etymology - Origin of "tragically named"

There seem to be at least two different meanings to the phrase “tragically named.” In the first meaning, the tragedy arises from the name itself, as in this example:

Tragedy is the keynote to Warwick Deeping's tragically named novel Doomsday.

From: Catholic world, Volume 125, Paulist Fathers, 1927

“Doomsday” is a word that in itself evokes tragedy. In the second meaning, the tragedy arises from the contradiction between the name and what it refers to, as in this example:

A few of Fitch's stockholders got together and reorganized half-heartedly, but his fourth boat, tragically named the Perseverance, was never finished.

From: Inventors behind the inventor, Roger Burlingame, 1947

“Perseverance” hardly evokes tragedy, here the tragedy arises from its reference to a construction project that was abandoned.

I think in the first meaning, the phrase could be replaced by “dramatically named” and in the second meaning by “misfortunately named,” but not the other way around.

The example you gave seems to fit the second meaning. I don't know when the phrase was first used in this way, but the above example dates back to 1947 so it's at least not of recent coinage.

Additional Examples

Here's another example of the first meaning: (for some reason, Google Books doesn't show the actual quote for all of the following examples; you can find them with a general search for the phrase on Google Books though)

Mary also showed me what she tragically named “pots of calamity” [...]

From: African women, Sylvia Leith-Ross, 1965

And another example of the second meaning:

[...] is a simple story of a forlorn, neglected child, tragically named Lovejoy [...]

From: Popular World Fiction, Walton Beacham, Suzanne Niemeyer, 1987

One could quibble over whether the following is another example of the first meaning or represents yet a third meaning. “Doomsday” and “calamity” evoke tragedy in the sense of a catastrophic event, while “Calliope” evokes tragedy in the sense of the dramatic genre.

I knew that Calliope, tragically named after the muse of epic poetry [...]

From: Collier's, Volume 49, 1912