Boat names - what are yours, why?
- Thread starter Kestrel
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My first boat was funny looking becuase of the way she swept up at the bow, and I could only find a few other examples of her sister ships in existence. She was originally named "Sarah Jessica", after the PO's daughter. That only brought up conotations of an actress, so I renamed her "Oddity".
My current boat was named "Excursion". She's going to be re-named "Echoing Call"; I had a cat named "Echo" and later got her a playmate Named "Call". I always thought "Echo and Call" sounded rather lyrical.
My next and final boat will be named "Acceptance", without which there would be no sailing, only misery.
My current boat was named "Excursion". She's going to be re-named "Echoing Call"; I had a cat named "Echo" and later got her a playmate Named "Call". I always thought "Echo and Call" sounded rather lyrical.
My next and final boat will be named "Acceptance", without which there would be no sailing, only misery.
When we bought our boat, Andante, we were unsure of the meaning of the name. After some research, we learned that andante is the middle part of a symphony, with a slow, even, somewhat laid-back melody. That sounded like what sailing feels like to us, so we decided to keep the name (not to mention the good-luck factor). Since then, we have discovered the song "Andante, Andante" by Abba with the refrain "take it easy, take it slow" to be the true embodiment of sailing. We have also seen other sailboats with the same name, and we wonder if it was the song that inspired them.
Serenity II.
Being involved in recovery programs for many years the name just came naturally when we purchased Serenity I. In addition our horse farm went by the name of Serenity Farms and our brand was the Lazy S which represented both our last name and the S in Serenity.
Being involved in recovery programs for many years the name just came naturally when we purchased Serenity I. In addition our horse farm went by the name of Serenity Farms and our brand was the Lazy S which represented both our last name and the S in Serenity.
Great!
Eight years, here. Thus, when I finally get my liveaboard it will be named "Acceptance". After all it is the key.
Knowing our dreams of moving aboard for extended coastal cruising would be extremely difficult to obtain, my wife repeatedly told me to have faith and believe. When we found our boat it needed a lot of work.. We made a very low offer thinking we it would be rejected, but my wife reminded me to have faith and believe.. There is still a lot of work to complete before we move aboard next fall, but I have learned to have faith and believe.
That is the short version of why we named out boat BELIEVE. Oh yea, we call the dinghy we pull behind BELIEVE "IT".
That is the short version of why we named out boat BELIEVE. Oh yea, we call the dinghy we pull behind BELIEVE "IT".
My first sailboat was named Sweet Wind. Since childhood, I always had the windows down in the car, rode motorcycles, and overpowered motorboats. After my first sail, realizing I did not have to go fast to feel the wind, I bought a 1979 Hunter 30. Since then trading to a larger version of Cherubini, 1980 Hunter 37C, the name Yonder just does not do it for me. Since sailing has become much of my life, her new name will have to reflect that. Launch is in April, better think fast.
I thought I had posted about my Catalina 30's new name already - aye I am getting older.
I believe a boat needs a good name. One that shows lots of thought, intuition and mythical background. Not every name is good, as so many here have stated. Not very name is bad, as many have posted.
Many lists of boat names, unbelievable that these exist, who would bother looking at those . . . never mind I only wondering why anyone would look anyway.
This personal decision was difficult. More difficult than expected. Time passed, a few weeks came and went and she was quiet. Dirty too; from being on the hard a long time.
Then I realized that it was not difficult. She would tell me. Just as it took my cat a couple of weeks before she told me her name (turned out to be the same as on the label of a champagne I like), my boat would tell me her name.
One day while power washing her deck, and happy with the results, her name came floating in the wind (and the stinking, yucky black and green spray blown back by the 18knot wind). Sisu. Quite the natural name for her too.
Sisu is Finnish, my ancestry, for determination, audacity, brass gonads, smarts and a great life. I've had many people tell me I had to have all the above just to get to where I am, so her name makes sense.
