What to name my boat

[thegammas]

I continue to struggle with a name for my boat. Then someone said that it is bad luck to name a boat under 20 ft. Never hear that one, not sure I care anyway. Thoughts? Have you gents named your boats?

Right now the front runner is "Hellcat" (a nod to my father whom flew Hellcats off the Enterprise in WWII). I've had a dozen front runners.

[a j r]

Never heard the bad luck thing about naming boats under 20 ft. My two user boats do have names alto they are not painted on the boat: "Valhalla" for the 17 ft Sea Lancer and "Thommy" for the '55 Thomboy. The boat I grew up with was called "My Five Sons" until child number 6 arrived in 1967 and the name was changed to "My Six Sons." There is superstition about changing the name of a boat and to do it properly there is some voodoo ceremony necessary (no offense to voodoo proponents).

It is traditional that the boat be named after a female loved one, wife, daughter, grandma, etc...

Andreas

[johnpthompson]

Our Thompson' user boats are named with the Thomboy theme; Big Thom (18' 1963 Super Lancer), Rescue Thom (16' 1953 Super Deluxe that was first used as a river search and rescue boat on an Ohio river), Tiny Thom (12' fooot rowboat).

John Thompson

[John Hart]

I didn't put any letters on the back of my boat, but if I do, I plan to use the following:

T O O K - A - W H I L E

In a 180 degree arc....

I hate to name a sixteen foot boat, and I have not been a big fan of referring to a boat with a her/she perspective.

John Hart.

[Monhegan]

Some years ago after a couple of years of "begging" by the kids, a friend of mine got a boat. (Yes this is a TRUE anecdote, actually my own experience).

He put a lot of effort into getting the craft all fixed up, it really looked new, even though it was powered by a "white" Merc 4 cylinder at least 25 years old at the time. Now understand he was not the driving force getting this boat, but the kids SAID they wanted to go boating, and he was keen for a family activity. They went out twice. Then they didn't have as much interest. Nobody helped with the maintenance anymore. Everytime he mentioned maybe to sell the vessel, the kids said no, they wanted to go boating, until the weekend arrived and something else came up. Thats what happens with young teens I guess.

He painted a name on the boat, in nice letters, it became PITA. Pronounced with a "short" "I" sound NOT a long sound like PEETA.

Apparently some people were familiar with this boat name but I, and his family were not. I learned a little later that the name was made up of the first letters of the phrase--- Pain In The Ass.

He kept that boat for a few more years and in perfect showroom condition.

Somebody got a nice restored 15 footer.

jp

[thegammas]

PITA was on the list as well, as suggested by a friend. As was/is "College Fund" (10 year old daughter's suggestion), "Floater" (12 yr old son's bid), "The Bobby Lee" (brother's, who is a civil war nut), all the wood boat references ("wooden hole", "woddy", etc etc.) Cant land on one. I've been using "Damn Boat" a lot lately, perhaps that will stick.

[KCD]

We have 2 dogs. One is an Australian Shepherd/Blue Heeler mix, and the other a Border Collie/Blue Heeler mix. Since the boat has a lot of blue in the color scheme, the wife and I have been tossing around Blue Healer (heeler with an A) as a possible name........

[thegammas]

Quite entertaining to read this post again, and to note I am really no closer to a name. I figure that after I have it in the water and have used it a few times, the name will make itself evident. "Current" front runners are "Driftwood" (which is how I refer to it now), or the "Alice Arlene", a nod to my mom for her perseverance and longevity (she's 80, raised 6 kids, and can still out shoot me at golf) and my late mother in law. The mother in law was a navigator in the coast guard auxiliary for years. I suspect she rolled a few times when I bought a wooden boat. Well, actually, she's been spread about in the waters off of Delaware, so not sure what she did. Hmmm. My 11 yr old daughter and I have decided to paint the following in the bottom along the keel cap "If you can read this, call the Coast Guard". Bad Boat Karma? Way more info than you all care about, huh?

[kevx]

I'm from New Jersey originally. How about "The Pine Baron"

[thegammas]

excellent, as long as your port of call is on there somewhere. My son thinks I should name mine "Floater". yuk yuk.

