On Sun, 22 Jan 2017 12:14:42 -0800 (PST), Sketcher
wrote:

NGC 2024, aka the Flame Nebula, aka the Tank-Track Nebula is about four degrees north-northeast of M42 right beside Alnitak - the eastern-most star in Orion's belt. One night, after viewing the Horsehead Nebula (B33) with an unfiltered 5-inch apochromat I swung the scope over to NGC 2024 and saw a wealth of detail at 200x with my extremely dark-adapted telescope eye. The visual appearance resembled a tank's track through mud far more than it resembled a flame. Ever since, I've preferred "Tank-Track Nebula" over "Flame Nebula". I don't know who first called it the Tank-Track Nebula, but that's the name I'm sticking with!

Another interesting question is who first called it the Flame Nebula.
It can be remarkably difficult to track down the origin of common
astronomical names. I've just spent a couple of hours going through a
bunch of old books on my shelf, as well as a large number of Internet
references. The earliest reference to the name I've found is 1987. Do
you have a recollection of when you first heard the name?

Because the Flame Nebula so strikingly resembles a flame
photographically, I wonder if the name is of relatively recent vintage
and based on its appearance on film, or even CCD, rather than through
an eyepiece.