In George Washington’s case, there was actually a public referendum on whether to call the George Washington Bridge the George Washington Bridge. And George Washington actually lost.

In a display of enormous practicality, the winning name was the"Hudson River Bridge" which, though it lacked poetry, did have the definite advantage that everyone would have known exactly which body of water the bridge crossed. The Port Authority promptly ignored the results of its own referendum and the George Washington Bridge it became.

(H/T to the New York Times)