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{{trope}}
{{quote|"You know, when you name your son 'Jeeves', you've pretty much set up his life's path for him. What is he going to become... a hitman? 'Pardon me sir, but I'm afraid I must whack you.'"
|'''[[Seinfeld|Jerry Seinfeld]]'''}}
Some names, frequently taken from historical events, seem to be jinxed. No one wants to ride on a ship (or a [[Space Sailing]][[Starship Titanic|ship]]) named "Titanic" or "Hindenburg". Similarly, [[Icarus Allusion|anything named "Icarus" is begging for a wing-clipping]], and [[The Bible
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 [[Real Life]] section below).
Compare [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]], [[Prophetic
{{Unmarked Spoilers}}
{{examples|Examples:}}▼
== Meta ==
* Naming any form of flying contraption "Icarus". Who in his right mind calls something after the most famous story of a man killing himself by recklessly misusing a flying device that performs safely when used as intended? [[Icarus Allusion|We have a trope for this.]]
** On the other hand, this is probably a good reminder that reckless misuse is bad.
* There seems to be a minor trend in entertainment (particularly sci-fi) where any episode or chapter that is called or refers to "The Great Leap Forward" will involve a major, disasterous incident.
== [[Anime]] ==
* Most of the ''[[
== [[
* Ozymandias in ''[[Watchmen (
** Also, there's the [[Gordian Knot]] Lock Company.
* Icarus of the ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'', a mutant born with wings. Reverend Stryker cuts his wings off, tricks him into helping kill a busload of his former friends and then murders him.
== [[Fan Works]] ==
* Averted in ''[[Kyon: Big Damn Hero]]'': Kyon [[Ha Ha Only Serious|jokes]] about his new PDA (made with alien technology) conquering the world, comparing it to [[Terminator (franchise)|SkyNet]]—which is what he then ends up calling it. And so far, it's been anything but rebellious and threatening.
== [[Film]] ==
* People seem to find humor in ''[[Seltzer and Friedberg|Disaster Movie]]'' bombing at the box office.
* The ship in ''[[Sunshine (
* To the humans in ''[[Avatar (
** This is probably more a case of the creator invoking [[Meaningful Name]], which seems to be a theme of the movie. For crying out loud, they're going after a precious mineral literally called [[Unobtanium]]!
* [[The Asylum]] [[The Mockbuster|movie]] ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20131113011102/http://www.thefilmcatalogue.com/catalog/FilmDetail.php?id=9424 Titanic 2]'' features a shipping magnate not only building a second ''Titanic'' [[Tempting Fate|but also setting its maiden voyage in the 100th anniversary of the original disaster and having it traverse]] ''[[Tempting Fate|the exact same route of the original]]'' (though in the opposite direction). Somehow, things go even ''worse'' than in the original voyage: the ship is slammed by an iceberg ''carried by a tsunami'' and later is hit by a ''second'' "mega tsunami". It ends with the female lead as the sole survivor. And this is played ''100% straight''.
* In ''[[
* In the ''[[James Bond (
** In his defense, the superweapon ''was'' intended to burn things through sunlight.<ref>The specific reckless usage that Icarus did was, most commonly, flying too close to the sun and having the warmth melt his wings</ref>
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Rise of the Planet of
** Also, if you pay attention in to the TV in the background during one scene, you'll see news coverage of a NASA launch which is called ''Icarus'' (implied to be the ship that crash lands in the beginning of the original ''[[Planet of the Apes]]''). Sure enough, just a few scenes later, a newspaper headline can be seen proclaiming that the ship has mysteriously vanished, and we all know what happened to it after that.
* The original colonists' ship in ''[[Forbidden Planet]]'' is called the ''Bellerophon''. In [[Classical Mythology]], Bellerophon was a great hero, yes, and he did tame the Pegasus. However, he also fell victim to [[Pride|hubris]], and was punished by being sent crashing down to Earth from his mount, where he died a blinded cripple. Guess what happened to the ship?
