History Main / WhatDidYouExpectWhenYouNamedIt

*** To add another layer to this, ''Invincible'' was the flagship of Admiral Hood, and there was an 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.

* Throughout history, several people appeared to think that calling a car "Phaeton" is a good idea... Phaëton was the son of the Greek god Helios. He tried to drive his father's sun-chariot, lost control, and had to be shot down by Zeus before he crashed it into the world. Admittedly, the only case where it came literally true was the Phaeton carriage popular during The {{Regency|England}}, which was famous for its speed and its ability to get its drivers and random pedestrians killed.

* Most of the ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' cast are named after sunken UsefulNotes/WorldWarII battleships and carriers (poor Asuka gets the dubious distinction of having ''both'' of her last names be associated with a terrible fate- Langley was attacked by Japanese planes and had to be scuttled, while Soryu was sunk at Midway); is it any surprise that the place is a DysfunctionJunction?

* The giant tower superweapon in ''Creator/OsamuTezuka's Anime/{{Metropolis}}'' is named "Ziggurat", after towers said to be built by the Babylonians to show off their power, the most famous being ''the tower of Babel''. Of course, it ends up toppling. What makes this especially ridiculous is that this is acknowledged ''in the actual movie''.

* The majority of the game in ''VideoGame/AlienIsolation'' takes place on The Sevastopol Station...named after the city in the Ukraine that was under siege during the Crimean War that was almost wiped out [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything by diseases brought in by outsiders]].

* The ship in ''Film/{{Sunshine}}'' is flying to the Sun with the name ''Icarus II''. As if the name isn't TemptingFate enough, they still stuck with it after losing the original ''Icarus''.

-->'''The rogue:''' Any last words?\\

* Parodied in ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'', during a conversation between an AI-controlled, damaged, semi-kamikaze ship and the central computer.

* The Random Ride minigame in ''VideoGame/MarioParty 5'' features vehicles with negative names like "Totally Terrible," "Nothing's Right," and "Difficulties Ahead." Downplayed in that, from time to time, these vehicles actually prevail over vehicles with positive names.

* Music/GunsNRoses decided to title their sixth studio album ''Chinese Democracy''. Depending on how one interprets the title, it can be taken to mean "A dramatic and powerful shift in the status quo" or "Something that will probably never happen". The latter interpretation became a bit prophetic when the album hit a notoriously TroubledProduction, with one of the worst cases of ScheduleSlip in rock n' roll history: it took an entire decade to record, it set a Guinness World Record for the most expensive album production of all time, and the band spent eight years promoting it on tour before it was actually released. Before it finally hit shelves in 2008, some fans understandably doubted whether it would ''ever'' come out. This led to many an ObligatoryJoke that there would be actual democracy in China before ''Chinese Democracy'' was finished.

* VideoGame/DukeNukemForever's name proved to be prophetic regarding the length of its development. There was also much amusement to be had in its initials; in some contexts DNF stands for [[{{Vaporware}} Did Not Finish]]. Although this was eventually averted.

** In 1898, a merchant seaman wrote a novel called ''Literature/FutilityOrTheWreckOfTheTitan'', about a giant cruiseliner called the ''Titan'' which is meant to be unsinkable, whose passengers include lots of famous and rich people, and on one of whose voyages in its first year of service -- yes, across the Atlantic -- it hits an iceberg in the middle of the night in April and sinks. And no, there weren't enough lifeboats for the characters in his story either.

** Further, naming a brand of condoms after a city that was famously impregnated [[TemptingFate seems to be asking for trouble]]. Similarly, one of Durex's condom brands in North America was called UsefulNotes/{{Ramses|II}} -- after a pharaoh who had ''over a hundred children''.

* Throughout history, several people appeared to think that calling a car "Phaeton" is a good idea... Phaëton was the son of the Greek god Helios. He tried to drive his father's sun-chariot, lost control, and had to be shot down by Zeus before he crashed it into the world. Admittedly, the only case where the {{Unfortunate Implication|s}} came literally true was the Phaeton carriage popular during The {{Regency|England}}, which was famous for its speed and its ability to get its drivers and random pedestrians killed.

* Notably averted in TheSeventies Sunday-Morning cartoon ''Davey and Goliath''. Goliath was Davey's talking dog. (Of course, calling them "Samson and Delilah" would probably have worked too, because the two characters here [[InNameOnly didn't resemble the Biblical ones in the slightest]].)

