# Why don't (some) U.S. military things have names anymore?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-some-u-s-military-things-have-names-anymore/946353>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 12, 2021, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-some-u-s-military-things-have-names-anymore/946353 "2021-07-12T22:23:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2021, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-some-u-s-military-things-have-names-anymore/946353/1 "2021-07-12T22:23:46Z")

</div>

Used to be the case that (almost) every U.S. missile had a name, for instance - Harpoon, Javelin, Stinger, Pershing, Sidewinder, Minuteman, Sparrow, Maverick, Tomahawk, etc.

But nowadays, they’re acronyms - JSOW, LRASM, JASSM, AMRAAM, THAAD, PrSM, JATM, etc.

Did the DoD get tired of coming up with names, or like a more ‘technical’ nomenclature?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2021, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-some-u-s-military-things-have-names-anymore/946353/2 "2021-07-12T23:50:00Z")

</div>

Some of the boring names, like ASROC (1950s), TOW (1970), ALCM/SRAM/SCAD (1974) have been around for a while, or at least the design phase. I think it’s possibly a factor of the times. At one point, people followed the development of new weapons technology and were sold to the public consciousness as well as to the government. Now, I don’t think many people care about new weapons systems or their nicknames.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2021, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-some-u-s-military-things-have-names-anymore/946353/3 "2021-07-13T13:17:25Z")

</div>

AMRAAM, JDAM, THAAD etc at least have the benefit of being pronounced acronyms which reduced scope for names. AMRAAM=“Ahm Rahm”, JDAM= “Jay Damn”, THAAD=“Th Ad”.