* Hey, we've got a band! We've got one really great song called ''[[That Thing You Do]]''. What should we call ourselves? [[One
* The Classic [[Doctor Dolittle]] movie - the one with Rex Harrison - features this exchange:
{{quote|
'''Dolittle''': Nonsense. Flounders have survived for millions of years.
'''Matt''': Yes, ''under'' the water! }}
== [[Literature]] ==
* ''[[The Last Colony]]'' by [[John Scalzi]] centers around the newly-colonized planet of Roanoke. The protagonist essentially facepalms when it hits him.
* The ''[[Starship Titanic]]'' is mentioned in ''[[The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy (
** The latter is part of a crescendo sequence, ''GSS Daring,'' ''GSS Audacity,'' and ''GSS Suicidal Insanity.'' ''Daring'' and ''Audacity'' are actual names of Royal Navy ships.
** ''[[Starship Titanic]]'' later got its own game and novelisation. Its maiden voyage went as hilariously badly as one would expect given the name and the author.
*** ... who is [[Monty Python's Flying Circus|Terry Jones]] (novelization and parrot).
* A ''[[Wing Commander (
* [[Lampshaded]] in one of the ''[[
** It's possible that the "Icarus" in "Operation Icarus" actually referred to the ''Manticorans''.
** Also: The Solarian League named a series of ships Joseph Buckley. [[Designated Victim|They should've known]].
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* There's a short story which replays the Charge of the Light Brigade with robots on another planet. The general whose orders accidentally sent the robots attacking the wrong enemy positions was observing from a starship ''Balaklava'', named for the battle in which the original charge took place.
* There's Soviet book about 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 out, and the ship became called ''Beda'' "Trouble" (The pun is [[Woolseyism|"Courage" and "Rage"]] in the English translation). The four letters remaining are the only part of the ship to complete the journey.
** There's a [[Shout
* In the [[
* The good airship ''Hubris'' in ''[[More Information Than You Require]]''.
* Discussed in [[Diane Duane]]'s ''[[
* ''[[Harry Potter (
** There's also a minor werewolf character named Fenrir Greyback. ''Fenrir'' is the wolf-shaped son of Loki in Norse mythology, and ''Greyback'' is obvious.
* In a short story ''[[Isaac Asimov|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 [[We Have Reserves|prepare to send the next...]] (although, to be fair, they did file away the records about the first attempt)
* In the ''[[Troy Rising]]'' series, the alien Rangora are rather baffled by the fact that Earth's first two Battlestations are named after famous, historical DEFEATS - the Troy and the Thermopylae. But ultimately, the trope is subverted - both battlestations wind up facing scenarios similar to their historical counterparts, but weather them. In the third book, Tyler Vernon admits that he named the first two stations after those historic defeats because back then, he didn't know if they'd WORK - his main hope was that, even in defeat, they'd be memorable and serve as an inspirational example to future resistance, similar to how the fall of Troy caused the birth of the Roman Empire, and the Battle of Thermopylae catalyzed Greece into an ultimately successful union to oppose the Persian invaders.
** People often tend to forget that on a strategic level Thermopylae was a ''victory'' (or at least the successful damage control): the whole point of the [[
* German novel ''Azrael'' has the eponymous experimental drug named after the angel of death. Of course the book is of the horror genre.
* In [[Jack Campbell]]'s ''[[The Lost Fleet]]'' series the ships named ''Invicible'' naturally have very short lives.
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* The ''[[
* One episode of ''[[
** ''[[
** Lets not forget the Babylon 5 station itself. That "5" is there because there were four other Babylon stations before it, all either destroyed or, in one case, vanished. The actual ancient city of Babylon didn't fare too well either...
* The first episode of ''[[
** An earlier incidence was lampshaded on ''[[
*** Of course, the main reason he didn't want it called Icarus was because he wanted to call it [[Shout
*** McKay also got shut down for that by Sheppard. They went with ''Orion'' instead. None of the other named ships appear to match their name origins. Although, that was mainly because the ship's original Ancient name, ''Hippofaralkus'', was universally considered to be kind of lame.
