>>I'm reminded of the kind of names chosen by the ship AIs in the
>>Culture books by Ian M. Banks. (E.g. a warship named "Frank Exchange
>>Of Views".)
....
>(There is a spooky similarity between Cultureverse vessel names and
>those of the Covenant Wars, though, too. Pillar of Autumn
>sounds Chelgrian, and Truth and Reconciliation would be a
>rather stuffy GSV indeed.)

That's probably because there was an influence: http://marathon.bungie.org/story/halo_culture.html and scan around. They've admitted to having read Ian Banks.

-- John

"They copied all they could follow, but they couldn't copy my mind,
And I left 'em sweating and stealing a year and a half behind."