janeway was doomed to fail because she had no ‘k’ sound in her name, and Archer was only half way there in Enterprise but he did have Trip Tucker to help him out.

But this theory really doesn’t explain why so many science fiction names and words end in ‘c’ or ‘ck’.

Here’s what a quick review of sci fi proper names brings up:

Adric (Doctor Who); Alec (Swamp Thing + 7 more);

Babcock (X-files: Gethsemane); Barak (Buck Rogers); Blokk (Shadow Raiders); Bray’tac (Stargate); Burke (Planet of the Apes);

Chick (QL Good Morning, Peoria ); Chuck (Screamers + 14 more); Clark (Babylon 5); Clank (Ratchett and Clank); Cruikshank (D? The Invisible Enemy);

Derek (Teenagers from Outer Space + 8 more); Dink (Ender’s Game); Dick (Third Rock from the Sun + 5 more); Dirkim (Blake’s 7: Star One); Draysick (Enterprise: North Star); Durka (Farscape: Durka Returns);

Eric (XF Anasazi/Jericho + 17 more); Erek (Animorphs/Kim Possible);

Flenteck (Crusade); Frank Black (Millenium); Frank (22 characters and counting); Fro’tak (Stargate: Family);

Garrack (Deep Space Nine); Gromak (Slider’s: Revelations); Gromek (Next Generation: The Emissary); Grunchlk (Farscape: Die Me, Dichotomy).

Hank (Lois and Clark: the Green, Green Glow of Home)/Lexx: Xevivor /Stepford Wives 2 et al); Havoc (X-Men); Hawk (Captain Power); Hulk (The Incredible Hulk);

Jack (Stargate et al); Jake ( Deep Space Nine, Animorphs et al); Jar Jar Binks (Star Wars: Phantom Menace); Jarvik (Blake 7); Jesek (The Miles Vorkosigan series).

Kirk (Star Trek); Kobick (The Land of the Giants); Krycek (X-files);

Laraq (Roswell); Luke (Star Wars + 11 more);

Mark (Ac=e Lightning +11 more); Marduk (SG1 Thor’s Hammer ); Mick (City Limits et al); Monk (Damnation Alley); Mork (Mork and Mindy);

Nick (The Girl from Tomorrow + 27 more );

Ock (Babylon 5 Born to the Purple)

Patrick (Finders Keepers + 7 more); Psylocke (X-Men)

Quark (Deep Space Nine);

Radek (Stargate Atlantis); Radic-Q-2 (The Shape of Things to Come); Rick (Bladerunner + 12 more); Robotnik (Sonic the Hedgehog); Ry’ac (Stargate: Family);

Sarek (Star Trek); Solek (Stargate Company of Thieves); Sonic (Sonic the Hedgehog); Sovak (Next Generation: Captain’s Holiday); Spock (Star Trek); Starbuck (Battlestar Galactica); Stark (Farscape/Invasion America/ Iron Man);

Teal’c (Stargate); Tok (Blake 7: Assassin’Enterprise: Breaking the Ice); Tolek (Andromeda:So Burn the Untamed Lands); Tomalak (Next Generation: The Defector); Tomasick (XF: Underneath); Tuvok (Star Trek Voyager);

Vereck (Farscape);

Wolancjek (seaQuest);

York (Hyperdrive);

Zarek (The Fantastic Planet/Battlestar Galactica 2); Zarrick (Megas XLR); Zek (Deep Space Nine: The Nagus);

Zeke (Dogstar/The Faculty/); ZikZak Corporation (Max Headroom); Zignamuclickclick (Ringworld).

Did You Notice?

There are no female names in this list! This was not deliberate on my part, mostly. There was one ( a Vulcan female) so I took it out. There are plenty of normal Anglo-Saxon male names in the list, but no female names. Coincidentally there are not many Anglo-Saxon women’s names ending in ‘ck’, so perhaps the omission is forgivable. But if you go back to the Captain Kirk Theory, ‘ck’ or ‘c’ is a strong ending to a word, indicating that the character is strong (whether good or evil). So we have a Vulcan woman called Saavik in Star Trek III, and Vulcan women are strong. IN Stargate Bloodlines Teal’c wife is called Drey’auc, but then all his family names end in ‘c’.

