RSS
Coming up with names on the spur of the moment is always fraught with danger. You want to come up with something which sort of fits the expected pattern for whatever it is you're naming, but which is also original. So take a mundane name for the thing, and tweak it a bit! Perfect!
[Reminder: Our guest commentators have not seen Rogue One. Part of the fun is seeing how their untainted impressions re-interpret the movie through the lens of our comic.]
The first couple of panels serve as a reminder that Jim plays these games to turn his brain off. Beyond that? I would think that a call sign is assigned by Central Command, so that they know who is behind each name. To allow everyone to come up with their own name would result in a mass confusion as names such as Mascara Pie, Long Wood E, Cyan I, or even Red I. Not to mention all the confusions over whether it is the letter I or the facial eye.
And besides, call signs are not just cosmetic. Unless you're in the military, and have to get operation names approved in advance, oftentimes long before any operation happens to be done, and when it actually is done you just pull a name off of the list of approved names. At least, that's what we have been told is how things work. "Desert Storm" on the other hand, seemed far too close to fit that procedure.
(Remember, a long piece of wood is a log, and the color cyan cannot be displayed in sRGB. Plus the whole rogue versus rouge name confusion.)
— Keybounce
The Rebellion actually doesn't use a wide range of colours for their call signs. They just use monosyllabic colours in different languages. This makes a lot of sense since you never want your call sign to be too long or difficult to say.
At least, that's what I was able to glean from this at first blush.
— aurilee
Transcript
Bodhi: Rebel base, this is...
Bodhi: Uh, what's our call sign?
Bria: D Flat Major!
Chirrut: What sort of call sign is that?
Bria: Twelve tone equal temperament.
K-2SO: Can we use normal things like colours and numbers?
Bria: Rouge One!
Bodhi: This is Rouge One, departing for Kamino.
Rebel Traffic Controller: {over radio} Roger, Rouge One.
Chirrut: Really? French?
Bria: The call sign is just cosmetic anyway.
Chirrut: That's a bit cheeky.
Cassian: At least we didn't get the brush off.