Among the honorees: Mrs. Doubtfire — yes, the Robin Williams character — and baseball legend Willie Mays. Say what you will about how this city spends its money (and we say plenty), but when it comes to cultural identity, San Francisco actually knows what it's doing.

Let's be real: most government naming ceremonies are exercises in forgettable bureaucratic self-congratulation. Some committee picks a name nobody's heard of, there's a ribbon-cutting, and taxpayers foot the bill for a plaque no one reads. But Mrs. Doubtfire? That's a ferry name that actually puts a smile on your face while you're commuting from Larkspur. Willie Mays? The Say Hey Kid is about as close to unanimously beloved as any figure in this city's history.

These are names that remind people — residents and tourists alike — why San Francisco became a cultural landmark in the first place. Not because of its board of supervisors or its labyrinthine permitting process, but because of the artists, athletes, and characters who made this city electric.

Now, the fiscally minded question: does naming a ferry cost anything extra? Thankfully, slapping a new name on the hull is about the cheapest thing WETA (the Water Emergency Transportation Authority) does. If only every line item in the city budget delivered this much return on investment.

We'll take our wins where we can get them. In a city that regularly spends millions on programs with questionable results, a ferry named after a man in a wig doing dishes is, ironically, one of the most sensible decisions San Francisco has made in a while.

Fair winds to the Mrs. Doubtfire. May she run on time — which would already put her ahead of Muni.