But when I looked at other languages (Russian, French, Spanish, Italian) this is not the case – if you accept an ‘a’ after the ‘ck’ or ‘c’ sound you get quite a few female names. And some of these do get used:

Annika (Star Trek Voyager) Seven’s real name;

Beka (Andromeda);

Bianca (Wicked Science/ X-files: Medusa);

Erica (Team Knight Rider); E.R.I.C.A. (Sliders: State of the Art);

Francesca (Clockstoppers);

Lyekka (Lexx :Lyekka);

Nikka (Stargate:Scorched Earth); Nikki (Torchwood: Adrift/The 4400 + 2 more); Niko (The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers);

Rebec (Doctor Who: Planet of the Daleks); Rebecca (Tank Girl/ The Core + 16 others)

Tinker (Maximo vs Army of Zin);

That’s 77 guys names to 11 female, without counting variations of male names like Nicky, Rocky or Winky and Blake, Jake and Snake. But the women with these names are strong characters who take control of their situations.

The only other female name of note is the heroine of Sassinak by Anne McCaffrey, and that name is an insult in the language of my ancestors!

So is the form of the English language doing this?

No. I think not. On a quick Google you can come up with a list of hundreds of English words ending in ‘ck’. You don’t have to include ‘c’ as an ending. When you go through one of these lists an interesting point comes up. Many of the words are from Old English and are what we would call ‘Anglo-Saxon’. For example:

Beck (beckon), black, brock, cock, crock, crack, duck, flock, hack, hock, knock, lick, neck, pick, pock, puck, quack, rick, rock, sack, smack (your lips); sock, suck, smack, thick, thwack.

Some words come from Old Norse (via the Viking invasion of England):

Beck ( a stream) ; fleck; ruck;

Another group of words came from Old French (presumably through the Norman invasion of England):

Brick; mock; muck; track; wreck.

There were a few words from Middle Dutch (presumably from trade):

Deck; Duck (cloth); Rack; Smack (boat); Snack;

And then there were plenty of words from Middle English.

Duck (verb); kick; lack; nock; pack

So there are lots of very old words in English that end in ‘ck’, indicating they probably came from the Germanic languages.

· They are short words which are easy to say and easy to build into compound words.

· They rhyme, making them good words to use in oral poetry.

· They’ve got lots of good things going for them, so we’ve kept them even when we end up with two or three different meanings for the same sound.

· And we have lots of male names ending in ‘ck’. Germanic women’s names don’t end in ‘ck’, or ‘a’, so we don’t have a stock of old, dependable girl’s names ending in ‘ck’.

Aren’t there other words in Sci Fi ending in ‘ck’ or ‘c’ ?

Yes, there are other sci fi words ending in ‘ck’ and’c’, with another interesting pattern:

Planets

Chulak (Stargate); Crinnok 14 (Lexx:Trip); Guk (Terrahawks); Marduk( Andromeda: Slipfighter the Dogs of War); Merak( McCaffrey, The Ship Who Sang); Meylec (A Wrinkle In Time); Ork (Mork and Mindy);

Alien races

Ashrak (Stargate: In the Line of Duty); Dalek (Doctor Who); Dentic (Farscape); Drakh (Babylon 5); Drak (Farscape: Exodus from Genesis); Ewok (Star Wars); Formic (Ender’s Game); Karack metalites (Farscape); Mynock (The Empire Strikes Back); Tavlek (Farscape: With Friends Like These); Terrahawks (Terrahawks); Yeerk (Animorphs).

Titles and Group names

Anla’shok (Babylon 5); Cyberjack (Cyberjack); Freejack (Freejack); Impsec (Miles Vorkosigan series); Tank (Space Above and Beyond); Vedek (Deep Space Nine); Warlock (Crusade)

Food and Drink:

Bubbleshock (Sarah-Jane Adventures: invasion of the Bane); Enyac milk (Deep Space Nine: ties of Blood and Water); Grolak (Farscape: Lava’s a Many Splendored thing); Jilnak (Farscape: Lava’s a Many Splendored thing); Plomeek soup or broth (Deep Space Nine: The Maquis/Enterprise); Vak clover soup (Deep Space Nine: Melora); Yamok sauce (Deep Space Nine Destiny);

Gagh – a Star Trek Klingon specialty – is debatable, depending on its pronunciation.

Random Shoes

Drackik (Farscape: Die Me, Dichotomy); Eurac (The Invaders: The Summit); Mivonks (Farscape: Eat Me); Nuyock (Bladerunner); Tac (Stargate: Rules of Engagement)

So?

Alien species, places, planets and food are given strong names, but generally weapons, spaceships, star-drives and other more technological features are not included. They are developed with prefixes, but that’s another blog.

How to make it sound Scientriffic