The tendency of Star Trek: Discovery to name ships after beloved characters began very early on, as evidenced by some of the Starfleet vessels in “Battle at the Binary Stars.” For example, one of the ships is named the USS Shran, and this is meant to honor the fan-favorite Andorian character from Enterprise, played so perfectly by Jeffrey Combs.
The writers also channeled their love of the early movies when they named another ship, the USS T’Plana-Hath, after a Vulcan philosopher briefly mentioned in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.