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

By Dan Bova Apr 18, 2016

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.

Thanks to everyone who took #BoatyMcBoatface in right spirit. Final say goes to @NERCscience, and there's plenty of worthy winners.
— James Hand (@JamesHand) April 17, 2016

You've heard of Boaty McBoatface, now meet Horsey McHorseface...https://t.co/zFrhANg21Q pic.twitter.com/UvdTAG21UB
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) April 15, 2016

There are people standing next to me talking about 'this lad who accidentally named a boat Boaty McBoatface'. Surreal.
— James Hand (@JamesHand) April 10, 2016

BREAKING NEWS: @JamesHand to name next Royal Caribbean ship: https://t.co/OOwCEJn1c7 pic.twitter.com/4Iw3KPdg1E
— Royal Caribbean (@RoyalCaribbean) April 1, 2016

Bizarrely, this actually isn't an April Fool. https://t.co/XSTgGkBxnV
— James Hand (@JamesHand) April 1, 2016

@JamesHand did you see this, James? :-) pic.twitter.com/IvTcwomV3D
— StarrFaithful (@StarrOutlook) March 24, 2016

Didnt expect my train to have a name today ? @SW_Trains #trains pic.twitter.com/Zc9Lvrf3ye
— Matthew Fifield (@funfield5) March 22, 2016

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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