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The word has its roots amongst the Pokémon Anime fandom, where a group of american fans, wanting to create a name for the group in the fandom who believed the characters of Jessie and James (a.k.a. "Team Rocket") were in love, came up with the name "RocketShipper", combining the words "Rocket" and "Relationship" to make a pun on the word "RocketShip". From here, the term spread first to the X-Files fandom, and then quickly to other Anime, Manga and Science Fiction fandoms, such as Farscape and Star Trek (plus its spin-offs), where shipper discussions and debates have recently become especially prevalent.

In most fandoms, especially those that originated in the english speaking world, many people generally just take the names of the two characters in the couple, put a slash between them, and add the word 'Shipper' on the end. For example, in the fandom, if you supported the relationship between Xena and Gabby, you would simply say "I'm a Xena/Gabby Shipper!" Each fandom can have its own little spin on this, though, such as in Harry Potter fandom where it's common to only use the first initial of the characters' names instead of the whole name. So, a person who supported the Harry and Hermione relationship would say "I'm an H/H Shipper!"

Oddly, this most simple system is one that's almost never used at all in the Pokémon fandom, where the term originated. This fandom, quite possibily alone, uses a system of individually naming each specific coupling. This practise has progressed to the point where several of the more popular couples amongst the fandom have number of different names, each specific 'Ship' implying something very specific about the couple (eg. Diamondshipping is the term for a relationship between Delia and Giovanni, but being a Diamondshipper very specifically includes the belief that Giovanni is Ash's father, and does NOT nessesarily include the belief that Delia and Giovanni are currently together or will be in the future.) Shipping names can also be used as a derogatory term for a particular group. For instance, Gakishipping is but one of the large number of names for people who support an Ash and Misty relationship. While the people who call themselves Gakishippers in general think of it simply as an alternate name, in other circles (Generally the so called 'Veteran' groups of fans), the term Gakishipper is taken to mean a supporter of an Ash and Misty relationship who is a "newbie", knows nothing of the original Japanese version of the show, and is very prone to immaturity and flaming when discussing Shippings.

It has become common practice in more recent Anime fandom and Doujinshi, to name the pairings by combining the first 2 syllables of each character's name, with the more "dominant" member of the couple as the one whose name comes first. Sometimes the two partial names are separated by an "x". So, for example, a pairing of the two chracters from the popular Anime Naruto Sasuke and Naruto would be represented as SasuNaru or SasuxNaru, assuming that Sasuke was the dominant member of the relationship. This method has started to spread to other non-Japanese fandoms as well, spurring a backlash movement among western shippers, urging their comrades to "put the / back in slash!"

In commercial and industrialFor other uses of this term, see Industry (disambiguation An industry is an area of economic production which involves large amounts of upfront capital investment before any profit can be realized. The most successful industries in a given sector tend, to use, a shipper is someone who prepares goods for shipment, by packaging, labelling, and arranging for transit, or who coordinates the transport of goods. See also freight, packaging, and logisticsIn military and business, logistics experts manage how and when to move resources to the places they are needed. In military science, maintaining ones supply lines while disrupting those of the enemy is a crucial, and some would say the most crucial eleme.