Under ordinary circumstances, naming a polar research ship after the naturalist David Attenborough would have made perfect sense.

But these were not ordinary circumstances, because in announcing on Friday that the vessel would carry Mr. Attenborough’s name, the Science Ministry in Britain chose to disregard the opinion of the 124,000 people who voted for a different name in an online poll: Boaty McBoatface.

“The public provided some truly inspirational and creative names, and while it was a difficult decision, I’m delighted that our state-of-the-art polar research ship will be named after one of the nation’s most cherished broadcasters and natural scientists,” the universities and science minister, Jo Johnson, said in a statement.

The Natural Environment Research Council, a British government agency, had tried to open things up on the Internet and let people suggest a name for the $287 million vessel in an online survey in March.