Vanguard is named after a 1798 warship.
After Wellington Management fired him in 1974, John Bogle needed a name for his new firm. He found it in a book of naval battles an antique-print dealer had given him — HMS Vanguard, Nelson’s flagship at the 1798 Battle of the Nile. The firm he named from that book now manages some $13 trillion.
Vanguard on Brandseum