What is Boaty Mcboatface?

It is the joke name that won a 2016 UK online poll to name a polar research vessel, before officials picked RRS Sir David Attenborough and handed the Boaty name to a submarine instead[1].

Where did Boaty Mcboatface come from?

Former BBC radio presenter James Hand submitted 'RRS Boaty McBoatface' to the NERC's online naming poll on March 17th, 2016[5].

What does Boaty Mcboatface mean?

It is a joke formula that pairs a noun plus 'y' with 'Mc[Noun]face,' deflating any pretense that the naming process is serious[4].

How do you use Boaty Mcboatface?

Take a noun, add a 'y' ending if needed, then repeat it with 'Mc' in the middle and 'face' at the end, producing names like Trainy McTrainface or Horsey McHorseface[3].

Is Boaty Mcboatface still popular?

The template is a classic reference that news outlets still cite whenever an institution opens a crowdsourced naming poll, though the biggest wave of copycats hit in 2016 and 2017[4].

Who came up with the name Boaty McBoatface?

Former BBC radio presenter James Hand suggested it to NERC's poll, and later apologized publicly for the resulting chaos[1].

Did Boaty McBoatface actually become a ship's name?

No. NERC named the ship RRS Sir David Attenborough, then attached the Boaty McBoatface name to a small yellow robotic submarine carried aboard it[4].

What did the Boaty McBoatface submarine discover?

During a 2019 Antarctic mission it helped identify stronger polar winds mixing cold deep water with warmer mid-level water in a pattern that speeds sea level rise[5].

What are some other 'McFace' names inspired by Boaty McBoatface?

Trainy McTrainface on a South West Trains LED sign[5], Horsey McHorseface as an Australian racehorse[3], and Ferry McFerryface as a Sydney ferry[5] are three widely reported ones.

What is the RRS Sir David Attenborough?

It is the 129-meter British polar research ship that NERC named after the naturalist instead of using the winning Boaty McBoatface poll result[5].

Boaty Mcboatface

Q: How many votes did Boaty McBoatface get?

It received 124,109 votes, more than four times the runner-up RRS Poppy-Mai's total[1].

2016catchphraseclassic

Published August 9, 2026

Boaty McBoatface is the joke name proposed in a 2016 UK government online poll to christen a new polar research vessel, which won by a landslide before officials overruled the vote. The name spawned an ongoing 'X-y McXface' template applied to trains, horses, ferries, and schools, while the winning name was eventually handed to a small robotic submarine aboard the same ship.

british memes snowclone memes backfire memes name based memes 2016 memes

Overview

Boaty McBoatface is the joke name that won a 2016 online UK government poll to name a $287 million polar research vessel, then got overruled by officials who picked something more dignified1. The name spawned a naming template where anything can be tagged with a childlike 'y Mc[Noun]face' formula, spreading to trains, ferries, horses and schools4. It is one of the clearest examples of what happens when British institutions hand naming power to the wider internet.

The template itself is dead simple. Take the object being named, add a 'y' if it needs one, then repeat it with 'Mc' in the middle. Boaty McBoatface, Trainy McTrainface, Horsey McHorseface. The joke works because it deflates any pretense of gravitas, dressing an official process in language that sounds like a toddler naming a plush toy5. It also grew a whole meta-story about crowdsourced polls, with headlines about British democracy hinging on whether a research ship would carry a silly name2.

Origin & Background

Platform

NERC website poll (source) / Twitter (viral spread)

Creator

James Hand

Date

2016

On March 17th, 2016, the UK's Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) opened an online poll asking the public to suggest and vote on a name for its new 129-meter, 15,000-ton polar research ship, the largest and most advanced British royal research vessel to date5. Former BBC radio presenter James Hand tossed in 'RRS Boaty McBoatface' as a joke suggestion, nodding to earlier internet naming stunts like 'Hooty McOwlface,' an owl christened through a 2012 Adopt-A-Bird program5.

Within 24 hours the entry rocketed to the top of the leaderboard8. NERC's website crashed under the surge of traffic pouring in to vote for it4. Hand publicly apologized for the mess he had started, later saying, 'I made the suggestion but the storm that's been created, it's got legs of its own,' and adding that he thought the joke felt 'a very British thing'1.

