Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Tasha Yar
9. The Name Game
Tasha was Vasquez-inspired, but they couldn't very well call her that without getting an angry call from James Cameron. We'd be tempted to do Shirley Ellis' famous rhyme scheme for each of the options that came before Yar (Yar, bo-bar…), but suffice it to say here that in the first casting call for Star Trek: The Next Generation (dated 10 December 1986), as cited in The Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, Yar was originally "LT. MACHA HERNANDEZ," and — not unproblematically — given the following description:
26 year old woman of unspecified Latin descent who serves as the starship's security chief. She is described as having a new quality of conditioned-body-beauty [sic], a fire in her eyes and muscularly well developed and very female body, but keeping in mind that much of her strength comes from attitude. Macha has an almost obsessive devotion to protecting the ship and its crew and treats Capt. Picard and Number One as if they were saints.
According to The Next Generation Companion once more, the name 'Macha' was then changed to 'Tanya,' but only "for two days around March 13 [1987]." Macha (Hernandez)/Tanya didn't become 'Tasha Yar' until Denise Crosby had been cast in the role. This is then reflected in the Star Trek: The Next Generation Writer/Director's Guide from 23 March 1987, which gives "LT. NATASHA 'TASHA' YAR" — her last name now a marker of her "Ukrainian descent".