A huge number of species in Bionicle are unnamed. I attempt to name a few of the well-known ones here. The names are in bold, with their etymologies following.
Axonn’s Species: The Protorian. I imagine Axonn’s species were a proud warrior-type race, and their names tend to resemble the weapons they are most skilled wielding. For this reason, the name “Protorian” is meant to evoke the feeling of a “centurion” who wields protodermic weapons.
Botar’s Species: The Kualsian. The main gimmick of Botar’s species is that they can teleport. So I thought it’d be cool if the Kanohi Kualsi (the mask of teleportation) were named after their species in-universe as a fun little worldbuilding detail.
Brutaka’s Species: The Sentinox. Here I imagine that Brutaka’s kind were made to be a race of guardians or protectors of some sort. Thus, their name is meant to feel like the word “Sentinel.” I also noticed a lot of the Makuta have names ending in -x (Teridax, Chirox, Miserix), so even though the ‘Sentinox’ aren’t Makuta, there’s still that little reference there given they can absorb antidermis.
Hydraxon’s Species: The Ebmetron. Hydraxon reminds me of a knight, so the Metr- part of his name was meant to sound sort of like “metal.” The Eb- part is from ebony, so his name basically means “black metal.” He’s one of the species where there’s really not much to go on.
Lariska’s Species: The Sangsihki. Another species without much to go off, I imagine Lariska’s kind are a race of natural predators/hunters. As a result, played around with the terms “sanguine” meaning blood and the latin word “sica” meaning dagger (a reference to Larry’s tool of choice) to come up with this name.
The Shadowed One’s Species: The Dysirix. The Shadowed One’s race is described as being born on an island so distant and bleak, they believed they were forsaken by the Great Spirit. Their island isn’t named in the lore, so I dubbed it “Dys,” to feel like the word “distant” or “dysfunctional.” And I took the -rix part, which already feels very bionicle-ish in phonetics, from “tyrannosaurus rex” - because with their tails and long necks, TSO’s species reminds me of a very dragonic or lizard-like race of tyrants.
(As an addendum, I noticed the BS01 wiki has “Sidorak’s Species” as unnamed. But I honestly always thought his kind were just called Steltian, so I say let’s just go with that. Why make it hard, right?)
So that’s what I came up with. There’s a lot I didn’t name, but I mostly focused on characters who have actual sets. The ones I didn’t name are mostly the Barraki, because there’s really not much to go off aside from one-off mutated members. And then of course most of the Dark Hunters, because, well we’d be here all day. (Really, I think a lot of these races could be consolidated down to a smaller number, but I digress).
Anyway, do you like the names I came up with? Think they fit? Let me know. And if you’ve ever thought about this and come up with names of your own, feel free to share them too.