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A code name or cryptonym is a word or name used clandestinely to refer to another name or word. Codenames are often used for military purposes, or in espionage. They may also be used in industry to protect secret projects and the like from business rivals.

Proliferation of code names in WWII

In the Second World War, code names common to the Allies referring to nations, cities, geographical features, military units, military operations, diplomatic meetings, places, and individual persons were agreed upon adapting pre-war naming procedures in use by the governments concerned. In the British case code names were administered and controlled by ISSB (The Inter-Services Security Board) staffed by the War Office with the word list generated and randomised by GC&CS (later GCHQ). This procedure was co-ordinated with the USA when America entered the war. Random lists of code names were issued to users in alphabetical blocks of ten words and were selected as required. Code words became available for re-use after six months and unused allocations could be re-assigned at discretion and according to need. Judicious selection from the available allocation could result in clever meanings and result in an aptronym or backronym, although policy was to select words that had no obviously deducable connection with what they were supposed to be concealing. Those for the major conference meetings had a partial naming sequence referring to devices or instruments which had an ordinal number as part of their meaning, eg the third meeting was "TRIDENT". The ruler of the Soviet Union, who had given himself the name "Stalin", meaning "man of steel", was given the code name "GLYPTIC", meaning "an image carved out of stone".

German code names

Ewen Montagu, a British Naval intelligence officer, discloses in Beyond Top Secret Ultra that during World War II, Nazi Germany habitually used ad hoc code names as nicknames which frequently openly revealed or strongly hinted at their content or function.

List of German code names:

Ironic code names of other powers

Britain and the United States developed the security policy of assigning code names intended to give no such clues to the uninitiated. For example, the British counter measures against the V-2 was called Operation Crossbow. The code name for the American SR-71 spy plane project, producing the fastest, highest-flying aircraft in the world, was Oxcart. The American group that planned that country's first ICBM was called the Teapot Committee.

Although the word could stand for a menace to shipping (in this case, that of Japan) the American code name for the attack on steamy jungle island of Guadalcanal in WWII was Operation Iceberg. And the Russian code name for the project to base missiles in Cuba was that named after their closest bomber base to the US (just across the Bering Strait from Nome, Alaska), Operation Anadyr. The names of colours are generally avoided in British and American practice to avoid confusion with meteorological reporting practices.

Aircraft recognition reporting names

Although the names of the German and Italian aircraft were not given code names by their Allied opponents, there was a series begun using names common among local people in the backwoods of the US, but considered ludicrous in the cities, for the Japanese aircraft: for example, "Zeke" for the Mitsubishi A6M Rei-sen.

Such a name differs from that used by the RAF for its own planes, which the name is the official designation by which the aircraft is referred by the service, or that used by the US services, in which the name is not really necessary, for it is the alphanumeric sequence which is official, and the troops can give the craft their own nickname anyway. It also differs from the secret code names given by a service to projects under development. However, it differs from the other use of code names in the more fundamental way that it doesn't have to be kept secret, but is a way of standardizing description. Alliterative series based on the names of the aircraft manufacturer were common, eg Bristol Bombay or Vickers Valiant.

The policy of recognition reporting names was continued into the Cold War for Soviet, other Warsaw Pact, and Communist Chinese aircraft. Although this was started for the airplane spotters in the service of the English-speaking allies (the Air Standards Co-ordinating Committee), it was extended throughout NATO as the NATO reporting name for aircraft, rockets and missiles. These names were considered by the Soviets as being like a nickname given to one's unit by the opponents in a battle, such as the US Marines were called by the Germans in France "Devil Dogs", which they appreciated as a feather in their cap. The Soviets did not like the Sukhoi 25 getting the code name "Frogfoot."

The sequence by which a code name was given is as follows: aerial or space reconnaissance would note a new aircraft at a base, say "Ramenskoye". The intelligence units would give it an abbreviation of the base, then a letter, for example, "Ram-A". Missiles were given designations like "TT-5", for the fifth rocket seen at Tyura-Tam. When more information resulted in knowing a bit about what a missile was used for, it would be given a designation like "SS-6". Finally, when either an aircraft or a missile was able to be photographed with "a hand-held camera", instead of a reconnaissance aircraft, it was given a name like "Flanker" or "Scud" -- always an English word, as international pilots worldwide are required to learn English. The Soviet manufacturer or designation has nothing to do with it, and can even be mistaken by the Allies.

