History Main / WhatDidYouExpectWhenYouNamedIt

** UsefulNotes/BritsWithBattleships the Royal Navy]] has had four ships named ''Icarus'', starting in 1814, and all of them continuing through their careers without serious problems. The fourth ''Icarus'' was an ''I''-class destroyer, launched in 1936 and which participated for the duration of the Second World War, sinking four German U-Boats. It was decommissioned in 1946 and torn up for scrap in Scotland.

* Just to complete the picture of sea-going bodies being particularly prone to this, the head of the US Fleet was initially known as Commander-in-Chief, U. S. Fleet or... CINCUS. If you can't see the problem, try saying it out loud. The issue was recognised (the Navy tried to insist it should be pronounced 'kinkus') but it was brushed off. Then Pearl Harbor happened. And suddenly it seemed rather grotesque. The name was changed shortly thereafter.

** The UK ship HMS ''Ark Royal'' was sunk in WWII; several design flaws were found to have contributed to the loss. This hasn't prevented the UK from naming two other ships the same name since; one was an [[TemptingFate Invincible class]] aircraft carrier.

** The British Royal Navy has had four ships named ''Icarus'', starting in 1814, and all of them continuing through their careers without serious problems. The fourth ''Icarus'' was an ''I''-class destroyer, launched in 1936 and which participated for the duration of the Second World War, sinking four German U-Boats. It was decommissioned in 1946 and torn up for scrap in Scotland.

* There's an urban legend in the British Royal Navy that says the Admiralty decided to disprove one of the Navy's most cherished superstitions, namely that Friday is an unlucky day to set sail. Not only did they christen a ship HMS ''Friday'', but they had her keel laid on a Friday, and she was commanded by a Captain Friday. The myth continues that the ship disappeared without a trace during the shakedown cruise.

* Much like in the source material ''Literature/TheCampHalfBloodSeries'', Sally Jackson in ''Fanfic/TheyllNameACityAfterUs named her demigod child after the ancient hero Perseus in hope that his good luck of having a happy ending would rub off, but unfortunately Percy is also a variant of Persephone, who just like Percy was kidnapped by a lovesick god.

* ''VideoGame/KidIcarus'' plays this trope straight... in the non-Japanese title of the series and the overseas title alone. [[spoiler: Doesn't stop Pit from getting his wings burnt off twice. Guess fate took a look at that one and said 'eh, close enough'.]]

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' gave us an espionage mission set during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, with a trio of spies code-named [[Literature/TheBible "ADAM, EVA, and Snake"]] assigned to the case. Come on, what's the worst that could happen? It's not like one of them could be a traitor or anything... right? [[spoiler:In a subversion, though, Snake is the only completely trustworthy agent of the three (at least, [[ProtagonistJourneyToVillain at the time]]).]]

* In ''Series/RedDwarf'', the Dwarf's mainframe computer goes interestingly insane, or at least ''erratic'', after spending three million years in deep space with nobody to talk to. The resurrected Dwarfers call this "computer senility". The computer is called Holly - the name evokes Hal in "2001"

* Two of the original three big Coney Island theme parks, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamland_(Coney_Island,_1904) Dreamland]] in 1911 and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_Park_(Coney_Island,_1903) Luna Park]] in 1944, burned down after a major attraction caught fire. Where did the fires start? Respectively, ''Hell Gate'' and ''Dragon's Gorge''.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Solatorobo}}'', the ship Red infiltrates in the Prologue is named the ''Hindenburg''. Of course, by the end of the Prologue, it's lost to a giant monster that suddenly appears in front of it.

*** To add another layer to this, ''Invincible'' was the flagship of Admiral Hood, and there was the battlecruiser HMS ''Hood'' that was obliterated by the Nazi battleship ''Bismarck''. However, in this case, it's a subversion: HMS ''Hood'' wasn't named for that particular Admiral Hood.

* When [[ComicBook/AntMan Henry Pym]] got tired of the name "Giant Man", he changed it to "Goliath". Others who took his growth serum, such as [[ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}} Clint Barton]] and William Foster, took the name Goliath as well. And finally, during ''Comicbook/CivilWar'', Foster was killed by a clone of [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]], who was relatively small in comparison...

* In the ''Animation/AdventuresOfCaptainVrungel'', the captain names his boat ''Pobeda'', "Victory", because "it will sail according to how you name it. You can name your boat 'Trough' or 'Sieve"', but don't expect it to not to sink at its first sailing." Ironically, at ''Pobeda'''s first sailing, two letters fall off and the ship becomes ''Beda'': "Trouble" (the pun is [[IncidentalMultilingualWordplay "Courage" and "Rage"]] in the English translation). The four letters remaining are the only part of the ship to complete the journey. The animated adaptation averts the trope, and the yacht survives until the end.

* There's a Soviet book about one Captain Vrungel (mix of Wrangel and ''vrun'' "liar"). He named his boat ''Pobeda'', "Victory", because "it will sail according to how you name it. You can name your boat 'Trough' or 'Sieve"', but don't expect it to not to sink at its first sailing." Ironically, at ''Pobeda'''s first sailing, two letters fell off and the ship became called ''Beda'': "Trouble" (the pun is [[IncidentalMultilingualWordplay "Courage" and "Rage"]] in the English translation). The four letters remaining are the only part of the ship to complete the journey.

* Much like in the source material ''Literature/CampHalfBlood'' Sally Jackson in ''Fanfic/TheyllNameACityAfterUs named her demigod child after the ancient hero Perseus in hope that his good luck of having a happy ending would rub off, but unfortunately Percy is also a variant of Persephone, who just like Percy was kidnapped by a lovesick god.

->'''The Doctor:''' "Titanic". Um...who...thought of the name?\\

-->-- ''Series/DoctorWho'', [[Recap/DoctorWho2007CSVoyageOfTheDamned "Voyage of the Damned"]]

* The novel ''Icarus Down'' by James Bow is named for a far-flung Earth colony and is set 62 years after the colony ship, known as the Icarus, crashed. It had appeared too close to the planet's sun...
* In the ''Navigator Pirks'' series, there is a story about a spaceship called "Goliath", which was sent to investigate Saturn's rings. Goliath was killed by a small rock. Saturn's rings are made of small rocks. Guess how well that goes.

* Much like in the source material ''Literature/CampHalfBlood'' Sally Jackson named her demigod child after the ancient hero Perseus in hope that his good luck of having a happy ending would rub off, but unfortunately Percy is also a variant of Persephone, who just like Percy was kidnapped by a lovesick god.

* There's a Soviet book about one Captain Vrungel (mix of Wrangel and ''vrun'' "liar"). He named his boat ''Pobeda'', "Victory", because "it will sail according to how you name it. You can name your boat 'Trough' or 'Sieve"', but don't expect it to not to sink at its first sailing." Ironically, at ''Pobeda'''s first sailing, two letters fell off and the ship became called ''Beda'': "Trouble" (the pun is [[LuckyTranslation "Courage" and "Rage"]] in the English translation). The four letters remaining are the only part of the ship to complete the journey.

** [[AIIsACrapshoot As of this writing, Skynet has yet to rebel against humans. Perhaps its just waiting for us to let our guard down.]] Then again, even in the ''Terminator'' films, Skynet didn't [[TimeyWimeyBall originally]] rebel until the humans tried to shut her down after she became self-aware.