As I listen to Craig going through all of the "coincidences" between the Apollo space mission and the number 13, I wonder here which came first: the mission or the name? Does one influence the other? For example, had this mission been named Hermes 9? Would its destiny have been totally different? Hermes, being the god of the traveler, and the number 9 being associated with "many happy returns" seems a much more mythically appropriate name for a mission into (liminal) space!
This also makes me think of the inherent power imbued into a name. For example, could there be any other outcome for a ship named the Titanic? Of course it will end at the bottom of the ocean, its own Tartaros.
I am the father of a 1-yr-old who is the epitome of joy and happiness. His name is Asher, meaning "happy and blessed" in the Hebrew tradition. Would he have had a different personality had we named him Gideon, meaning "stump for a hand"?
It seems there is something grander, more mysterious, more archetypal with the power of a name - whether it be naming a child, a vehicle, or a mission. I wonder if we choose the name, or if the name is fated to us.
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I think naming comes from something much deeper than conscious choice. In California many of our place names, though bestowed by invading Spaniards on a mission to conquer, eerily evoke the presences of the local deities named long ago by Native Californians.
In a myth course I taught a pregnant mother asked how to find a good name for her unborn baby. I suggested that she ask the baby for a dream. This occurred, and a tiny voice said, "My name is Kyra." After Kairos, of course. So she named herself. I think we all do this at some level; this mother was more conscious in how she did it. (Fathers too, of course.)