I have a very complex naming convention. This is mostly because eventually I'd like to do AARs, and having a naming convention that would work relatively well from a "realistic" standpoint makes it a little more fun. Therefore, my custom race, the Rintal'n, are a bird species, and the naming convention is as follows:
Each ship is two or three words (most three), where the name is: "Defense (adjective)," "Bird's," "Weapon (noun)."
Fighters, often having no defenses, have two-word names. I didn't want many fighters starting with the same word, so I left out the "none" for defenses. Thereby, for fighters (tiny and small hulls), defenses are Pale, Firm, and Busy for shields, armor, and PD respectively. Weapons for fighters are Peck, Claw, and Dive for Beam, MD, and Missiles respectively.
For Capital ships, Medium and Large hulls, there are more possibilities. Defenses: Pert, Hale, and Fast (S, Arm, PD), with Wise and Keen for S/A and S/PD, Bold for A/PD, and Wary for all and Rash for none. Weapons: Beak, Barb, and Hunt (B, MD, M), with Call and Lilt for B/MD and B/M, with Note for MD/M and Song for all.
Now, for the birds: for long games, I have ten bird names arranged in order from first to last generation: Kite, Vulture, Condor, Buzzard, Kestrel, Harrier, Goshawk, Hawk, Falcon, Eagle. If I know a game will be shorter I have a 5-generation list of Kite, Condor, Harrier, Falcon, Eagle.
That gives names such as the Rash Kestrel's Song, for a fifth-generation capital ships with all weapon types but no defenses. Also the Pale Eagle's Claw for a top-class fighter with shields and mass drivers. I think these create nice names which sound creative but don't require too much time (now that I've developed the system).
I also have names for role-specific ships, which would be followed by a Mk. designation if necessary. They are: Pelican for Cargo (including early "Cargo-Capital ships"), Crane for Constructors, Sparrow for Trade, Night Owl for Sentry, Journeying Stork for Colony, Flock of Crows for Troop Transports, Heron for Mining, Osprey's Vigil for Exploring/Surveying, and Magpie's Fury for Spore (very very rare appearance).
As for Huge-hulled ships? They're rare enough, normally, to allow me to come up with creative names on a case-by-case basis. Often they relate to my race, something like Rintal's Pride, Piaeris's Wrath, or Glory of Piaeria. Piaeris being their god, Piaeria being a miracle drug ala Bacta from Star Wars. However, if I play a game where huge hulls become common, the capital ship naming convention can be carried over well, usually.