Jet-powered aircraft received two-syllable names (like Foxbat), while propeller aircraft were designated with short names (like Bull). Fighter names began with an 'F,' bombers with a 'B,' cargo aircraft with a 'C.' Training aircraft and reconnaissance aircraft were grouped under the word "miscellaneous," and received 'M.'

Tank code names

Just as the RAF required a name for its official designation of an aircraft, even when the supplier (the US, for example) did not supply one, so too did the British Army require a name for a tank. The M3 series of tanks were given the code names Grant and Lee by the latter, after the American Civil War generals. This is the origin of the later US habit of naming tanks after generals. The French have continued this with the Leclerc. For their own part, the British settled into a system of giving tanks names that begin with the letter C.

Churchill on code names for military operations

In a minute on August 8, 1943 Winston Churchill wrote to General "Pug" Ismay, Military Secretary of the Defence Committee of the British Cabinet:

Operations in which large numbers of men may lose their lives ought not to be decided by code-words that imply a boastful and over-confident sentiment, such as "Triumphant," or conversely, which are calculated to invest the plan with an air of despondency, such as "Woebetide" and "Flimsy." They ought not to be names of a frivolous character, such as "Bunnyhug" and "Ballyhoo." They should not be ordinary words often used in other connections, such as "Flood," "Sudden," and "Supreme." Names of living people (ministers or commanders) should be avoided. Intelligent thought will already supply an unlimited number of well-sounding names that do not suggest the character of the operation or disparage it in any way and do not enable some widow or mother to say that her son was killed in an operation called "Bunnyhug" or "Ballyhoo." Proper names are good in this field. The heroes of antiquity, figures from Greek and Roman mythology, the constellations and stars, famous racehorses, names of British and American war heroes, could be used, provided they fall within the rules above.

Military operations since Churchill

Throughout the Second World War, the British allocation practice favored one-word code names (Jubilee, Imperator). That of the Americans favored longer compound words,(Overlord), although the name Overlord was personally chosen by Winston Churchill himself. Many examples of both type can be cited, as can exceptions.

Presently, British forces tend to use one-word names, presumably in keeping with their post-World War 2 policy of reserving single words for operations and two-word names for exercises. Americans prefer two-word names. The Canadians and Australians use either. The French military currently prefer names drawn from nature (such as colors or the names of animals). The American CIA uses alphabetical prefixes to designate the part of the agency supporting an operation.

In many cases with US the first word of the name has to do with the intent of the program, programs with HAVE as the first word, such as HAVE BLUE for the stealth fighter development, are developmental programs, not meant to produce a production aircraft. While programs that start with Senior, such as Senior Trend for the F-117, are for aircraft in testing meant to enter production.

In the US, code names are commonly set entirely in upper case. This is not done in other countries.

This presents an opportunity for a bit of public-relations (Operation Just Cause), or for controversy over the naming choice (Operation Infinite Justice, renamed Operation Enduring Freedom). Computers are now used to aid in the selection. And further, there is a distinction between the secret names during former wars and the published names of recent ones. Operation Desert Shield was what the build-up in Saudi Arabia was blatantly referred to in the press, before war was declared. During this time, "Desert Storm" was secret. When the war broke out, the name Operation Desert Storm -- but not the tactical details -- was also broken to the press.

Famous military and espionage code names

Commercial code names in the computer industry

Code names are also commonplace in the computer world where products are informally given names during development. These names are usually only meant for use inside the company, and are dropped once the product is given an official designation under which it is to be marketed to the public. In recent years there has been a growing tendency of computer companies to make their codenames more public and more prominent; for example, Apple Computer whose most recent Mac OS X versions were publicly marketed by their codenames "Panther", "Tiger" and the upcoming Leopard; and Microsoft whose future Microsoft Windows release, which is still under development, was initially identified publicly by its codename "Longhorn", with Windows XP being Whistler, and Media Center Edition 2004 and 2005 being Harmony and Symphony, respectively.

See also

External links

Types of words

Kodenavn | Codename | コードネーム | Nome de código

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Code name".

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