Instead, Boaty McBoatface will live on as the name of one of the high-tech remotely operated sub-sea vehicles.

The ‘Boaty’ sub-sea vehicle will be dispatched from RRS Sir David Attenborough to allow the ship’s research crew to collect data and samples from the deepest waters of the Arctic and Antarctic.

Hello #BoatyMcBoatface! The name lives on as the remotely operated vehicle aboard RRS Sir David Attenborough pic.twitter.com/o05NByBFhd

— Jo Johnson (@JoJohnsonUK) May 6, 2016

Here were our original reasons for and against keeping the Boaty McBoatface ship name afloat.

For Boaty McBoatface – Helen

I’ll admit the public’s choice of name for the £200 million government-funded exploratory scientific vessel to the North Pole is a little unimaginative. The overwhelmingly popular appellation Boaty McBoatface reduces the seriousness of the epic trek ahead to a badly drawn cartoon.

Although the final decision will be made by the Natural Environment Research Council’s (NERC) high ranking member -a captain, if I may- I believe democracy should prevail.

Boaty McBoatface should be championed in order to teach a lesson to anyone crowd-searching for a high profile project’s brand name.

This entry ‘won’ more than 18,000 votes in just one day and by the end of the month-long entry submission period it received 124,109 votes. Just like in an election, the NERC should not shy away from a choice they gave away to the people.

To deny these voters the chance to christen a ship they’ve supported from the beginning by renaming it something boring (yet smart) would be a tragedy worthy of mutiny.

Without structure – examples of names from which the public could choose – how did the NERC expect a reasonable solution? It’s worth pointing out that the fourth most popular choice (at 10,679 votes) was RSS It’s bloody cold here. Enough said.

So give the people what they want and don’t make them walk the plank for their sense of fun. The NERC ought to prepare for the launch of a memorable scientific expedition or watch as interest in the experiment disappears into a marine fog.

Against Boaty McBoatface – Ross

Now I’m not a judge in the court of what’s funny and what’s not but I think this particular joke has been absolutely torn to shreds.

I have officially turned on Boaty McBoatface.

It’s the prime example of the short lifespan of a joke on the internet – a day or two (or in this case months) later it starts to go stale.

Boaty McBoatface has done just that and that’s why I’d sink the whole idea.

In the wake of this poll (which, by the way, was basically just a suggestion box), an Australian local authority faces the prospect of being called Beachy McBeachface Council thanks to an internet vote.

A London train became Trainy McTrainface for the day.

Everything is becoming Everything McEverythingface.

It’s dreadful.

I’ll put my hands up and admit it. I voted for Boaty McBoatface.

It was just one of those things that you chuckle at briefly. That’s funny. Calling a boat that? Click, scroll, move on.

But then it grew arms and legs and people became totally immersed in the idea of Boaty McBoatface.

It snowballed and, thousands of votes later (124,109 of them, to be exact), that name is the winner.

Naturally the people who’d have to live with the name have tried to shirk out of it, presumably out of sheer embarrassment.

And no wonder.