^Haha, I use Arrakis for deserts to (especially if they have the spice trade bonus). I also barrow Geonosis and Tatooine from starwars, though after them I can't think of any more from Sci-fi. For the rest I usually have enough names from various Sci-fi movies, games, or books.

I usually use Norse, greek, or roman gods (beshides the panets in our own solar system) even the names of the valar and maiar in LOTR; I even use historically famous people.

constantine, charlemagne, napolean, Charles "the hammer" martel, tesla etc.

Oden, Zeus, Aphrodite, Morgoth, Ulmo etc.

I don't have time to think about planet names, but I play online multiplayer.

1, 2, 3, etc. based on importance. At least, in big names with too many planets to remember them all.

Imaginitive, I know.

you could use the names of big deserts on our planet. sahara, namibia, attacama, etc.

didn't people change the default name list at some point? I mean, you had to do that in a game file and it never quite worked for me, but it should be possible. don't know, if that messed with mp, but if you play mostly sp, why bother.

If your really into a sport name them after the captains of the teams.  As I'm into hockey you can name like the following:

Defensive Planet: Luongo (Roberto Luongo, Captain AND Goalie for the Vancouver Canucks)
Planet near a sun:  Lecavalier (Vincent Lecavalier, Captain for the Tampa Bay Lightning)
Arid Planet: Doan (Shane Doan, Captain for the Phoenix Coyotes)
Capital Planet: Ovechkin (Alexander Ovechkin, Captain of the Washington Capitals)

Etc etc etc...

I'm into conspiracy theories, so I like to name at least one of my planets Niburu... after the giant thing thats going to kill us all (aka Planet X)

Care of: http://watchout4snakes.com/creativitytools/RandomWord/RandomWordPlus.aspx

Myxinoidea
Cyclocephaly
Lacunaris
Eleuin

Name them after current names of moons of the planets in our very own solar system: http://www.indwes.edu/Faculty/bcupp/solarsys/Names.htm

Name one after a Google Whack: http://www.googlewhack.com/tally.pl

But your looking for a desert planet names, so I got a few:

Mauritania
Baja
Sunglint
Aral
Bo Hai
Gobi
Rub'al Khali
Thar
Atacama

But to be honest, nothing beats my all time favourite name for a planet... "My *insert body part*"

When you see a fleet arrive at "My Wang" it makes me laugh, especially if My Wang is getting raided by Pirates, hahahahahahahaha!

Wow you people actually change your planet's names?! I just leave them as they are

I use major cities. London, Vancouver, Damascus, Vladivostok, anyone i feel like using at the time.

Wow, you have that list in a word document or something?

lol, not to be a jerk, but i still get a kick out of each 'serious' response to this...

If I get a small fleet of 3 lv 6+ marzas, I name them Fluffy, Fuzzywuzzy, and Mittens...

Just something about 3 captains who talk like they have chainsmoked cigars since they were 10, piloting uberpwn ships... the irony is perfect.

Be perpared for overkill, jumping in to a system near you. 

(almost never in multiplayer... but it happend once when pirates were on, and i was eating them up)

post to see latest response

I don't often change the names of planets but on the odd occasion where me and an opponent are battling away over a single planet I'll take it and rename it Alderan or Hoth (if it's an Ice Planet) .

Other than that I've used names of Ancient Greek/Roman cities (Alexandria gets used a lot, as befits the 13 or so that Alexander the Great renamed ) and a couple of names from the Dresden Files/Discworld (naming my home planet Ankh-Morpork always gives me a kick )