How It Spread

When the poll closed in mid-April 2016, 'RRS Boaty McBoatface' had pulled in 124,109 votes, more than four times the runner-up 'RRS Poppy-Mai,' named after a 16-month-old girl with incurable cancer1. Science Minister Jo Johnson pushed back, arguing the ship needed 'a name that lasts longer than a social-media news cycle and reflects the serious nature of the science it will be doing'2. NERC eventually picked RRS Sir David Attenborough, then handed the Boaty McBoatface name to a small yellow robotic submarine that would ride aboard the ship4.

The naming template broke free of the boat almost immediately. On March 22nd, 2016, Daily Telegraph journalist Harry Wallop tweeted a photo of a South West Trains LED display reading 'Trainy McTrainface,' racking up more than 1,449 retweets5. That same day, the US Air Force opened a name-the-B-21-bomber contest and got joke suggestions like 'Bomby McBombface' and 'Stealthy McHidden'5. On April 15th, Australian trainer Bjorn Baker of Sydney's Warwick Farm racecourse debuted a two-year-old gelding called Horsey McHorseface, with his racing manager telling CNN, 'any publicity is good publicity'3.

The formula kept going. In late March 2016, an Austin, Texas school board fielded suggestions like 'Schoolie McSchoolface' while renaming Robert E. Lee Elementary School5. On November 13th, 2017, New South Wales Public Transport announced that a new Sydney ferry would be called Ferry McFerryface after winning a 15,000-suggestion contest, prompting the Maritime Union of Australia to threaten refusing to crew the boat5. In June 2019, the Boaty submarine finished its first Antarctic mission and produced real science, finding that stronger polar winds mix cold deep water with warmer mid-level water in a pattern that speeds sea level rise5. The AV Club noted at the time that the discovery probably would not have gotten coverage without the silly name attached5.

How to Use This Meme

The formula is a mad libs. Grab a noun, add a 'y' ending if it does not already end in one, then say it again with 'Mc' glued to the front and 'face' glued to the back. Boat becomes Boaty McBoatface. Train becomes Trainy McTrainface. Horse becomes Horsey McHorseface. The gag typically lands hardest when the target is an expensive or dignified object being crowdsourced a name by an institution that probably should know better, which is why it keeps showing up whenever a government agency, transit authority, or school district opens a public poll4.

Cultural Impact

The Atlantic framed the vote as a small crisis for British democracy, calling Jo Johnson's refusal to honor the poll 'a cruel bait-and-switch' from officials who asked for public input then recoiled from the answer2. The Guardian pointed out the awkwardness of a naming tradition that had previously honored Ernest Shackleton and James Clark Ross running into a joke ship name backed by four times the runner-up's votes1. SFGate ran gallery pieces about the internet reusing the same formula on animals within days of the NERC vote closing6. Grunge later listed rival Boaty poll suggestions like 'I Like Big Boats and I Cannot Lie,' 'What Iceberg,' 'It's Bloody Cold Here,' and 'Clifford the Big Red Boat' as evidence that the whole poll was pranked, not just the winning entry7.

Fun Facts

James Hand said he actually voted for RRS David Attenborough in the NERC poll, not his own joke suggestion, which came fifth with 10,284 votes1

The NERC poll website crashed under the wave of traffic that Boaty McBoatface votes generated4

Boaty McBoatface is a real yellow robotic submarine that in 2019 helped identify Antarctic wind patterns speeding up sea level rise5

A Change.org petition asked Sir David Attenborough to legally change his name to Sir Boaty McBoatface 'in the interest of democracy and humour'9

James Hand pointed to 'Hooty McOwlface,' an owl named through a 2012 Adopt-A-Bird program, as an earlier precedent for the joke5

Derivatives & Variations

Trainy McTrainface, a South West Trains LED display sign tweeted by Harry Wallop on March 22nd, 2016[5]

Bomby McBombface and Stealthy McHidden, submitted to a March 2016 USAF B-21 bomber naming contest[5]

Horsey McHorseface, a two-year-old Australian gelding trained by Bjorn Baker and debuted April 15th, 2016[3]

Schoolie McSchoolface, suggested during the March 2016 renaming of Robert E. Lee Elementary in Austin, Texas[5]

Ferry McFerryface, a Sydney ferry named on November 13th, 2017 after a 15,000-suggestion public vote[5]

Treey McTreeface and Aritcley McArticleface, part of a broader chain of 'X-y McXface' names catalogued after 2016[7]