Whenever Starcraft refers to Kerrigan as the Queen of Blades, it sounds awkward, forced, and silly. Not only does Kerrigan call herself that, but even the Dominion newscasters feel comfortable with the term. Where did this name come from, anyway?
 
The name doesn't seem to fit well within the science fiction setting and more specifically within the zerg nomenclature. Sure, Kerrigan has spines and claws, but how does that make her a blade queen? 
 
Does anyone feel that it's actually a good name? Or is it simply goofy?

The Dark Lady was taken by Sylvanas Windrunner.
They ran out of ideas there I suppose.

Maybe she was the winner of the latest Queens Blade. Otherwise...yes it does seem out of place just a little.

...she got blades on her back, she's sexy, and rules the Zerg...what else are you gonna call her?

I don't know, but it makes me think of the Lady of Pain for some reason.

The Dominion news doesn't even know it IS Kerrigan. Acturus Mengsk uses his influence to make sure it never gets out.
So then the use of a nickname is quite logical, and - she is the Queen of a race of aliens that uses natural weapons such as Blades (Ultralisk) with 2 'wings of blades' on her back...

Could have something to do with tarot. Often the swords set is referred to in certain decks by the name blades, and the queen of swords has these qualities (from http://www.angelpaths.com/swords/swordsqu.html) :
 

The Queen of Swords indicates a woman who is blessed (or cursed) with sharp perception, and highly honed intuition. She is acutely analytical, with a razor-sharp ability to get to the heart of a situation, seeing exactly what is, rather than what others would wish her to see.

She is a private woman, unwilling to let people too close to her until she is satisfied she thoroughly understands their motivations. But once won as a friend, she is unfailingly loyal, honest and supportive.

She's usually very intelligent, with a dry sense of humour. Her penetrating insight will often reveal aspects of themselves to others that they had previously been unable to grasp - thus she is a capable therapist, teacher or leader.

The woman represented by this card will be experienced in the flow of life, understanding a great deal about both the great triumphs, and the deepest failings of the race. Her clarity and measured expression will be of great value at times of confusion and sadness.

Sometimes in a reading, this card will turn up to indicate a woman in a particular phase of her life, where she temporarily becomes a Sword as a result of what is happening to her. In that case the card is not quite so positively defined, for it can indicate a woman left alone, and perhaps embittered. She may be a widow, or a woman passing through the aftermath of divorce.

In this case we often see the more negative aspects of the Queen - coldness, judgementalism, criticism. At these times there is a certain sourness about her, with cynicism and sharpness making themselves felt.

It should be said that these qualities are inherent to the woman who is a Queen of Swords by nature too - if the woman concerned has not evolved sufficiently you will often find that the card represents a person who is hard and cold toward others.

It's a crappy video game kind of name.
 
Crappy as in cheesy and trying too hard to be cool, not as in SC is a crappy game.

What kind of name is mercanis?

I think it's a pretty good name.

It's supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, sir.

" What kind of name is mercanis? "

An idiosyncratic one.

Its a late '90s early '00s, "we're trying to be cool sounding and extreme" name.
 
That said it ends up fitting pretty well.  She does have blades and she is a queen of the Zerg.

Well, according to Chris Metzen - 

Q: Why is Kerrigan called the Queen of Blades?

A: *They had just talked about this issue between themselves recently and at first Metzen couldn’t remember what he and Andy had come up with.* But then he did remember: Kerrigan’s title is an honorific one. Blades is a core unit to ripping apart species and what better title to describe the greatest agent of the race, of the Swarm. She was designed to be this thing - it was what she was built to be, probably a title given to her by the Overmind.

" I don't know, but it makes me think of the Lady of Pain for some reason.

"

I don't know. I think Queen of Blades is a pretty cool name.

@DoctorWelch said:

" What kind of name is mercanis? "

The pseudonym is something I came up with years and years ago. It's a ripoff of Artanis from the original Starcraft. Back then I thought it sounded cool.  These days I think it looks and sounds goofy, but the name's never taken and I've stuck by it. It's a constant reminder that video games as my hobby are also somewhat goofy (but also seriously awesome -- like any classic 80s action movie). "

Its a zerg name.

I actually remember seeing something that said how they got the name, and Chris Metzen explained that she was called the queen of blades because they created her during the whole Nancy Kerrigan controversy. And Nancy Kerrigan, ice skates, blades, yeah.
 
Found the source:
 http://www.sc2blog.com/2008/02/29/blizzcast-episode-2-chris-metzen-and-the-mystery-of-belshir/
 
I really wish I never knew that, it makes the name Queens of Blades so much worse than it already was.

Its a fantasy name. Zerg are demons, Protoss are high elves. Spacemagic.

I'm rooting for a name chnge to Lady Gogo.  Or maybe just Queen, and whenever she shows up, bits of Bohemian Rhapsody start playing.  Oh hell yeah!

I thought this was obvious.  It's not that she is covered in blades (she isn't), it's that she rules an entire species whose only purpose is to kill, usually with blade like claws and fangs.  Thus, she is the Queen of the Blades.  Shortened to Queen of Blades.

Superfluous

The name is a bit extravagant but it sorta fits too.  Chalk it up to vidja games.

" Whenever Starcraft refers to Kerrigan as the Queen of Blades, it sounds awkward, forced, and silly. Not only does Kerrigan call herself that, but even the Dominion newscasters feel comfortable with the term. Where did this name come from, anyway? The name doesn't seem to fit well within the science fiction setting and more specifically within the zerg nomenclature. Sure, Kerrigan has spines and claws, but how does that make her a blade queen?  Does anyone feel that it's actually a good name? Or is it simply goofy? "

Yeah I'm not into the Queen of Blades term either.  Seems way more like a D&D/fantasy name.  Kerrigan could use a better name.

" The Dark Lady was taken by Sylvanas Windrunner. They ran out of ideas there I suppose. "

" Its a zerg name. "