The name given to a military operation is taken very seriously.
The US military strike on Iran on 28 Feb 26 is named Operation Epic Fury. The Israeli military strike on Iran is called Operation Roaring Lion.
It is Winston Churchill who set the rationale. In World War 2 he changed the codename for the invasion of Normandy from Operation Roundup to Operation Overlord. (P 34 Decision in Normandy by Carlo D’Este, 1983 ed. This is arguably the best book on the decision-making process leading to D-Day.
WSC gave the rationale in his memo to General Ismay. (For the complete memo, see p. 662 of Closing the Ring, the 5th volume of the memoir by Winston S. Churchill on World War 2, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1951 edition).
In the memo, WSC stressed that operations where many men may die should not be described by codenames that imply a boastful and overconfident sentiment, like Triumphant, or a term that gives an air of despondency, like Massacre, or pathetic or frivolous names like Ballyhoo, or ordinary words like Flood. Names of living people should be avoided.
For that reason, Operation Juno (the sector where the Canadians would attack) was used to replace the original name, Operation Jelly, which was chosen by General Montgomery.
According to Max Hastings in his recent excellent book Sword (2025), WSC intervened “to insist that a more dignified codeword should be adopted for the Canadian beach, on which men were plainly destined to die.” (P xvii).
LWH, Chinese New Year 13th day, 1 March 2026, Sunday.