* In ''[[Noob (TV series)|Noob]]'', the titular MMORPG guild is hinted to have gotten its resident n00b ''after'' being named. Coincidence?
* In one episode of ''[[Seinfeld]]'', Jerry joked that if you name your kid Jeeves, you are guaranteeing that he'll be a butler when he grows up.
== [[Music]] ==
* There's a musician who calls himself Mighty Casey. You've heard of him, right? [[Casey
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
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== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[
== [[Theater]] ==
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== [[Video Games]] ==
* The [[Douglas Adams]] computer game ''[[Starship Titanic]]''.
* While the flying city of ''[[
** Not to mention the original ''[[
* In ''[[Knights of the Old Republic (
* In ''[[
* In ''[[The Elder Scrolls III
** To give you more of a hint...you get the scroll off the dead body of a mage, when he lands in front of you from out of nowhere.
* ''[[Fallout
** Actually, it's even worse. "Forlorn Hope" is a military term coming from the Dutch "Verloren Hoop", "lost heap", referring to the first wave sent into attack who are pretty much doomed to die. Basically, it's 'Camp [[We Have Reserves]]'.
** [[All in The Manual|In fact]] it apparently used to be called [[Tempting Fate|Camp Hope]]. It got the name after things went to hell.
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* In [[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.
* When Hawke is tasked to find out what happened to the workers at a mine near Kirkwall in [[Dragon Age 2]], s/he mentions to its owner that his first mistake was naming his mine "The Bone Pit." Subverted in that the owner, Hubert, didn't actually name the mine; the locals did, largely due to the area's grisly history.
* ''[[Kid Icarus]]'' tried to skirt the trope by having the protagonist actually named Pit. Whether or not it worked well depends on if you want to see it as taking three games or twenty-five years before his wings got burned off.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* Parodied in ''[[
{{quote|
'''Ship:''' Make sure you don't skimp on fire extinguishing foam when you build ''Predictably Damaged VI''. Oh and.. [Explodes]
'''Narrator:''' Humans would pick a new name after five losses. The rogue appreciates humorous irony too much for that. }}
* Lampshaded in ''[[Two Evil Scientists]]'' when Sonic meets Vile:
{{quote|
'''Mega Man X''': Yeah!
'''Sonic''': When they named him, were they trying to make a Maverick? }}
* In ''[[Nature of
== [[Web Original]] ==
* Used as part of [[The Spoony Experiment
* ''[[SF Debris]]'' has a running gag about the naming of ship's Icarus that highlights this trope.
* From [[Nostalgia Critic]]'s review of [[James and the Giant Peach]]:
{{quote|'''Nostalgia Critic''': So this is Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker. You know, when you name your kids that, aren't you just begging for them to turn out like [[Abusive Parent|th]][[Complete Monster|is?]]}}
**Again in the review of [[Pound Puppies]]:
{{quote|'''Nostalgia Critic''': (on the movie's villain) McNasty? Really? That's his name? You know, you're sort of leaning his future towards evil when you call somebody McNasty. I can't really see a daycare called "McNasty's" (He shows a picture of a McNasty's daycare center with a sign that says "Only 5 days since our last disappeared child"}}
**Once again [[Discussed Trope|Discussed]] in the review of [[Richie Rich (comics)|Richie Rich]]:
{{quote|'''Nostalgia Critic''': So back in the ‘90s when we still had an economy, a young boy is born to a millionaire named Richard Rich. The boy’s name? Richie Rich. You know, you ever wonder if either the father or son would have a different life if their parents named them Poor E. Broke?
'''Chester A. Bum''':(excitedly) Hey! That's my legally born name!}}
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* ''[[
** Amusingly, nobody sees anything wrong with the name; after 1,000 years, it's not common knowledge. But when it comes to 20th Century born Fry's opinion, he's too much of a dumbass to know any better.
