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Comment by pavlov | Hacker News Reader

The naming of the first ship is obvious: Vasa was the royal house of Sweden.

But why did the king decide to call the second ship "The Apple"? Did he like his Macintosh so much?

Vasa wasn't named after the royal house, it was named after the vase[0] on the heraldic symbol for the house of Vasa[1]. A vase is probably best described as a fasces. Äpplet was probably named after a globus cruciger[2], or "national apple" (riksäpple), part of the regalia of Sweden.

[0] https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vase_(heraldisk_symbol)

[1] https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasa%C3%A4tten#/media/Fil:COA-...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globus_cruciger

It seems that Gustav I also took the name Vasa from the heraldic symbol, though the Wikipedia article doesn't say so directly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Vasa

Gustav was known as "Gustav Eriksson" in his day, "Eriksson" being a patronym. Family names wasn't really a thing at the time, as coat of arms were. The form "Gustav Eriksson Vasa" first appears in the 17th century and simply "Gustav Vasa" isn't used before the 18th.

The classic "holy hand grenade".

Other names of Royal ships in the same style were The Crown, The Key, The Sceptre and The Sword. Like The Apple, they are all regalia.

Wikipedia says:

"The Apple" is the Swedish term for the globus cruciger, the regal orb and cross.

"Globus Cruciger" is a badass name for an indie game

Tangentially, there is an interesting connection between Scandanavia and the Mac: the command key symbol, AKA Saint John's Arms (among others). When I've visited Sweden, it's all over the countryside, on signs marking places of interest.

Another similar tangent: Rambo got his name from the Rambo apple, which in turn got its name from Peter Gunnarsson Ramberg who took the name from Ramberget in Gothenburg.

Which in turn got its name from old swedish “rám” or “ravn”, meaning “raven”.

Origin story: https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Swedish_Campgrou...

It's tradition in the Swedish navy to give the largest and mightiest ships name from the Swedish royal regalia. But sure doesn't sound intimidating.

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