X series question - why faction name after gases?

[jacozilla]

I have zero experience with prior X series and haven't played X4 yet - was waiting for launch issues to be ironed out but really happy about direction of latest beta patch so waiting for steam download now.

While waiting, wondering if anyone knows source of why factions seem to be all named after gases of the periodic table?

Factions I've seen mentioned on forum - Argon, Xenon, Boron

At first I thought the theme was noble gases, but only Argon and Xenon are - Boron is not. Thus only commonality is gas in general, not noble gas.

Are all factions named after elemental gas types?

[vukica]

xenon - xeno- Greek prefix meaning "foreign"... in this case alien. they're machines.
argon - they're humans who forgot about their origin. they did it intentionally to protect earth from xenon. their greatest hero is called nathan r. gunne. r-gunne. argon. hodor.
boron - ... idk. someone thought it'd be funny. and boring boron sounds fun for some reason?

[kyoo]

There are lore explanations for how the names were formed but the most realistic answer is that somebody at egosoft thought it sounded cool.

[ZombiePotatoSalad]

"Argon" comes from the fleet commander Nathan R. Gunne. The crew of this fleet would go on to found the Argon government and civilization, their name coming from a shortening of their hero's name.

"Xenon" originally comes from Xenomorph, as Argon pilots originally thought they were aliens of some kind. For the sake of brevity, this was shortened to Xenon.

As for Boron... I don't know that one.

[jacozilla]

ok I guess it isn't a theme. I'm still waiting on my steam download but just watched a stream where I saw plenty of other faction names - holy order something, ministry of something., etc

just going off forum here, I thought all the factions were named after a gas, but from the stream, looks like there are lots more factions than the gas named ones.

i've watched ~10 hours of streams and played zero hours so far....

[Gabeux]

I could be completely wrong, but Boron may be due to they being neighbors and the only direct/declared allies of the Argons, and also the only outright open friendly race towards others. Maybe that's how Argons nicknamed them and it became the norm when their language became the galactic standard.
At least in the X Universe it gives the feeling that races don't fight over names or give multiple different names for the same thing..like how everyone calls the Kha'ak the same thing, even though it was a nickname given by the Teladi.