Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2015 March 30

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March 30

Kardashian, Cardassian

Has there ever been there any indication (for example, from producers or writers) that Star Trek's Cardassians were named after Robert Kardashian? I know they made their first appearance before his rise to national fame, but I imagine he might have already been known within the industry as an entertainment lawyer. --Lazar Taxon (talk) 18:54, 30 March 2015 (UTC)

• See also Circassian and Farang, a word used by the Arabs to descrie Europeans which is suspiciously like the Ferengi who are ruled by a Grand Nagus. The Semitic root NGS meaning king. See Negus. μηδείς (talk) 19:04, 30 March 2015 (UTC)

• Highly unlikely. Robert Kardashian was a mostly unknown lawyer before 1994 and the OJ Simpson case; the Cardassians were created in 1991, three years before anyone in America would have had any reason to have heard of him. You can't prove a negative, but in this case we have no reason to believe the one is named for the other, especially given the timing here. --Jayron32 21:25, 30 March 2015 (UTC)

Obviously, one of the writers traveled to the horrifying future, where the Borg had been assimilated by the Kardashian clan and used to enslave humanity. In either a pitiful attempt to placate our future overlords or as a subtle warning, the writer named the aggressive alien race after them. Clarityfiend (talk) 22:09, 30 March 2015 (UTC)

A nuclear war in which the Kardashian race and the Hilton race engage, successfully, in MAD is long overdue. It would afford us an ongoing source of delight. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 20:09, 31 March 2015 (UTC)

Apparently Jeri Taylor came up with the name "Circassians", and when it was pointed out to her that those were a real historical people, she came up with "Cardassians" instead (according to Memory Alpha). Adam Bishop (talk) 21:22, 2 April 2015 (UTC)