* In Creator/IsaacAsimov's short story ''Sucker Bait'', humanity tries to colonise a lush, though somewhat cold (but rich in biosphere) planet called Troas. The first colonisation expedition died after three years on the planet -- and now they [[WeHaveReserves prepare to send the next...]] (That's what happens when you file away the records of the first attempt). If it's not clear how this qualifies, "Troas" is the region Troy was in -- though they ''did'' have a valid reason to name it that, as it was in the L5 or "Trojan" Lagrange Point of the binary system.

* In Creator/IsaacAsimov's short story ''Sucker Bait'', humanity tries to colonise a lush, though somewhat cold (but rich in biosphere) planet called Troas. The first colonisation expedition died after three years on the planet -- and now they [[WeHaveReserves prepare to send the next...]] (although, to be fair, they did file away the records about the first attempt). If it's not clear how this qualifies, "Troas" is the region Troy was in -- though they ''did'' have a valid reason to name it that, as it was in the L5 or "Trojan" Lagrange Point of the binary system.

* ''Literature/TheLastColony'' by Creator/JohnScalzi centers around the newly-colonized planet of Roanoke. The protagonist essentially facepalms when it hits him.
** Subverted in that [[spoiler:the name was [[InvokedTrope quite deliberately chosen]] by those who set up the colony, and hints at their reasons and ultimate plan for it - though it still goes awry for those who set the colony up, in a way according to the name. Roanoke wasn't simply lost, its settlers abandoned it and joined the natives (whether willingly or not is still a matter of debate).]]

* To the humans in ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' -- you named the new moon [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Pandora]]? Really? No-one cares if it means "All-Gifted," there's a reason you don't try to open things named after or belonging to Pandora! To be fair, this choice of appellation could be less TemptingFate and more of a MeaningfulName after the discovery of what a DeathWorld Pandora was. There are no apparent illusions that it's anything less than a chaotic deathtrap.

* Although the car achieved commercial success, the AMC ''{{Gr|ipingAboutGremlins}}emlin'' has got to be a TemptingFate honorable mention.

'''Host Robot:''' Information: it was chosen as the famous vessel of the planet Earth.\\
'''The Doctor:''' Did they tell you why it was famous?

* Most of the ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' cast are named after sunken UsefulNotes/WorldWarII battleships and carriers (poor Asuka gets the dubious distinction of having ''both'' of her last names be associated with a terrible fate); is it any surprise that the place is a DysfunctionJunction?

Compare NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast, PropheticName, IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace, and WhoNamesTheirKidDude. Related to AnalogyBackfire and of course TemptingFate.

* For a twofer, there's a Japanese company called [[Franchise/{{Terminator}} Cyberdyne]], whose most famous project is a [[PoweredArmor powered exoskeleton]], but they thankfully decided not to name it T-101... they named it [[Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey HAL]] instead ([[FunWithAcronyms Hybrid Assistive Limb]]).

Note that it has to be the name of something that has ''already'' gone down: The original ''Hindenburg'' was not an example of this trope (but ''Titanic'' arguably was, see the RealLife section below).

** One of the several major ending spoilers of the game is that [[spoiler:when a guy who calls himself Snake askes to see ADAM, it doesn't take a genius for a woman to say her name is EVA and see [[DoubleReverseQuadrupleAgent how far it will get her]].]]

* In ''Film/Cherrybomb2010'', the health centre where Malachy works is called "Titanic Leisureplex". And people are ''[[GenreBlind surprised]]'' when bad things start happening there.

* In ''Film/{{Cherrybomb}}'', the health centre where Malachy works is called "Titanic Leisureplex". And people are ''[[GenreBlind surprised]]'' when bad things start happening there.

* Throughout history, several people appeared to think that calling a car "Phaeton" is a good idea... (For those who don't know their Greek Mythology, Phaëton was the son of the Greek god Helios. He tried to drive his father's sun-chariot, lost control, and had to be shot down by Zeus before he crashed it into the world.) Admittedly, the only case where the {{Unfortunate Implication|s}} came literally true was the Phaeton carriage popular during The {{Regency|England}}, which was famous for its speed and its ability to get its drivers and random pedestrians killed.