 The Committee set itself several rules and over the years developed many practices . The names had to be euphonious ( they had to have a pleasant sound ) . Also , their meaning had to be readily apparent to anyone interested , whether railwayman or member of the public . There had to be good publicity value in the names as well as providing good morale for the staff , and the collection of names for a class had to provide some form of class identity . Another rule was not to use names of people who were still alive at the time , and some on the Committee had a strong dislike of names or associations with the military ( largely because they were fed @-@ up with the recently ended war ) . There was a preference for names of heroes and other well @-@ known people . However , slavishly following a single theme to an absurd extent was discouraged . 