Although her denaming and renaming ceremonies went well, there was a problem removing a bit of her previous name. Now I have to come up with a way of taking care of that sometime. I do not think it will be much of a problem though; Chinese for determination will be a natural with the Chinese of her first name. And, very few people can translate the original Chinese on her bow.
I believe a boat needs a good name. One that shows lots of thought, intuition and mythical background. Not every name is good, as so many here have stated. Not very name is bad, as many have posted.
Many lists of boat names, unbelievable that these exist, who would bother looking at those . . . never mind I only wondering why anyone would look anyway.
This personal decision was difficult. More difficult than expected. Time passed, a few weeks came and went and she was quiet. Dirty too; from being on the hard a long time.
Then I realized that it was not difficult. She would tell me. Just as it took my cat a couple of weeks before she told me her name (turned out to be the same as on the label of a champagne I like), my boat would tell me her name.
One day while power washing her deck, and happy with the results, her name came floating in the wind (and the stinking, yucky black and green spray blown back by the 18knot wind). Sisu. Quite the natural name for her too.
Sisu is Finnish, my ancestry, for determination, audacity, brass gonads, smarts and a great life. I've had many people tell me I had to have all the above just to get to where I am, so her name makes sense.
Although her denaming and renaming ceremonies went well, there was a problem removing a bit of her previous name. Now I have to come up with a way of taking care of that sometime. I do not think it will be much of a problem though; Chinese for determination will be a natural with the Chinese of her first name. And, very few people can translate the original Chinese on her bow.
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Mast Confusion it was the winner of a name the boat contest, mainly because i had about 12 names in my head and after 5 beers and some chicken wings at Hooters I was confused as th what the name should be. The Admiral loved the name and that what it was.
Muse
When my dad bought his boat, I was a music student, and we named it Cantabile - a musical term that means to play as if singing. It's pronounced cantabilleh, but often people would see it and say, canta bile, which sounded to me like a liver malfunction.
I bought my first boat after turning 40, my dad died, and my brother and his wife sailed off to New Zealand. I saw an ad for a Freedom 25 and thought, what the hell am I waiting for? The boat's name was Sea Moggy (moggy being old english slang for cat) and that just had to go. I first looked at obscure names that would mean something to me, but remembering canta bile, decided I needed something simpler. Finally settled upon Muse, and that is what she was to me. She amused me, served as my muse, and was a great setting for musing. When I sold her to buy a Freedom 30, I told the young man who bought her that I hoped he'd change her name so I could transfer it to the new boat. He never got around to it, so the 30 is Muse II. Muse II used to be Widgeon, which has the lucky 7 letters, but I still need a muse.
Tricia
Freedom 30 "Muse II"
Vancouver, BC
When my dad bought his boat, I was a music student, and we named it Cantabile - a musical term that means to play as if singing. It's pronounced cantabilleh, but often people would see it and say, canta bile, which sounded to me like a liver malfunction.
I bought my first boat after turning 40, my dad died, and my brother and his wife sailed off to New Zealand. I saw an ad for a Freedom 25 and thought, what the hell am I waiting for? The boat's name was Sea Moggy (moggy being old english slang for cat) and that just had to go. I first looked at obscure names that would mean something to me, but remembering canta bile, decided I needed something simpler. Finally settled upon Muse, and that is what she was to me. She amused me, served as my muse, and was a great setting for musing. When I sold her to buy a Freedom 30, I told the young man who bought her that I hoped he'd change her name so I could transfer it to the new boat. He never got around to it, so the 30 is Muse II. Muse II used to be Widgeon, which has the lucky 7 letters, but I still need a muse.
Tricia
Freedom 30 "Muse II"
Vancouver, BC
My Bene 323 is named "That's Nice..." which happens to be part of the punch line to an old joke. Interestingly enough, people walking by and not seeing the name have frequently commented "that's nice" when looking at the boat, or they have laughed out loud when seeing the name because they knew the joke.
Other names I have seen and liked were on racing boats:
An MC scow had ONO painted on her bottom. No matter whether it tipped over to port or starboard , it read the same.
