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Boaty McBoatface Officially Wins Online Naming Contest The public has made its wants known. Will they be honored?

By Dan Bova

NERC

Ask the internet a question, and the internet will give you an answer. Just not always the answer you wanted. When England's Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) asked the public for name suggestions for their new $300 million state-of-the-art polar research vessel, RRS Boaty McBoatface won by a tidal wave. It wasn't exactly the vibe they were going for when they asked for a name that would evoke great heroes of British history.

Over 7,000 names were submitted, and Boaty easily swam away with the victory, lapping up 124,109 votes. It now remains to be seen if NERC will listen to the public and christen their ship with, in our opinion, the greatest name of all time.

The rise of Boaty's moniker has been well documented by the man who came up with it, former BBC presenter James Hand. Here are some of his choice posts along McBoatface's epic journey.

And here's a look at the big bad plans for Boaty.
Dan Bova

Entrepreneur Staff

VP of Special Projects

Dan Bova is the VP of Special Projects at Entrepreneur.com. He previously worked at Jimmy Kimmel Live, Maxim, and Spy magazine. His latest books for kids include This Day in History, Car and Driver's Trivia Zone, Road & Track Crew's Big & Fast Cars, The Big Little Book of Awesome Stuff, and Wendell the Werewolf. 

Read his humor column This Should Be Fun if you want to feel better about yourself.

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