I need a boat name

I boat a new one, but it has no name. I want a funny name. Any suggestions??

Greetings,
Since you state in another thread your home port is in Brunswick County and a town in the county is Calabash, how about Mrs. Calabash...A la Jimmy Durante?

Good Night Jimmy Durante 1955 - YouTube

Too obscure?

You would be better off with a respectable name. Hard to take serious a funny name.

Greetings,
Carolina Shag (not what you may think...look it up)

"Hello Darlin" .... think about hailing on VHF

I have a pretty good sense of humor, and I like the IDEA of a funny name. I just don't think it's a good idea to actually USE one.

Here's the scenario: You're offshore in bad conditions, with passengers, and the engine quits, or you strike a submerged container, or whatever. You need to radio for help.

I guarantee your sense of humor will not be at its peak at that point. Nor will that of other vessels around you. The CG might get a kick out of it, but it's not likely to expedite your rescue. In fact, it may prolong the "uncertainty" phase of the SAR case while they try to figure out if they need to launch assets or is it just a hoax.

If you need humor, go with a "normal" sounding name that has a hidden meaning for you, or your boat, location, ancestry or something. If you can work a double-meaning in without being blatantly obscene, that's OK.

And don't go with the odd-ball spelling that makes normal words into dirty words. The joke is lost over the radio.

Many folks will cruise at a common period of time.

South on the AICW in the fall, north in the spring.AK inside is similar.

During the migrations many boats will be in a gaggle , about the same speeds (6-7K) and the opening bridges will frequently bunch the speedy and laggards .

At anchorages or the marina bound folks sometimes get together and socialize.

Its known as 5 zees,

Folks row to one boat with their own drinks and a passing dish and it lasts from 5 to 6 , where all depart, to cook dinner.

You are frequently known then by your BOATNAME , as there are too many names to keep straight.

A joke name might be fun ONCE , but is it really how you wish to be known?

Our current ride is LUCY, easy to hear , easy to say , easy to remember ,

rather than PASSING WIND , or some joke name.

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
Carolina Shag (not what you may think...look it up)

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One is vertical and one is horizontal of sorts.

Just try to find one that you won't have to be spending a lot of time spelling out over the radio to lock and bridgemasters, marinas, and the Coast Guard.

markpierce said:

You would be better off with a respectable name. Hard to take serious a funny name.

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I know a couple who named their boat "Does It Matter?" I guess they thought that was a cute boat name. Here is where it gets stupid:

Captain hailing bridge: "Bridgetender, would you open the bridge for us please?"

Bridgetender: "Certainly captain, what is the name of your Vessel?"

Captain: "Does It Matter?"

You can imagine how it goes down hill from there. Same problem hailing a marina for transient dockage. And I would really hate to use that name when hailing the USCG or anyone else for assistance.

Just like when naming your child, this takes some serious thought. It's a name you will live with for a long time.

Here is a link to a couple thousand of the most popular boat names:

http://www.boatus.com/boatgraphics/names.asp

You might find something you like there.

Isn't boating supposed to be fun?

Whatever name you choose, try saying it out loud three times in series, as though being hailed on the radio. How does it sound? Will people be able to understand it? Putting aside funny names, one thing that always amazes me are the significant number of boats with names that relate to drinking. Isn't that just being asked to be pulled over for a safety check?

deancrenshaw55 said:

I boat a new one, but it has no name. I want a funny name. Any suggestions??

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Give us some more background. I'm sure we can come up with some good ones.

I think a funny name is disrespectful to the boat and makes out the owner to be a jokester without substance. Would you name your child w a joke name? All boats should be named a name that holds up high for all to see something worthy, wonderful, special and somewhat unique about the boat that to a great degree DESCRIBES the boat.

Example;
I designed a very unique boat of moderate speed that would not pound or otherwise ride rough. She got "Easy Rider" for a name and very fitting I think.

Also I think the hailing port/home port should be just that ... where the boat lives ..... not where the owner lives.

A name is a name and a joke is a joke. If you put a joke on the bow of your boat you haven't named her.

manyboats said:

I think a funny name is disrespectful to the boat and makes out the owner to be a jokester without substance. Would you name your child w a joke name? All boats should be named a name that holds up high for all to see something worthy, wonderful, special and somewhat unique about the boat that to a great degree DESCRIBES the boat.

