The duplication of ship names with the United States Navy was against RAN policy, and it was initially felt that Australia had a greater claim to the name. Protests in favour of retaining "Shropshire"s original name were received from the British elements of the ship's company, who felt that renaming a ship after one that had recently been sunk was inviting bad luck, and from citizens of the ship's namesake, which had adopted the cruiser in a Warship Week earlier that year, and thought that "Shropshire"s history and links to the community were being discarded without thought. One letter proposed, that the ship be named "HMAS "Canberra (the gift of HMS) Shropshire"" in order to retain the old name. The Australian government decided to retain "Shropshire"s old name after learning that the US offer had come directly from President Roosevelt.