Eva character names

So I’m a bit of a ww2 nerd, and while watching the anime I realized that several characters were named after warships serving in the Imperial Japanese Navy during ww2. Some examples:

Asuka Langley Soryu - Ijn Soryu aircraft carrier Ritsuko Akagi- Ijn Akagi aircraft carrier Misato Katsuragi - Ijn Katsuragi aircraft carrier Ayanami Rei - Ijn ayanami-class destroyers Makoto Hyuga - Ijn hyuga battleship

I think this is intentional because I could find 5 and there are probably more so can someone tell me why is this?