Just to follow up on
deep thought's thought, there is no coincidence whatsoever between the naming of the ship and
Conrad's novel.
Nostromo (the novel) is about the fictional state of Costaguana, where men are battling for
power and a
fortune in hidden
silver. The title character is
Italian sailor Nostromo. Like the country itself, Nostromo is consumed by greed and corruption. To
spoil the ending of both
Alien and
Nostromo, Nostromo is destroyed by the appetite for financial gain and glory. In death, the secret of the silver (and
alien) is lost forever (or until a
sequel is made).
The relationship between the
movie and Conrad is perhaps rammed home when Ripley escapes Nostromo in a shuttle named '
Narcissus', a reference to Conrad's
The Nigger of the "Narcissus"
By the time
Aliens is released, there is no irony in the ship being named USS
Sulaco after the central town in Nostromo. It is also worth noting that Alien director
Ridley Scott's first major film,
The Duellists was based on a
Joseph Conrad short story.