Boat Names...

[FxdGrMind]

Ok, I was reading another thread on "pattent" infringement... something I deal with daily. It got me to thinking.... what name would you choose for your boat... or did you choose for your boat?

Then Why? was it just cool at the time. an event in your history. family heirloom/ custom... like Billy Bob Winkerstein III or something like that.

Finally what did you choose or what have you decided to name your future boat.....

Then are there any regulations on naming? Coastguard etc? Does it have to be in the language of boat registration?

I have a last name that as I trace it back to the orrigins, creates an appropriate name... well I think so anyway, but no one would be able to pronounce it here stateside... It only means something to me and my imediate family. The rest of the family don't have the same name due to my father being the only son and none of them speak the native language that the name is from so they wouldn't know the meaning.

Would it still be an appropriate boat name?

Cheers

[Ex-Calif]

Renaming the boat is a pleasure of ownership. The ceremony has many traditions and folklore. If you are superstitious, disregard at your own peril. If you are no superstitious just do it anyway because it is a lot of fun.

In naming the boat there is some conventional wisdom - I would be careful about naming the boat something you state no one could pronounce -

N a m i n g G u i d e l i n e s / Boat Name Tradition
a. Generally Named after Vessel’s Occupation or Something Personal For the Owner
– often feminine or terms of endearment
b. Keep it Simple, Use your Imagination & Have Fun!
c. Do Not:
– Name after a Ship of Misfortune ( Titanic, Lusitania, Andrea Doria, etc. )
– Have a name, which is pompous, arrogant or threatening
– Give an Impressive Name ( name should be humble )
=> humble is more likely to pass unnoticed by the elements
=> haughty named vessel is bound for trouble
– Name after Larger Denizens of the Deep; Oceans, Winds, Storms or Other Cataclysmic Events that might offend the gods of the seas
Will your boat name weather this storm?
1) The Explanation Test. How often do you want to explain what the name means?
Bizarre Greek gods, in-jokes, and foreign words usually fail this test.
Names that are difficult to spell fall in this category.
2) The Non-cute Test. How sappy is the name? Puns, childhood nicknames, and in-jokes usually fail this test.
3) The Brevity Test. "Brevity is the soul of wit" as well as the soul of boat names.
Imagine repeating your boat name 3 times, followed by a "Mayday".
Still sound like a good name?
4) The Hubris Test. If you're racing, try not to pick names like "Magic Bullet", "Blew By You" (see test 2), or "Clear Ahead", unless you feel you can live up to them.
5) The "Been There, Done That" Test. Don't name your boat after a type of wind (Zypher,
Sirroco, Breeze), any historical boat (Dawn Treader, Ra, Spray) or an alcoholic
beverage. Unless, of course, that's what the boat tells you her name is.
6) The Embarrassment Factor. Imagine explaining your boat's name to someone you don't like,
and who doesn't like you. If grudging respect is not a possible outcome, you may wish
to reconsider.
7) The Corruption Test. What will your 'friends' call your boat? e.g. White Hawk = White Cloud or Serenity=Senility.
8) The Omen test. Once followed a boat cutely named 'Das Broke' out one day. He promptly drove over a submerged section of break wall at high speed and sank.
9) The radio Test. "Over and Out" would be a bad name. ... "This is Summertime calling Over and Out. Do you copy?" Huh??

[capt_douglas]

My last boat was named Gambatte, which is Japanese for "Just do it."
I'm still pondering the name of my next boat.

I don't think the US has a problem with duplicate names as long as they're not from the same hailing port. IIRC, Canada's rule is one name for the whole country. Other nation states probably fall somewhere in between.

Boat naming can be interesting, and enlightening. I heartily suggest saying it aloud several hundred times, have friends call you by that name a lot, and avoid anything suggestive, religious, or military (I once cruised with a sailor who names his boat HMS Bounty. To say it got a lot of interest and conversation between warships and Port Captains would be an understatement.).

Cute, funny, and original always seem to be the most memorable, at least to me.

[Randyonr3]

The story behind our "R3" is on our site at www.SailingOnR3.com

[Ocean Girl]

I have found that pre-naming a boat doesn't usually work. She (the boat) will tell ya, at least that is what I found after naming about 6+ boats. My first boat came to me named MacGyver because the PO (previous owner) jury rigged everything (house wiring, pine doors- the works). I could not in good conscience keep her MacGyver! It lacked the dignity due a small ocean racer, so I changed it to Mac, which suited her fine -a tough, street wise, sailboat- Mac. She (the boat) liked the name and let me keep it.
My boat now was originally the Lauren Leigh. I am sure the PO thought the name was perfect but I can assure you the boat did not, she was very happy when the offending name was off and her real name was in place.. the Christening party coming soon to seal the deal.
Cheers,
Erika

[MarkJ]

We downloaded the Australian Register of ships so we would know what boat names were taken.

Then I quickly edited the list to appropriate themed names.

Then guessed up a list of appropriate themes for names.

We made parameters of what we didn't want: no native names, no made up words, names that would be easy to understand over the 2-way and easy for slow thinking foreigners (Americans) to pronounce, or spell phonetically. We didn't want plays on words, or common phrases.

We just wanted a simple name that would somehow show our life at sea.

The domain name was free for Our Life At Sea and we thought we could grab that so we could tell friends about our sea life and what sea life we were seeing.

We hoped it didnt sound dorkey. It doesnt to us, but I'm sure some folks think its the most uncool name in the world LOL Anyway, I don't even remember any other name we looked at. And it turned out to be a play on words

To us it means everything

The really good thing about names is if you spend a bit of time guessing them up, getting the themes you like etc, you will slowly move in decreasing spirals to center on some name thats just so right for you and your boat.

