A Theory of SF and Fantasy Linguistics

I've noticed in the names SFF writers come up with for their various races,
places, etc... that a preponderance have either an -ar or -or sound in the second or third syllable. My question is why.

To give you some examples, I'll list some of the races present in the
various incarnations of Star Trek, as that is what first set me onto this. I am taking these names from the Xenology section of the www.startrek.com website. It's the first somewhat comprehensive list I came across, but I know there are other names, as for instance I jotted down the Klobari and Wyngari from the dreadful
Voyager episode Q2, and those races are not listed in this catalog. And, really the very first race that sparked me thinking about this is the Ilari, from the Voyager episode Warlord, also not included in this catalog.

Acamarian, Algorian, Altorans, Amaros, Andorians, Bajorans, Beneriam, Briori, Bynars, Coverians, Cytherians, Dokkarans, Dolbargi, Doosodarians, Dopterians, El-Aurians, Galadorans, Ilari, Ilidarians, Jem'Hadar, Kanarians, Klobari, Komar, Kressari, Ktarians, Legarans, Lyaarans, Malcorians, Menthars, Miradorn, Mizarians, Ornarans, Petrarians, Pygorians, Rakhari, Saataran, T-Rogorans, Takarans, Talarian,
Tamarian, Teldarians, Tellarites, Tellurians, Tygarians, Velarans, Wyngari, Yaderans

Are you beginning to see the pattern? And this is just from Star Trek, and
not all of them at that. I can think of other examples from the worlds of Sci Fi and Fantasy. For instance, Babylon 5 has the Centauri and the Minbari, although those names were chosen for a reason. There is Kate Elliott's Wendar, Lawrence Watt-Evans' Ethshar, David Eddings' Belgarad. The MST'd movie Space Mutiny had a race called the
Belarians. Doctor Who has the Sontarans. And these are just to name a very few off the top of my head.

Why do so many names sound so much alike? I am deliberately leaving out
Tolkien, who maybe started this all, with his Gondor, Mordor, Isingard, etc... but his writing is chock full of them. I leave him out because he was at
least an expert in languages, and so presumably had some rhyme and reason to
choosing the names he did.

But for the rest, what is it about the English-wired brain that gravitates
to these syllables? Is it that when writers try to come up with a name, they basically spin syllables around at random like a slot machine, and there is
something fundamental to our language process that the second or third
wheels come up with -ar or -or?

It is getting to the point where it almost irks me. It in a sense seems like
laziness, that names don't have quite the diversity that our planet has, but I wish I knew more about how writers chose their names.

If I look around our planet, and the English names for countries for
instance, this phenomenon does not seem to exist to any great degree. I think of Russia/Russians, China/Chinese, Mexico/Mexico, France/French, India/Indians, Japan/Japanese, and again the list goes on and on. The names that fit what I'm talking about seem to be in the minority. All those names come from roots trailing back into the past, they were not chosen by people putting syllables together Granimals style, and that "nonrandom process" did not lead to names such as I've described.

This theory could even be expanded to include an -er sound in the second or
third syllable. Or, an -ar, -or or -er sound in the first syllable.

With the myriad of writers out there, it just seems odd to me that there is
a sizable chunk of names that can be distilled down to very similar sounds.

And, I understand, and agree, that simply bringing up Star Trek may be a bit like
bringing pork rinds to a caviar and brie party. I was simply using it as an
example, and indeed if what I noticed had stayed confined to Trek episodes,
I probably wouldn't have given it much more thought.

However, it got me thinking about the wider field of written speculative
fiction, which is what I am more interested in, as I hope to write a lot of
it. It's that larger question of why a lot of names sound alike and why they
sound like they came from the same language, an incongruity considering they
are denoting wildly different people, places, etc...

Some more examples I thought of. Terry Brooks' Shannara. In Robert Jordan's
world, there are Andor, Kandor, Shienar, Altara, Elmora, Amador, Bandar, and
Dashar.

I contrasted that with the wonderful richness of our real world. For every
Maori you throw at me, I'll give you Cossack, Inuit, Pashtun, Mau Mau, Inca,
Apache, Hmong.

I've been there, I've struggled with coming up with good names that fit the
story. I've tried sounding out syllables, like Steve Martin's character in
the jail cell trying to remember the name of Michael Caine's character in
the movie Dirty Rotten Scoundrals.

Names chosen for a reason are one thing. My point is that if we are coming
up with names through a more or less random process, and there is something
about language that drives us to a lowest common denominator, then perhaps
we need to be aware of that, and we can turn that around and make the reader
feel like they are truly in a world unlike any other.

Perhaps it is because the easiest vowel sound to make is to just drop the
jaw a bit and say "aaaahhhhh". From there, it is rather easy to get to -ar
or -or. I don't know, maybe it is nothing, but there is a lot to this craft of
wrenching other worlds from the mind and getting them on paper.