Ships can bear the names of former presidents, war heroes, long-lost loves, or clever puns. However, the U.K. public appears to have taken a different tact when it comes the naming of a new polar vessel from the National Environment Research Council.

The NERC announced the online voting contest to name the nearly $300 million boat to be launched in 2019 recently, and the leading vote-getter so far is the simple but silly "Boaty McBoatface."

The 128-yard-long, 15,000-ton ship is described by the NERC as a "new polar research vessel which will deliver world-leading capability for UK research in both Antarctica and the Arctic."

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The Irish Examiner reports some of the other popular name suggestions are "RRS Usain Boat, RRS Ice Ice Baby and RRS Boatimus Prime."

The hashtag "#boatymcboatface" was trending on Sunday morning, and the NERC said the sudden high interest in naming their boat has caused the voting website to sink.