I would like to start a background process from bash script, but at the same time give it another name and also make it immune to CTRL-C. I tried the following:

 exec -a NiceName java -cp ....long java command line &
 tail -f logs/the.log

I want the `exec` to provide the process another name than just `java`.
I want to start it in the background to be able to immediately run tail on the logs of the process to verify the startup. 

This works until I hit CTRL-C to stop the script/tail because the SIGINT is passed to the `java` process which terminates too.

I also tried combinations of `(exec ...&)` and `(exec ...)&`. What does work is 

 exec bash -c "java command line escaping hell&"
 tail -f logs/the.log

but I would hope there is way without escaping hell. I also tried things with `disown` to no avail.

If I remove the `exec`, the sub-process is immune to CTRL-C, but then I cannot give it a name.