While chatting with C. J. Cherryh and Marc Miller about the Hani from the Chanur novels and the Aslan from Traveller, Marc Miller said that he “envisioned that the Terran scout who first contacted them saw the resemblance to Narnia’s Aslan and used the name.”
When I commented about the idea from GURPS Traveller that the Aslan was discovered by Turkish explorers, Marc said “No one asked me. 🙁 “
Yes…but what did Marc and Ms. Cherryh say about who influenced whom?
Cj Cherryh said that she has “never heard of (the) Aslan”.
It would seem very hard for either to have influenced the other, as both were published almost simultaneously (at the start of 1981).