[kevx]

Hmm. I think I found a cool name. "Timber Wolf"

I call dibs..

[gjonz]

As I am a jazz fan and trombonist, I was going to name our 14" TVT "Tommy Dorsal" as a play on the Thompson theme and a tip of the "slide" to Tommy Dorsey.

However, when the proof was sent to me from the sign shop it looked like "TAMMY DORSAL".

I told my wife...no way in hell was I going to spend the rest of my life explaining that name.

We went with "Fibber McGee" when I sat up one night in a dead sleep with my iPod in my ears and said..."Let's call the boat Fibber McGee."

Guess what was playing on my iPod. I didn't know what my wife was talking about the next morning when she said she liked the name.

I think a name for a boat is a matter of pride. It should be a name that means something to you, your family, your heritage, or just tickles your funny bone.

Last year we saw a cabin cruiser in Toledo called "Nemo" for the movie "Finding Nemo". Of course the guy had kids. But I'd never name my boat something that is a flash in the pan such as that. Equivelent of calling it IROC-Z. Oy!

The name will come...just give it time...and you'll know what is right when you hear it.

Greg

[Dreamer]

I see this post was started in 2006, revived in 07, 08 and now in 09. I visit several other forums and find this subject a very popular one so commenting on it is always in order.
After my wife and I retired several years ago we sold the 31 CC Roamer and bought my dream Boat, a 50ft Trawler. We spent the next 4 years traveling aboard, mostly doing the Great Loop.
We heard and saw so many different boat names along the way it is difficult to believe that we didn't see them all. Yet it is still hard to decide on one. The one thing that I observed is that many a boat is named from a combination of kids, dogs, girl friends, favorite songs, and on and on. A lot of them is quite unique and even cute. The biggest problem the operators had was when they used the name to call a bridge, a lock or another boat the name was many times unrecognizable. People would answer with a "what did you say?" Would you repeat that. Or they would come back with a total mispronunciation. Many of them were unique but they are quickly forgotten. I came to a conclusion, that if you are going to talk on the marine radio you should keep the names simple with as few syllables as possible. If you want to always explain what the heck that says or what does that mean? Have at it! If you want a conversation starter Cute is good! If you use the boats name when conducting business on the marine radio, keep it simple!

[Big Ray]

OK- Here's my two cents. I believe that all boats have personalities, and their traits become obvious quickly. That could be an infulence to someone (not necessarily the owner) for an acceptable name. I bought a Sylvan Deck Boat last year and we ended up naming it "Joan-Anna, The Mother Ship". It's named after my mother in law and my mother and our whole family makes a point of trying to get together on it once a week. My 16' Lyman is named "Therapy". This is a dual purpose name. I had serious health issues in 2004 and lost alot of muscle strength. The physical effort used to strip, sand and refinish the boat was the perfect physical "Therapy" required for me to recover completely. Also, after a bad day at work, I go out for some "Therapy". (See, dual purpose) My 17' Grady White is called "Stanly Grey" for no other reason other that my wife can't remember Grady White and she constantly referrs to it as Stanly Grey.
Bottom line is when you hear the right name, you'll know it. And if you end up with a couple of good names, you can always get more boats.

Ray

[gjonz]

For the life of me when the time came to name our 1955 Feather Craft Vagabond, I struggled yet again.

I wanted a jazz name. One night while in bed reading through the entire Count Basie library of songs from a large stack of CD's and records, my wife who was trying to read became "less than enamoured" with my plight.

Finally to shut me up, I suspect, she looked at me and said..."You love that trombone of yours...RIGHT!?!"

"Yup."

"Then name it after your horn!"

You know she was dead right! My trombone is a King "Silver Sonic", so named due to its sterling silver bell. The Feather Craft had been polished like an airplane, and it too was silver and shiny.

The boat was christened "Silver Sonic". Simple to say on the radio, etc.

Having worked as a bridge tender, I agree with the above post. Simple is good. We had many vessels who's names were not understandable on the radio. KISS: Keep it simple stupid. (No disrespect intended, just an easy rememberance.)

Greg