I saw a symbol like this, and didn't know what it was called or what existing associations it might have:
It seems like a pretty easy question to answer by looking in a symbol dictionary or an online "similar images" search. I figured it was probably a wingding or a webding. But nothing showed up. The closest thing I thought of (just from memory) is the BMW logo, which is supposedly an allusion to an airplane propeller.
Things I found strange:
The Google Images "similar search" feature did not suggest the BMW logo for this (nor did TinEye)
The search tool and symbol set on symbols.com seem rather limited: http://www.symbols.com/section/6/category/15/
Finding a near-match doesn't seem very easy to lead to correlated topics on Wikipedia. For instance, I got to Sun-Cross but that didn't really go anywhere: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_cross
Using this as a case study, what is an effective research process for looking into the existing meanings of a symbol you might be using in a drawing or icon?