Starbuck

Starbuck is a proper noun used as a surname and in various works of fiction. It is best known for two major fictional usages and for a Canadian film from the early 2010s. The name also appears in other media and as a real-world surname.

In Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick (1851), Starbuck is the first mate of the whaling ship Pequod. He is depicted as practical, principled, and morally conscientious, serving as a counterpoint to Captain Ahab's obsessive pursuit of the white whale. Starbuck's warnings and questions about the voyage's moral and physical risks contribute to the novel's tension.

In the Battlestar Galactica franchise, Starbuck is a prominent fighter pilot. In the 1978 original series, Starbuck is a fearless, impulsive, and skilled pilot who becomes one of the fleet’s leading figures. In the 2004 reimagined series, Kara Thrace adopts the callsign Starbuck and remains a central, complex character throughout the story.

Starbuck (2011) is a Canadian comedy about a man who discovers he has fathered numerous children through a fertility clinic; the premise was later adapted into the English-language film Delivery Man (2013).

The name Starbuck also appears as a real-world surname and has been used in various fictional and cultural contexts beyond these works.