** Of course none other than Captain Zapp Brannigan is repeatedly [[Tempting Fate]].
{{quote|
'''Zapp Brannigan''': Ah, yes. Comets, the icebergs of the sky. }}
* An episode of ''[[
* In one episode of ''[[
{{quote|
* ''[[Rick and Morty]]'' had a bizarre version of this in one episode, where Beth and Jerry go to a party on a replica of ''The Titanic'', the theme being a reenactment of the voyage. As in, the ship is ''supposed'' to sink. Given Jerry's luck, it fails to do so. [[Attempted Rape| Although that is the least of Jerry's problems here.]]
* Notably averted in The '70s Sunday-Morning cartoon ''[[Davey and Goliath]]''. Goliath was Davey's [[Talking Animal|talking dog]] and was harmless. Of course, calling them "Samson and Delilah" would probably have worked too, because the two characters here didn't resemble the Biblical ones in the slightest.
== [[Real Life]] ==
* After the success of the movie ''[[
** Then there's the "original" ''Titanic''. [[Classical Mythology|What are the original Titans most famous for?]] For being roundly defeated and sealed into Tartarus once Zeus and company came along, and if they weren't imprisoned they got lousy fates like holding up the sky for all eternity, or being chained to a rock with an eagle snacking on 'em for all eternity... [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|or being married to Pandora]].
** The ''Titanic'' sort of is an example in another way. In 1898, a merchant seaman wrote a story called "The Wreck of the Titan", 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
** The ''Titanic'' was the second of three ships in the Olympic Class, all of which seem to be jinxed:
*** The first ship, the ''Olympic'', collided with the Royal Navy cruiser HMS ''Hawke'' eight months before the Titanic sank.
*** A few weeks after the ''Titanic'' sank, crewmen aboard the ''Olympic'' tested the collapsable lifeboats on the ship and found that they were all defective. The White Star Line refused to fix the problem, so 54 crewmen mutinied.
*** The third ship was supposed to be named the ''Gigantic''. However, after the sinking of the ship that (supposedly) even God Himself couldn't sink, the White Star Line reconsidered and named it the ''Britannic''. During [[World War I]], it did service as a hospital ship. It sank in 1916 when it hit a mine off the coast of Greece.
** [https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2018/10/28/titanic-ii-luxury-cruise-liner-scheduled-sail-2022/ Investors crazy enough have finally been found]. The replica is scheduled to launch in 2022. If it will follow the fate of the original remains to be seen.
* 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 chariot, lost control, and was shot down by Zeus.)
* Icarus. It was a
** Contrary to what one might expect, they still manufacture them. Thankfully, they didn't tried their hands in [[Tempting Fate|building airplanes]].
* An-22 "Anteus". The Soviet transport ''plane'' named (in a fit of black humor?) after [[Classical Mythology|the giant]] who ''lost his strength when he was lifted from the ground''.
** Its NATO reporting name is just plain insulting. It's "Cock." Though at least that's something well-known for [[Something Else Also Rises|rising]].
*** It doubles as a stealth insult, considering the other kind of "cock" can't exactly fly.
** One of the scientists working on the design of this plane said the name was chosen because it really did "take its power from the land", since refueling occurs, you know, on land.
** It can't refuel mid-air? Or on an aircraft carrier?
*** The An-22 was the world's heaviest aircraft until the arrival of the C-5galaxy and the larger An-124. An aircraft carrier large enough to handle it would be more strictly termed "an island".
* Various world navies have named their ships after losing battles or even past ships that have been destroyed (possibly as a way to say [[Remember the Alamo!|"never forget"]]).
** During [[World War Two]], it was also a means of psychological
** The US Navy ships USS ''Bunker Hill'' were all named after a battle the US lost.
*** Almost as bad were the Kidd class destroyers, informally nicknamed the "Dead Admiral class". All four were named for USN admirals killed in action during [[World War II]], and three of them were killed in battles the USN lost too.
