Anyone have a good list of descriptive planet names?

Well, I rarely do much with the names of my planets, so this may not help. However, I would suggest that instead of giving all planets of a certain type the same name, you leave the planets with some of their original name, and add a descriptor to that. I think that would be easier to remember.

and add a descriptor to that

Exactly what I do. If is going to be a tech world I ad the word 'Tech' infront of the planet name. My manufacturing planets get 'Manu' infront of the name. All of the rest are not specialized so I don't waste time on changing them.

I name all my colonized planets after my homeworld with a number behind it, like Dratha, Dratha 02 and so on. For tech cap. and such I just put a T for tech, or M for man. cap. This helps me keep track of how far along the planets are in developing in the early game. For foreign worlds, I use the same convention since they usually have to be rebuilt anyway. X-Terran 01, X-Terran 02 and so on. Not very imaginative, but I go for efficiency.

If I've got a manufacturing world, I'm usua;;y building ships so I tend to include the word Port in the name. I don't really differentiate between research and market worlds though, don't feel there is much point persoanlly.

Naming stations I find is much more fun.

It depends on the type of game that I play. If I'm evil, I would usually name my planets after dictators or evil empires of the past (e.g. Khan, Nero, (name of leader)grad, Gulag). If I am good, I usually name them after places and deities from Greek or Hindu mythology/people (e.g. Aurora, Dharma, Rhea). If I'm neutral, I usually name them after places/people of modern times (e.g. New Singapore, Dyson, Kaku). I usually try to have the name fit the type of world i.e. if I'm evil and I located a world that would be my prime industrial planet, I would call that the Gulag. Also, if I'm in the mood of allowing a major race live after a devastating war in which all of their original worlds have been conquered, I would find a class 3 world to give them, or the one next to my home world, build lots of farms, surround it with battleships, and name it after a concentration camp, such as Auschwitz. This way I can squeeze money out of them before they surrender.

if I'm in the mood of allowing a major race live after a devastating war in which all of their original worlds have been conquered, I would find a class 3 world to give them, or the one next to my home world, build lots of farms, surround it with battleships, and name it after a concentration camp, such as Auschwitz

You're nuts!

I name planets after Gods or abstract nouns such as "Osiris" (god) and "Persistance" (Abstract noun)

If the planet is the only habital planet in the system, I often just remove the number, and sometimes change the spelling. (Midgard became Midgaurd). If there is two planets, I might add "prime" to the name of the higher quality planet. Sometimes I give aquatic planets and planets that have a lot of water tiles names like Atlantis or Oceanus.

At times I get rather involved with naming planets. In the game I am currently playing, I had an ethical event where the planet I just colonized sheltered a scientist who was long thought to be dead. I named that planet Zafram, after the inventor of Warp Drive in Star Trek. (That event stuck me as being a lot like the Episode "metamorphosis" in the original series) In that same game, I have a radioactive world named Chernobyl.

What? You mean not everyone calls their planets things like "Arse"? Hmm, guess thats just me then.

I used to leave all my planet names the defaults. However, after playing a few games quickly in the same weekend (especially if i abort one due to fatal mistakes) I get confused.

I see: "Paulos III is no longer building anything"
And I say to myself: "Oh yea, thats what I was building up with factories to crush the paulos!"
But the truth is: "oh wait, That was last game. All I have on that planet is a single factory"

Now I name my planets based on their role in the empire. For example if I have 2 planets in a system on the edge of my empire, next to the Yor I might name the planets "Yor Outreach I & II"

If i have good mid-size planet for my economic capitol, I usually name it after a US State Capitol. ie "Trenton" or "Sacramento"

Other times its something totally lame and obvious like: "ProduceConst" whihc means it's main purpose is to produce contructor ships.

i just use the generated names 90% of the time.

occasionally, inspiration will strike, and i'll name a couple like this:

prod +37
pop +20
star +45

etc, etc, etc...

I usually name my first colony "expansion" and my fist large finance planet "Ultra". It's a habit I have from My MOO2 days.

I name my planets after things that have something in general to do with their purpose. My manufacturing planets are named after cities famed for manufacturing or space travel, such as Detroit or Houston. My tech planets are named for scientists, and my other planets are all named after nations.

I name my home planet as the town I live in, then name other planets names of other towns around me in the proper geographic position. That way I know where the planet is on the map without having to search for it. I just use the Colony screen to see what everyone is up to, but have found it nice to get a feel for where the planet is located just by knowing it's name.