Alien species name?

[caters]

What should I call this alien species? They are humanoid in external form but can reproduce with or without a male. They have an egg pouch that expands to hold all their eggs and keeps them at the right temperature. Oogenesis with a male is the same as ours. Without a male, oogenesis is basically mitosis with genetic crossover. Twins and triplets can all successfully hatch from 1 egg. The babies drink mother's milk and at a certain age, they start reproducing. Mother aliens have to be careful not to fall or they will break their eggs.

The reason I am asking this is because at some point a human might ask them "What kind of alien are you that is so friendly that you are taking us to another planet?"

 

[Queshire]

That's up to you man. You're the one writing it, not us. Gotta make your own choices.

 

[ThinkerX]

Lessee...

You need the formal name - what your aliens call themselves. Being alien, you might go the unpronounceable route.

Next, you need the formal human designation, possibly derived from either where they first appeared on earth, or from the constellation/star they originated from.

Second human formal designation, this being a human pronounceable version of the aliens name for themselves.

And then various slang names, based on appearance, habits, rifts on the formal names, that sort of thing. Maybe 'selfies' from your description - no mate required to reproduce.

 

[skip.knox]

What Queshire said.

 

[Reaver]

Looking at your posts in this and other threads, I have to say that it seems like you're aiming to write hard science fiction. In all honesty, this isn't a very popular genre and has a very narrow albeit very loyal fan base.

Having said that, you need to make sure that you get the science absolutely right or you'll never hear the end of it. Fans of that genre will pick apart every tiny detail to ensure accuracy.

Regarding the OP: What Skip said.

 

[SaltyDog]

Like Queshire said, it's up to you. I always just throw some stuff together to create a name of a race, but for you, does the race have a specific trait that they then were named after? Does it mean something in their language? What does it mean in their language? Just some ideas but it really has to come from you.

Good luck!

 

[caters]

I know that it is all up to me but this is 1 area where I am weak. I am great in astronomy level worldbuilding, anatomy and physiology of non human races, especially humanoid ones, figuring out culture, mapping a planet(though I have never gone that far because planet mapping software as far as I know is expensive but I know I can do it), and incorporating this into my writing. But race naming is much harder for me than planet naming or character naming. This is partly because there are so many things I could name them after. For example my Kepler Bb humanoids could be called any of these things:

Cavemen(They do basically build their own caves with smooth rocks, natural clay, soil, wood, grass, etc.)
Homo Upliftus(They have so many anatomical differences that make them better overall(2 hearts, higher lung capacity, second stomach for storing food during nauseous times, Protein storage organ that stores any excess protein before muscle injury and during muscle injury releases it to the injured muscle(thus their muscle building or conservation during injury) etc.)
Homo Power(They have the ability to have powers as a genetic trait)
Homo Under(They live primarily underground)
etc.

So this is why I usually avoid naming my species and just call them aliens or humanoids or whatever.

 

[Peter Himin]

have you ever thought of just giving you alien species a scientific name like anthromori ovostromaea which means human like egg layer

 

[bdcharles]

Personally I go the gibberish route. Sometimes, of course, coming up with the right bit of gibberish can be a bit tricky - it may sound "not quite right", so you have to know how to get your mind in the right condition to come up with stuff. Meditation can help, as can some absorbing task like gardening, painting, etc., even driving, where your mind is free to roam and stumble on this sort of thing.

Failing that just give them a nickname based on what they do. Your Kepler Bbs live under ground, so brainstorm it; why not call them low men, undermen, below-grounders, undergrounders, cavers, (that's almost your username!), tunnelers, the mole people, anything; double-gutters - and hey, yes, lets go with the plumbing theme, twin-tubers, tubers, it can go on. I have a race of people in my WIP called Bluebirds. That's not their actual name but what people call them because they're blue ... and they have wings ... simple.