'Boaty McBoatface' tops poll as ship naming competition closes
Boaty McBoatface has remained the most popular name for a new polar research ship as a competition ended.
Some 124,109 votes were cast to name the vessel Boaty McBoatface in the competition launched by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).
The name gained traction on as the #NameOurShip campaign was launched in March on social media.
But the final decision on the name for the £200 million ship, which is yet to be built, remains with the NERC chief executive.
The top five suggestions are:
RRS Boaty McBoatface - 124,109
RRS Poppy-Mai - 34,371
RRS Henry Worsley - 15,231
RRS It's bloody cold here - 10,679
RRS David Attenborough - 10,284
The second most-voted name was the RRS Poppy-Mai - named after a 16-month-old girl whose father "married" her in an attempt to give her the wedding of her dreams after it was revealed she had incurable cancer.
The RRS Henry Worsley, named after the explorer who died trying to make the first unassisted solo crossing of the Antarctic in January, was the third most popular.
Usain Boat, I Like Big Boats & I Cannot Lie and What Iceberg? were some of the more unusual entries among nearly 7,000 other suggestions.
Boaty McBoatface was suggested by former BBC radio presenter James Hand, who has since apologised and said the storm it created had "legs of its own".
He said that while he stands by Boaty McBoatface as a "brilliant name" for a boat, he actually voted for RRS David Attenborough to be the new name.