Nomenclature
To reduce the risk of confusion, unusual or made-up names were allocated, the idea being the names chosen would be unlikely to occur in normal conversation, and be easier to memorise. For fixed-wing aircraft, single syllable words denoted piston-prop and turboprop, while multiple syllables denoted jets. Bombers had names starting with the letter B and names like Badger (2 syllables: jet), Bear (single syllable: propeller), and Blackjack were used. “Frogfoot,” the reporting name for the Sukhoi Su-25, references the aircraft’s close air support role. Transports had names starting with C (as in “cargo”), which resulted in names like Careless or Candid.
A fictional NATO reporting name "Firefox" for a fictional "MiG-31" appears in the novel Firefox and subsequent movie. The real MiG-31 from 1979 was assigned the reporting name "Foxhound".
Read more about this topic: NATO Reporting Name