But now comes word that the officials tasked with actually naming the ship are not that big on Boaty.
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Many won’t be surprised that “Boaty McBoatface” probably won’t be chosen, but it does raise a few questions regarding maritime superstition.
The final decision on the name will be made by Duncan Wingham, chief executive of the research group, according to The Guardian.
In addition to creating hundreds of jobs and boosting the country’s ship-building trade, the research vessel will conduct climate and ocean research using state-of-the-art scientific tools while accommodating up to 60 scientists and support staff.
In 2007, Greenpeace held a competition to name a pod of humpback whales and the name Mister Splashy Pants won a whopping 78 per cent of the vote.
Former BBC presenter James Hand was responsible for putting forward Boaty McBoatface as a suggestion.
On Monday 18 April, Johnson hinted that the name “Boaty McBoatface” might not make the cut, since the name ultimately has to be endorsed by ministers.
NERC’s voting poll on what will be the name of the new Royal Research Ship took the Internet by storm.
Due to set sail in 2019 the new research ship is backed by £200 million of government funding and will be used in Antarctica, one of the most challenging environments.
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The second most-voted name was the RRS Poppy-Mai – named after a 16-month-old girl whose father “married” her to give her the wedding of her dreams while she had incurable cancer. For their part, many responses to the tweet are calling for the name to stick, with many citing that this will entice children to pay more attention to science. “We’ve had an extremely high volume of suggestions and will now review all of the suggested names”, they wrote on the poll website. The public has come up with some fantastic and very imaginative suggestions (for the name).
