I was reading this question about Ford's name, and was reminded that it is not his original name. Do we know what his name was before it was "Ford Prefect"?
asked Nov 10, 2016 at 20:21
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He probably had a nice traditional Betelgeusian name like Toh'Yota K'Ohro-La.– Paul D. WaiteCommented May 31 at 18:14
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2 Answers
Sort of, but not really
There's a footnote on this topic in the novel; it doesn't tell us his actual name (though there's a quite compelling reason given for why not), but we do learn that his nickname at school was "Ix":
Ford Prefect's original name is only pronuncible in an obscure Betelgeusian dialect, now virtually extinct since the Great Collapsing Hrung Disaster of Gal./Sid./Year 03758 which wiped out all the old Praxibetel communities on Betelgeuse Seven.
[...]
The other kids at school nicknamed him Ix, which in the language of Betelgeuse Five translates as "boy who is not able satisfactorily to explain what a Hrung is, nor why it should choose to collapse on Betelgeuse Seven".
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy About Ford Prefect
answered Nov 10, 2016 at 20:35
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@FinnO'leary I don't imagine so. There's no real similarity other than the name, and the shortage of very short names (as required by the joke) that don't immediately call to mind an English meaning means that authors who use them are highly likely to have coincidental clashes. Commented Nov 11, 2016 at 7:00
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3Isn't Ix from Dune just the 9th (IXth) planet? I think there's even a passage in an inner monologue of one of the Bene Gesserit about that, something about that the stupid Ixians don't even understand where their name comes from. Commented Nov 11, 2016 at 8:37
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First, it's important to note that the different installments (radio series, books, movie, ...) of the franchise are contradictory variations of each other.
In the books, Ford's original name is only pronuncible in a virtually extinct dialect of the Praxibetel communities, and his nickname is Ix.
In the movie script (3rd revised draft 8/8/03), written by Douglas Adams and revised by Karey Kirkpatrick, Zaphod calls him Ixxie and Praxibetel Ix. Ford then clarifies that his name is Ford now. That means that in this movie script, Ford hadn't ordered to "unpick his old name from the fabric of space/time" nor to insert his new name instead as in some other installments.
In the movie, Zaphod greets Ford with "Ford! Praxibetel Ix!". It is not mentioned how new the name Ford is. On the other hand, the movie shows that Ford thought that cars are the dominant life form on Earth, which makes his choice of the name Ford Prefect (the name of a line of British cars) in other installments hilarious in hindsight.
It remains unclear whether "Praxibetel" in the movie is part of his nickname (for example honoring his Praxibetel heritage mentioned in the book, similarly to how his unpronouncible Praxibetel-dialect name did) or his real name.
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The "Praxibetel" part is presumably a reference to the "Praxibetel communities" in the footnote quoted by Jason Baker. Like calling someone "Welsh Dave" or "Brixton Bobbie" or something.– IMSoPCommented Jun 1 at 10:30
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@IMSoP It would be interesting to see what else in the franchise can be explained by piecing together details from several installments, i.e. where several installments might complement rather than just mirror or contradict each other.– rootCommented Jun 1 at 12:01
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I got another one: In the movie, Zaphod signs a certain order. In the book, Gag Halfrunt pulls the strings behind the creation and execution of that order. In both installments, Gag Halfrunt is Zaphod's private brain care specialist. So he might have manipulated Zaphod into being careless and signing the order.– rootCommented Oct 12 at 16:11