Operation Anaconda, Overlord, Torch, Linebacker, etc.: are these names randomly chosen from a list of codewords, or do the powers that be say, “Let’s call this Cobra, that sounds really cool!” Certainly things like Operation Iraqi Freedom were not chosen randomly, but what about sub-operations, as it were? Also, what earns the Operation moniker?
Thanks,
Rob
They were going to call it Operation Iraqi Liberation - O.I.L., but had to change it.
Ok, that was from Letterman but I could not resist.
OP, good question I have pondered as well.
http://www.carlisle.army.mil/usawc/parameters/Articles/1995/sieminsk.htm
This is an interesting article from 1995 on how the U.S. military names its operations. In short, the way they choose names for plans which are, more or less, to remain a secret don’t get a cool nickname. They get something like “Operation Chromite” for MacArthur’s invasion of Korea via Inchon. When they want to make it public and sway opinion they give it a name like “Operation Just Cause” (Panama).
I remember in some Tom Clancy novel I read, Adm. Greer phones someone from his office and asks for two words to codename a project. The words he received were Delta and Dagger. I guess only cool words make up the pool.
So, what makes it an Operation (vs. a Project or whatever) anyway?
Thanks,
Rob
No, it really was originally called O.I.L. <googles> Here’s a YouTube clip of Ari Fleischer using the term.
Basically, it’s an urban myth that it’s an urban myth. 
There is no system.
As mentioned above, operations that will get a lot of press have some kind of name that will make for good PR. Such as, “Operation Give Everyone Puppies Or Something.”
Smaller, short-term operations (say, company or platoon level) just get whatever random name the planner wants. There are times you can see the S3 was working on a theme… like an entire month of superhero names followed by a month of animal names. They’re just making it up as they go.
Heh, I was thinking of a Tom Clancy novel (IIRC “Clear and Present Danger”, where the US military is conducting clandestine operations against drug lords), where one solider asks his superior (NOT an Admiral - maybe a captain?) who comes up with these silly names for the operations, and the superior officer says “Why, I do”
Ignorance fought! LOL
Would you want to fight in Operation Half-Eaten Sandwich? 
“Operation Imagination Doorway.”
“That’s…not very imaginative.”
I remember reading about this shortly after 9/11, when George Bush announced Operation Infinite Justice - which was soon changed, because it sounded naff. There’s a good article on the topic here.
In summary the practice of naming operations seems to have originated with the Germans in WW1. The US used colours in the interwar period, but they ran out of colours - Operation Bluey-Greeny-Purple was the last straw. I quote:
“With the outbreak of the war, the practice of using colors as code names was overcome by the need to code-name not only a growing number of operations, but also numerous locations and projects. The War Department adopted a code word list similar in principle to one already in use by the British. In early 1942, members of the War Plans Division culled words from an unabridged dictionary to come up with a list of 10,000 common nouns and adjectives that were not suggestive of operational activities or locations. They avoided proper nouns, geographical terms, and names of ships. Since so many operations would involve the British, they made sure the list did not conflict with the one developed and managed by their counterparts on the British Inter-Services Security Board.”
However, there was concern that some of the names sounded uninspiring. “[Churchill] objected to the code name for the American bomber raid on the Romanian oil fields in Ploesti because he thought the name “Soapsuds” was “inappropriate for an operation in which so many brave Americans would risk or lose their lives””, for example. Hitler changed the name of the planned invasion of Soviet Russia from Operation Fritz to the much more dramatic Operation Barbarossa. I remember that the last-ditch Luftwaffe assault during the Battle of the Bulge was called Operation Baseplate in order to confuse the heck out of Allied intelligence - it sounds like a tank operation, or something - and the Battle of the Bulge itself was Operation Watch on the Rhine, which sounds defensive.
The practice seems to have swung between codenames (our own Operation Corporate and Operation Telic, for the Falklands and Iraq respectively) and meaningful phrases (Just Cause, Enduring Freedom). Basically it seems that us British are taking it seriously, the Americans just want a cool name. The barbarians!
Stories abound that Churchill shot down names for British military plans if they sounded too silly or frivolous. There was a famous note he sent to a general saying he never wanted to be forced to notify some grieving widow that her husband had been killed in “Operation Pussycat.”
I’m pretty sure there’s a doper who has literally written the book on Operation names, Paul in Saudi maybe?
Sometimes theres an overall pattern, for example in the 40s and 50s the UK used a system of Rainbow Codesfor designating their experimental weapons projects.
And “Market Garden” is somehow better?
Well, Operation Iceberg* frankly sounds stupid. Operation Overlord and Operation Detachment** OTH.
*Battle of Okinawa
**Battle of Iwo Jima
I recall reading somewhere years ago that at the start of WW2 operation planners, usually having come from those who had had a classical education, tended to use Latin or Greek words that were appropriate to the operation.
An example would be say Neptune for something maritime and so on…
Someone raised the point that many Germans of the oficer class had also a classical education and could pick up on Latin references etc.
Which gave their intelligence services at least some idea of the nature of the mission.
Because of this a list was drawn up of random names, (I would guess just using a dictionary ) and during mission planning the next name on the list was used ad hoc.
But if the name coincidently was appropriate to the operation it was not used and the next on the list was.
I have no cite as I read this many, many years ago, and for all I know could be completely innacurate.
Tried a very quick Google, but no joy.
I do not think that this was wise. The names would no longer be random, and it would leak information to the enemy about what kind of operation it might not be.