Quite possibly, though there must be some advantage as TOC▸ ?s keep doing it - as mentioned Voyager, Pendolino, Meridian, and Adelante are all examples of the same thing happening almost 20 years ago. Sprinter, Turbo and Pacer from 30 years ago.
All of those names would get the same blank stare when mentioned to most of the travelling public mind you.
The High Speed Diesel Trains as they were officially known (shortened to
HST▸ ) were branded a Intercity 125 by
BR▸ on their launch. The Mk4's and class 91 on the
ECML▸ were branded by BR initially as Intercity 225 but was quietly dropped because the 140mph running was not economic.
Its interesting that
GWR▸ did not give the class 800 a name, although I don't the general traveling public care too much about a name