Reshma Saujani, chief executive of Girls Who Code, will perform the naming ceremony for Celebrity Apex  in March.

Due to debut in April, it is the first Celebrity ship to be launching in the UK in more than a decade and is part of the Edge Series.

Multi-award winning Saujani – who is also the bestselling author of Brave, Not Perfect – created Girls Who Code in 2012 and has since reached 185,000 young women across the world. 

The organisation, which has a presence in the UK, US, India and Canada, is working to close the technology gender gap by teaching 11- to 18-year-old girls computer science skills for free. 

“Just as we are on a mission to close the gender gap in tech in our lifetimes, Celebrity Cruises is leading the way to create a more diverse future in the maritime industry,” said Saujani.

She was the first Indian-American woman to run for US Congress in 2010.

Traditionally, the godmother of a ship is the spiritual embodiment of a vessel who inspires the sailors onboard.

Celebrity is looking for ground-breaking figures to be the godmothers to its Edge Series.

The first godmother, announced in November 2018 for Celebrity Edge, was Nobel Peace Prize winner and educational advocate laureate Malala Yousafzai.

“Reshma is bridging the gap in the historically male-dominated technology industry,” said Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, Celebrity’s president and chief executive. 

“She is evolving the image of what a computer programmer looks like and does, inspiring a whole new generation of girls and women to bravely pursue this field.”

The cruise line is also partnering with Girls Who Code to offer coding programmes onboard Celebrity Apex and Celebrity Edge as part of its Camp at Sea Stem initiative.