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**** The commander of the ''Invincible'' was Admiral Hood....
** 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.
** The pocket battleship ''Admiral Graf Spee'' was named after a German admiral killed in the South Atlantic during a battle in the first year of [[World War
** The Imperial German Navy and the Federal German Navy had a total of four ships called ''Vineta'', after a mythical coastal town that famously sank beneath the waves of the Baltic Sea. Almost as ominous as naming a [
** The current flagship of the Italian Navy is the [
* The Soviets named a battleship which they inherited from the Russian Empire after a [
* The US Navy has a slightly morbid tradition of naming submarines for ships that sank (or at least it did before it decided to name them [
** Oddly enough when a ''submarine'' is recovered after being sunk, the Navy traditionally recommissions it with a new name. The USS ''Squalus'' became the USS ''Sailfish'' after she was salvaged for example.
** It's said that the peanut farmer's name was chosen ''deliberately''. USS ''Jimmy Carter'' is a special operations submarine, that conducts hush-hush double-secret-squirrel missions. And that will spend (it is hoped) all its life never being spoken of...
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** Although according to Roman myth, the Trojan survivors became the first Romans. The same Romans who, in [[Real Life]], built one of the largest empires in history and, notably, conquered Greece. So it could be seen as defeat just makes them come back stronger...
* [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1394776/Mark-Wilkinsons-Titanic-II-sank-harbour-Dorset.html?ITO=1490 Man names boat Titanic II; sinks before leaving harbour.]
* There's a famous image around the net of the speedboat [http://web.archive.org/web/20160412223509if_/http://i12.tinypic.com/2ed0ew2.jpg "Temporary Insanity II"]. He should have known better after the first time.
* In 2002, VW launched the Phaeton, a high price luxury car. Even though the brand is mostly known for its very small family cars Beetle and Golf, and the company also owns the ''Audi'' brand, which is actually a well known brand for large luxury cars. Unsurprisingly, the whole thing bombed because nobody who could afford one wanted to be seen in a VW. The Greek legend of Phaeton is about Phaeton bugging his father Helios to be allowed to drive the sun chariot, immediately creates a huge accident, and gets killed by Zeus with a lightning bolt to prevent the destruction of the world when he crashes the sun into it. Whoever proposed the name for the car apparently knew exactly where the whole project was heading.
* Although the car achieved commercial success, the AMC ''[[Griping About Gremlins|Gremlin]]'' has got to be a [[Tempting Fate]] honorable mention.
* The Hellenic Air Force Academy logo features Icarus.
* The UK has [[
* The Tampa International Airport's parking garage has elevators named after various heroes of aviation... and [[Amelia Earhart]].
* [[Apollo 13]] (and since then NASA has ''never'' launched a vehicle with "13" in the
* 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.
* There's a comforter set called the [[Othello]]. Did the designers of that not know what happens in that play?! For those that don't know {{spoiler|the climax involves Othello smothering his wife to death ''in their bed.''}}
** There's also [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1577236/Woolworths-stop-selling-Lolita-bed-for-girls.html a set of bedroom furniture] aimed
* Following a decade of managerial complications and enormous financial loss following its "[[Didn't Think This Through|merger of equals]]" with Chrysler, Daimler AG decided in 2007 to sell the company to a certain [
** Cerberus would acquire infamy for acquiring several firearm companies in 2006-2008, then proceeding to gut all quality control (new products literally shipped with heavy rust), crashing market share. As a result of Cerberus none of the companies will ever escape the land of the dead.
* One would expect a Delilah's Barber Shop to be jinxed, after the [[Traumatic Haircut]] she gave to Samson in [[The Bible]], much like one couldn't open a Ford Theatre without invoking the ghost of Abe Lincoln... but businesses with this name (or a variant) exist.
* The first USS Roanoke disappeared (under the water) immediately upon its launch. Unexpectedly, at least five, less cursed, ships were subsequently given that name.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Naming Conventions]]
[[Category:What Did You Expect When You Named It?]]
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