Ship names should not be unique. The ship ID should be. This would fit with real life, where ships have unique hull numbers that are registered with a "common name" that is painted across the bow and or on the stern. Seriously, head over to the USCG site (linked below) and see how many vessels carry common names, and how they are registered. Granting unique names will not be viable long term, and is a very short sighted move that can only server to cause strife in the community. Even if the unique name is limited to hulls it still means that players choosing to earn their vessel in game are at a distinct disadvantage to backers with regard to writing their own story. This is not like the supposedly small financial advantage granted by LTI, nor the somewhat larger but non-unique advantage conferred by starting the game with a more advanced ship. This is directly messing with a players own self driven story about their own personal character. This is CIG telling me I can no longer be Lucus, pilot of a ship called "The Dark Horse", if that name so happens to be taken by some other person. Now that person is the only person who has that name, weather they are notable or not. They, by default, have the ship called "The Dark Horse". And if they decide to play for a week and then log forever tough luck, no one else gets to make a name (both figuratively and literally) under that ship title. I would far rather have to make a name for my ship using actual reputation. Sure there may be a dozen ships called "The Dark Horse", but you know what? I'm the badass that single handedly took down that kingship, so when people see a ship with that name they have to ask "is that The Dark Horse, or is that just some dude who liked the name?" As it stands it seems that I will be stuck with whatever name is available should I choose to run that hull. I do not get to choose a name that fits my character, or that means something to me, or that may just sound cool in the moment. Instead I will be stuck trying variations such as "xXxTheDarkHorsexXx!!1!" until something sticks. This was a bad move, no matter how they try to spin it. Ship names should be personal, and mean something to the person who chooses the name. This means that they should not be told to pick something else because some OB snapped up the name before the game even launched, then moved on to the next big game and left the name locked forever. They should have stuck to hull number/name, and let us pick a name that meant the most to us. This is something that should have been discussed with the community well ahead of the planed launch at the very least. An interesting observation by @Turtlewing: The desirability of a reserved name is directly proportonate to the number of other people who get shafted by you having the reservation, as if your name was sufficiently creative that no one else though of it you'll be unique juts from that. It's pretty much guaranteed to cause drama. Edit: a way out for CIG; convert the perk to a unique vanity hull ID, and let ship names go back to being personal. Edit: Another option is to have a name check when naming a ship: "The ship name "Titan" is already registered with faction X on hull type Y since Date 1, and faction Z with hull type A since Date 2. Do you still wish to continue with this name?" This would still allow players to check for uniqueness (according to their own particular definitions) but would not lock them out of the name they want. This could also check for the existence of a vanity hull ID as well, and give them the option to purchase it if it is not already taken, or let them modify the vanity hull ID until it is unique. Edit: here is a link to the FAQ on the ship names for the 600i: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/spectrum/community/SC/forum/1/thread/origin-600i-ship-naming-faqs Edit: here is a link to a much, much earlier FAQ about names and handles: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/12959-Poll-Star-Citizens-Naming-System. this FAQ seems to show that the 600i unique naming convention is a broken promise, as the FAQ contains this quote: " you’re going to need to be able to give a personal name to your ship. These names will not be unique, but they will display in-game. " So not only were we supposed to get non-unique character names, but ship names were also supposed to be non-unique. I know many will say that it is not a broken promise since the name could technically still be used on another hull type, but to them I say while that is letting them off on a technicality, this promotion is definitely a violation of the spirit of the promise, and that is the important part. Hat tip to @Raire for the link. As promised, the link to the real life ship registry: http://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/st1/CoastGuard/VesselByName.html