Starship seems kind of unique in that it's an extraordinarily utilitarian name compared to most launch system names.[0] It expressly doesn't try to evoke ancient human mythology, birds (which often have their own cultural and mythological ties i.e. Falcon, etc.). And perhaps therein lies the aspirational element of the name. Starship suggests a sort of banality, something so common that there's no point in dressing it up in a fanciful name. That's a dream in itself, though I think it's a given that individual Starship spacecraft will get named once they start carrying humans.
Anyhow, I think the GP's thoughts were along the lines that Starship isn't actually a starship as neither the spacecraft nor the super heavy-lift rocket will ever visit another star. Which is a valid point, but not one that I think matters much either way.
> And perhaps therein lies the aspirational element of the name.
Very possible. It mirrors the naming convention of fictional spaceship in the Culture novel series. A series Musk is a professed admirer of. They even named two of their drone ships after fictional spacecraft from the series.
In that series it is a running gag that other aliens find the Culture's naming convention lacking a certain gravitas. When you have one super weapon you might be tempted to call it "Death Star" or something. But when you have millions you let the warship AIs pick their own names and that is how you end up with a mighty warship named "All Through With This Niceness And Negotiation Stuff" or "Falling Outside The Normal Moral Constraints". That is a real flex, I would say.
So all in all Musk is familiar with the concept you are talking about here. I can't say for certain if that is going on here or not though. Most likely a Culture spacecraft's AI would roll their eyes over a crude space dingy which can barely reach orbit called "Starship" though. :) So who knows.
There’s a gestalt to the word in the US. If the words are parsed or translated literally, particularly for esl, I can see how it would seem very plain. But speaking as a kid from the American eighties, I don’t think “starship” is banal - anything but! It evokes for me all sorts of wonder and fantasy, probably tied to the media consumed - movies like The Last Starfighter, old Trek reruns, and books and comics.
Anyhow, I think the GP's thoughts were along the lines that Starship isn't actually a starship as neither the spacecraft nor the super heavy-lift rocket will ever visit another star. Which is a valid point, but not one that I think matters much either way.
0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_orbital_launch_systems