Another was a J30 named TIHSWA .(read it backward)
A well known boat in the area was named Fujimo. Not an asian name ...it was an acronyn for F.U. Jane, I'm moving out!
Other names I have seen and liked were on racing boats:
An MC scow had ONO painted on her bottom. No matter whether it tipped over to port or starboard , it read the same.
Another was a J30 named TIHSWA .(read it backward)
A well known boat in the area was named Fujimo. Not an asian name ...it was an acronyn for F.U. Jane, I'm moving out!
Why not just keep the name you love regardless of what the new owner calls his boat?
Btw, I visited your fair city this past summer. What a gorgeous setting.
I considered that...
The smaller Muse is in the same marina as the bigger Muse and I can actually see it from my slip. I'm happy with the name arrangement. Little Muse remains my first muse and I have great memories of our years together.
Yes, Vancouver is a wonderful place to live and sail -- I feel very fortunate to call this part of the world home.
The smaller Muse is in the same marina as the bigger Muse and I can actually see it from my slip. I'm happy with the name arrangement. Little Muse remains my first muse and I have great memories of our years together.
Yes, Vancouver is a wonderful place to live and sail -- I feel very fortunate to call this part of the world home.
This thread inspired me to settle on a name for our boat. We have come up with a bunch of good ones that relate to our profession, but in the end I don't want my boat name to remind me of work, so we have decided to name her Billie Rae after my late father in law. It's a little bit of an inside joke because that was his given name, but being a pastor, scholar and a theologian, hardly anyone knew him by that name. To most he was William or Bill and only his mother called him Billie. He got the sailing bug in the early seventies and spent his free time sailing his beloved Flying Scot on Cowan Lake in Ohio. He named the boat Dana Rene after his youngest daughter (my wife) and bought her a Laser for her own enjoyment. We think of him frequently and it saddens us that he is not here to share his joy for a hobby that without him we probably wouldn't know ourselves. Having his name on our little boat will be a way of keeping him with us whenever we sail.
When we bought our boat it was named "Que Linda" which means "How Pretty!". Probably because the PO's wife's name was Linda. Anyway, we wanted to change the name and came up with several ideas. My husband thought up the currrent name, but I was opposed to naming the boat after me. Eventually I agreed to the name, after the entire family agreed with him 
. New boat name: RoxSeas.
. New boat name: RoxSeas.
Should Also Stand the Test of Time
He named it "Wildaire"
Also, in addition to Kestrel's thought that the best names evoke images of sea and motion, I would like to propose that another element of a great name is that it stand the test of time. This is the case for my boat's name. The best that I can tell from both a records search, and from raised sections on my topsides where in just the right sun angle I can still see traces of where the original vinyl lettering of "Wildaire" retarded gelcoat weathering, I think not one of the subsequent owners of my boat since the original (I am the 4th) have seen fit to change the name
Also maybe the name should imply a sense of mystery or tradition. For my boat, maybe say "Wild Air" would have been fine. But the derivation to "Wildaire", also evokes images of sailing along a wind-lashed Irish or Scottish or Welsh coastline -- maybe even back to the middle ages.
The original owner of my 1980 boat I think nailed the concept that Kestrel opened this thread with (the above quote).
He named it "Wildaire"
Also, in addition to Kestrel's thought that the best names evoke images of sea and motion, I would like to propose that another element of a great name is that it stand the test of time. This is the case for my boat's name. The best that I can tell from both a records search, and from raised sections on my topsides where in just the right sun angle I can still see traces of where the original vinyl lettering of "Wildaire" retarded gelcoat weathering, I think not one of the subsequent owners of my boat since the original (I am the 4th) have seen fit to change the name
Also maybe the name should imply a sense of mystery or tradition. For my boat, maybe say "Wild Air" would have been fine. But the derivation to "Wildaire", also evokes images of sailing along a wind-lashed Irish or Scottish or Welsh coastline -- maybe even back to the middle ages.
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