"vulcan women are always t'something ... why not name your kid something else"
"because it's t'boo"
-- deep in the comments of STSP
@clacke What's the real reason?
@mansr There is no canon explanation. It seems to be tradition for whatever reason, but e.g. Saavik and Valeris had parents that broke tradition.
Fan theories include:
- Honoring T'Pau (Nimoy's speculation, but as of ENT, T'Pol was named before T'Pau was influential)
- "T' " means "of", and maybe it was originally given when you marry and become of your husband
- The word "t'sai" is "lady", maybe it leaked into names
- Maybe those few not named T'Something were conceived outside pon farr
(information stolen from T'Kay, Vulcartist)
@clacke The whole thing being fiction means there are two options:
1. The script writers are following some guidelines that call for this naming convention.
2. They just started doing it for no particular reason.
If it's in some guidelines, those might of course include an in-universe explanation that has never been explicitly mentioned on screen.
@mansr Out-of-universe: When they made Amok Time there were a couple of Vulcan women in the script. They were named like this, and since then writers are doing it except when they're not.
Any in-universe explanation will be a retrofit, as no Vulcan language and very little lore existed as of Amok Time. It was the first dive into any other Vulcan than Spock.