--- title: Boaty McBoatface Ship to Be Named RRS Sir David Attenborough description: The state-of-the-art polar research ship will now be named RRS Sir David Attenborough, after the notable British naturalist and broadcaster canonical: https://time.com/4320660/boaty-mcboatface-ship-rrs-david-attenborough/ author: Rishi Iyengar article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-06T09:28:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:32:12.056Z og:title: The 'Boaty McBoatface' Ship Has Been Given a Real Name og:description: But 'Boaty McBoatface' lives on elsewhere aboad the vessel og:url: https://time.com/4320660/boaty-mcboatface-ship-rrs-david-attenborough/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf01da0bd8bf2e4fa/69888fa2196cf4189303b3b0/boaty-mcboatface.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3493 og:image:height: 1965 og:image:alt: BRITAIN-RESEARCH-SHIP-OFFBEAT og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The 'Boaty McBoatface' Ship Has Been Given a Real Name twitter:description: But 'Boaty McBoatface' lives on elsewhere aboad the vessel twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf01da0bd8bf2e4fa/69888fa2196cf4189303b3b0/boaty-mcboatface.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Research Ship the Internet Wanted to Call _Boaty McBoatface_ Has Been Given a Real Name > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar May 6, 2016 9:28 AM UTC  A computer-generated image of the Natural Environment Research Council's new polar research ship A computer-generated image of the Natural Environment Research Council's new polar research ship AFP/Getty Images by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar May 6, 2016 9:28 AM UTC Remember _Boaty McBoatface_? The [viral entry](http://time.com/4265572/nerc-name-our-ship-boaty-mcboatface/) that won an online poll to find a name for a new U.K. government research ship? Well, that’s [not happening](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uks-200-million-polar-research-ship-named-in-honour-of-sir-david-attenborough). According to an announcement by the government on Friday, the state-of-the-art polar research ship will now be named RRS _Sir David Attenborough_, after the notable British naturalist and broadcaster. “The public provided some truly inspirational and creative names, and while it was a difficult decision I’m delighted that our state-of-the-art polar research ship will be named after one of the nation’s most cherished broadcasters and natural scientists,” Britain’s Universities and Science Minister Jo Johnson said in a statement. In a partial consolation to the thousands (possibly millions) of _Boaty McBoatface_ fans, however, that name will now adorn the ship’s remotely operated, bright yellow submersible. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4320660/boaty-mcboatface-ship-rrs-david-attenborough/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4320660/boaty-mcboatface-ship-rrs-david-attenborough/"},"headline":"The Research Ship the Internet Wanted to Call Boaty McBoatface Has Been Given a Real Name","datePublished":"2016-05-06T09:28:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:32:12.056Z","description":"But Boaty McBoatface will live on elsewhere aboard the vessel","url":"https://time.com/4320660/boaty-mcboatface-ship-rrs-david-attenborough/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","U.K.","Poll","online","ship"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf01da0bd8bf2e4fa/69888fa2196cf4189303b3b0/boaty-mcboatface.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf01da0bd8bf2e4fa/69888fa2196cf4189303b3b0/boaty-mcboatface.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"BRITAIN-RESEARCH-SHIP-OFFBEAT","caption":"BRITAIN-RESEARCH-SHIP-OFFBEAT","creditText":"AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4320660/boaty-mcboatface-ship-rrs-david-attenborough/","name":"The Research Ship the Internet Wanted to Call Boaty McBoatface Has Been Given a Real Name"}}]}] ```