As we ply the waters of the Chesapeake and listen to the traffic on Channel 16, I hear thought-provoking and clever boat names, but I also hear kind of drab and sterile ones. We all want to pick out something catchy, not common for our boats. I’m here to tell you, your exciting, beautiful new boat deserves a great name, a name she’ll wear proudly.
We recently purchased a new (to us) Grand Banks Classic and have spent endless hours trying to come up with a worthy name. How do those other boaters out there figure out such ingenious and original names? We’ve written down lists of possibilities, spent endless joyful hours discussing it, and scribbled ideas on everything from the backs of receipts to the box our replacement toilet came in. None of them spoke to our hearts or souls.
Since I was a kid, my family and I have been naming our cars. I’ve now taught my children that the proper way to name a car is to be very quiet, pay very close attention, and listen with more than your ears. The car will tell you its name. I do this every time I get a new car, and it always works like a charm. So when we got our new boat, it seemed the most obvious way to find the name. It didn’t work out so well.
I wonder if it’s not like naming a race horse. I think it’s harder because we have such a personal connection to our boats. Our boats spend their lives wandering the waters with their names emblazoned in giant letters for all the world to see. That name reflects her crew, and we want it to tell our friends and fellow boaters something valuable about us.
There are a few questions to ask yourself to get your creative juices flowing and come up with your boat’s name. What brings you to boating? Are you a new boater, or have you been doing it a long time? What draws you to the water? Do you want something funny and lighthearted or meaningful and inspiring?
Imagine yourself using this new name three times on Channel 16. Consider how easy it is to say and how easy it is for other boats to understand. Every year, BoatU.S. produces a list of the boat names they’ve produced throughout the year with the most common at the top. Use this information to keep yourself in unique territory.
If you find these questions haven’t yielded a name that calls to you, consider other sources. Think about your cultural or national heritage. Is there a pantheon of gods and goddesses associated with your native lands? Or even a pantheon of gods and goddesses from another land that you feel you should have been from? Warning on this one: be prepared to explain it often. You may or may not mind bearing a bit of your soul each time a fellow sailor asks about where you found such an unusual name.
You may also reflect on foreign languages. Often everyday things sound as mundane as they are in English, however when you translate it, the word sounds exotic and romantic.
If you’re of a more intellectual mind, consider the literary sailing poetry of old. There seems to be an endless supply of poetry about the sea and the sailing life when you do an Internet search.
If, like us, your boat comes to you from another boater, it doubtless already has a name. Now you are faced with the dilemma of whether or not to change the name. Consider something derived from the original name or a word added to or taken away from the original name. This was just the problem we were faced with. Our boat is 36 years old and has had the same name since she was christened, but it doesn’t call to us. It just feels like bad karma to change it, so at our most recent decision-making meeting, we determined to add to it. We had to go through all this naming stuff all over again, and bear in mind our addition would have to coordinate with the original name. Instead of just
Twilight, our baby will be
Twilight Cocktails.
by Elizabeth Kelch
We recently purchased a new (to us) Grand Banks Classic and have spent endless hours trying to come up with a worthy name. How do those other boaters out there figure out such ingenious and original names? We’ve written down lists of possibilities, spent endless joyful hours discussing it, and scribbled ideas on everything from the backs of receipts to the box our replacement toilet came in. None of them spoke to our hearts or souls.
Since I was a kid, my family and I have been naming our cars. I’ve now taught my children that the proper way to name a car is to be very quiet, pay very close attention, and listen with more than your ears. The car will tell you its name. I do this every time I get a new car, and it always works like a charm. So when we got our new boat, it seemed the most obvious way to find the name. It didn’t work out so well.
I wonder if it’s not like naming a race horse. I think it’s harder because we have such a personal connection to our boats. Our boats spend their lives wandering the waters with their names emblazoned in giant letters for all the world to see. That name reflects her crew, and we want it to tell our friends and fellow boaters something valuable about us.