What military operation names were meant to do

How closely were military operation names connected to their targets or enemy countries?

Often only loosely; a useful code name was memorable to planners but did not disclose what the operation actually involved.

Military operation names did not always carry a deep national or ideological meaning. Many were memorable labels, although some named an army's intended task or used deliberate symbolism. German naming schemes sometimes carried more ceremony, while British choices could seem random. Sea Lion illustrates how loosely a name could relate to its target, and Operation C shows how little wording was necessary. Tube Alloys concealed the British atomic project behind an industrial-sounding label. The suggestion that a spy could mistake it for gun-barrel research is a joke about that cover name's ambiguity.