When his team decided to name the XBB.1.5 variant of COVID-19 “Kraken,” Ryan Gregory never imagined it would resonate the way that it did. It was an arbitrary nickname, meant to be an improvement on the confusing letter-and-number-salad system that led to official nomenclature like “XBB.1.5”—but certainly not designed to make the public think that this particular strain of COVID-19 was the most monstrous yet.