By the way, as simple at 'Sea Life' is for us to pronounce in English any other language finds it damn difficult! LOL Even the VHF can be a hassel! Next boat will very easy to understand when you hear it: it will be named FART.


Mark

[Bash]

All my boat names have been adjectival, and all have begun with the letter B. I've used the series of boat names to deconstruct the adjectival yachting tradition of Intrepid, Defiant, Courageous, Indefatigable, et cetera.

Needless to say, my boats have unique, distinctive names. Which is why I don't post the name of the present boat on forums such as this, because then you could look up the boat on the directory of documented yachts, and not only have my name but my address. A shame the USA government is so careless when it comes to issues of privacy.

My most recent boat, of happy memory, was named "Buoyant."

[Mariness]

Originally Posted by capt_douglas

Boat naming can be interesting, and enlightening. I heartily suggest saying it aloud several hundred times, have friends call you by that name a lot, and avoid anything suggestive, religious, or military

Yes, yes, yes! And if you decide to go with the suggestive, know ahead that everyone else is NOT as amused by it as you are. As I work for a marine towing company, I often have to talk to people on VHF - there have been many cases when I simply won't say over the air whatever name they decided was just SO funny. Luckily, there aren't usually 2 identical boats right next to each other, so they respond just fine to "39-foot SeaRay at XXXX location". Not to stereotype.

[FxdGrMind]

Wow! thanks everyone. Great information!

Here is more on my problem. This is the Historical name for my family in Norwegian.... and not the current Norwegian spoken, rather an old dialect. As I recall, in norwegian grade school, we were taught the different dialects, Ny-norsk and Bokmoål (sp... man I'm rusty).

Here is their current alphabet.

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z æ ø å

My current boat has never been named, although orrigionaly I had intended to use this name then add II on the end for any future boat.

The name: Ny-Støga

It's not easy to pronounce, Ny ... not pronounced Nie... (that would mean NO in Norwegian...)
It's a long Y sound.
Støga is similarly difficult.... it's not an "Oh" but something else that I can't even describe.

The meaning:
Several translations depending on the valley or dialect chosen to translate from. But the translation I like is: "New-Livingspace"

Other traslations are New Livingroom, or New Abode, etc etc.

Thanks for your stories, keep them coming!

A little Viking off track in the USA....
Cheers

[Mariness]

Isn't that slashed-o thingy pronounced like a German o with an umlaut?
I like the name! You probably will get some (ok, a lot in some areas) mispronunciations - but if you like it and the boat doesn't seem offended, I would go for it. Just ignore the chance encounters who get it wrong, and anyone who might be saying it a lot, explain it to them.
That's what I would do, anyway.

[trinescape]

We bought a trimaran to take our kids on a voyage around Australia but it was also to escape the rat race and so our boat named herself really ''TRI-N-ESCAPE'' i said it in an off the cuff remark when we were all in the car one day and the family laughed and said that it and thats how our boat got her name but alot of coast guard stations will often say please spell over !

andy

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by FxdGrMind

The name: Ny-Støga

It's not easy to pronounce, Ny ... not pronounced Nie... (that would mean NO in Norwegian...)
It's a long Y sound.
Støga is similarly difficult.... it's not an "Oh" but something else that I can't even describe.

The meaning:
Several translations depending on the valley or dialect chosen to translate from. But the translation I like is: "New-Livingspace"

Other traslations are New Livingroom, or New Abode, etc etc.

Thanks for your stories, keep them coming!

A little Viking off track in the USA....
Cheers

I recall that for British registration the letters used must be English. I wouldn't be surprised if most other countries had the same requirement (of using local lingo only), including Norway - which may exclude old Norwegian characters if different from modern Norwegian.

FWIW my boat was named "Perro", Spanish for dog (a lot of Seadogs have dog related names ). I dunno if that excluded any Spanish accents But in any event I renamed her a couple of years back after my late wife. Her being Thai means name was really in an entirely different alphabet so could use on British registration.........but my way around that was to use the English transliteratiion of "Wayluya"..........a couple of folks have puzzled over the pronounciation / meaning - I tell 'em it's Thai for PITA. Wasn't entirely untrue

Depending on intended cruising area maybe transliterate / translate into English - won't generate an exact pronounciation (except when you read it ).........but that would apply to original old Norwegian as well - unless you encounter a Viking

[hummingway]

Originally Posted by capt_douglas

IIRC, Canada's rule is one name for the whole country.

Partially true ... only one name is allowed for registered boats but registering is no longer required. You can license them and they give you a number and you can then change your name without informing them. I'm sticking with Honeysuckle as my boat is registered as such and, although I wasn't sure at first, after six months it does seem to be a good name.

[anjou]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

Renaming the boat is a pleasure of ownership. The ceremony has many traditions and folklore. If you are superstitious, disregard at your own peril. If you are no superstitious just do it anyway because it is a lot of fun.

In naming the boat there is some conventional wisdom - I would be careful about naming the boat something you state no one could pronounce -

After following all those guidelines, It sure doesnt leave many options to chose from.

Being as mine will be a river boat, What if I called her 'River Queen' and then people thought that name referd to myself?

Errr. No.

[hummingway]

Originally Posted by anjou

After following all those guidelines, It sure doesnt leave many options to chose from.

Being as mine will be a river boat, What if I called her 'River Queen' and then people thought that name referd to myself?

Errr. No.

You would be the River Boat Queen, lady of the mists, ruling all and sundry with a firm but fair hand, dispensing royal but salty wisdom when called upon, bringing joy and sunshine to her riparian subjects and by her very presence in this fair land bringing abundance once again to these shores!