# When did codenames for military operations start

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-codenames-for-military-operations-start/185390>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 30, 2003, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-codenames-for-military-operations-start/185390 "2003-06-30T18:15:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![rubes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@rubes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rubes)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-codenames-for-military-operations-start/185390/1 "2003-06-30T18:15:30Z")

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A friend of mine and I were talking about the operations in Iraq, and he asked me when did we start naming our military operations? I wasn’t sure, but could understand why we would put codenames in place.

Does anyone know when this started as a general military practice?

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**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-codenames-for-military-operations-start/185390/2 "2003-06-30T19:13:09Z")

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The formal use of operational code names seems to have begun sometime during the First World War, according to [this source](http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usawc/Parameters/1995/sieminsk.htm), originating with the Germans during the last two years of the war.

> [@](#):
>
> The Germans chose names that were not only memorable but also inspiring. Plans for the great Western Front offensive in the spring of 1918, which saw the most extensive use of operational code names, borrowed from religious, medieval, and mythological sources: Archangel, St. Michael, St. George, Roland, Mars, Achilles, Castor, Pollux, and Valkyrie.[6] The selection of these names was perhaps an adjunct to Ludendorff’s patriotic education program, designed to stir a demoralized and weary army into making one final push.[7] The original, stirring vision conjured by these names was lost, however, when several of the planned operations had to be scaled back. St. George, for example, devolved to the uninspiring diminutive Georgette.[8]

If by “we” you mean the United States, it appears to have begun using operational code names just prior to its entry into WWII. One of the first was “Operation Indigo,” the reinforcement of Iceland by American troops.