Example;
I designed a very unique boat of moderate speed that would not pound or otherwise ride rough. She got "Easy Rider" for a name and very fitting I think.

Also I think the hailing port/home port should be just that ... where the boat lives ..... not where the owner lives.

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I seem to violate both of those. Sorry. Will you respect me in the morning?

What's wrong with being a jokester?

You know.....I think a guy should be able to name his boat whatever he wants to name it, but I have to take the common sense side of what the other posters are trying to say above. There was a first-of-a-kind Northwestern build of a new 50 ft. Catamaran that the company founder named Sea Pussie. It had a good sized article and review in some of the boat rags at that time. I dunno....I'm sure it meant something different to the owner (or maybe it didn't), but a name like that is nearly always asked to repeat whenever it comes up to a bridge or has a problem. If someone (like the CG, for example) doesn't have a good read on you, and you're repeating something that is neither succinct or likely in its tone, it could be a great disadvantage in an emergency, and other boaters may not want to hail you for the same reasons. There are many names of boats here in Miami that are simply too offensive to mention, and I've heard the blank air time when the CG or tow outfit doesn't want to come back with the name confirmation, mostly because there's too many jokesters that use 16 for wasteful commentary. Just sayin...

I'm sure the Coasties are used to it. Most of the times I hear them talking to vessels during emergencies, they almost never call the vessel by name. It's always been "Vessel in distress" or just "captain". Even AFTER they have established the vessel's name and skipper's name.

I don't think there is any disrespect calling your boat whatever you want to. It should reflect who you are or something that relates to the boat itself. 2@Sea, Go Fish Yourself, Got Bait, 2Slo4U... etc. It would be impossible to keep names 100% serious. We don't all see boating seriously. Like I said... This is supposed to be fun. So dammit!!... Have fun or I'll kick your ass!!! (j/k)

Tom B,
Skinny Dipp'in is a name that suggests what the boat is to you ... what it can do for you. A good name. It's descriptive of what the boat is in your lives unless I've misread the meaning. I see you in some remote little cove perfect for swimming in the warm water ... the boat looking sown on you'all in the water like a proud mother. How I read it may not even be close to reality though.

But home port is home port. Should have nothing to do w where the owner lives.

manyboats said:

But home port is home port. Should have nothing to do w where the owner lives.

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We've owned our boat for four years now and have changed port four times. I would much rather people know where we are from rather than where the boat happens to be parked. Besides, if the CG gave a flip, they would not allow us to put anything we want to. It's not like we are out of compliance. We opted for a common hailing port that allows us to be identified and to mave around as we see fit without having to buy another $100 vinyl sign.

I believe boat name should be whatever the owner desires... serious, funny, descriptive, desperate, loving or otherwise... short of being "social/societal incorrect". At least that's how we see it!

Name of our Tolly "The Office" holds several deep meanings to us. For fun we artistically designed the name with pictured-items incorporated into it's letters/words that only we know the true meanings of; they say a lot to us (our backgrounds) and are relatively descriptive... let your minds wander, as others do! A young sign painting artist put it on for us just before he entered into the Navy... heck of a nice nice freehand job! There are some great conversations that revolve around our Tolly's name. When anchored boaters we don't know sometimes come by dink or briefly stop their cruiser for fun chats. Their thumbs up are often the outcome.

Our tow behind WOT 39 knot Crestliner runabout is named “The Water Cooler" (sometimes we call her "Mini Me")... both those names have fun meanings to our past experiences.

I previously had a decal placed onto Tolly’s transom for port of call... but, when we changed poc and the decal also got badly scrapped by a dink's o/b motor prop I took it off. No complaints so far - full documentation is aboard. What’s the CG or Harbor Patrol gonna do... spank me! - LOL I'll take a magic marker and write the poc onto transom as they watch -seeing as the decal must have just fallen off, first time I noticed it, I say tongue in cheek!

You might be able to tell by the designs incorporated into our Tolly’s name – We’re often outside the box and don’t always follow the letter of the law!

Perform this or you will have very bad Ju Ju

Renaming Your Boat - BoatSafe.com

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

Perform this or you will have very bad Ju Ju

Renaming Your Boat - BoatSafe.com

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Lucky for us our Tolly had a clean, waxed transom when we purchased! No bad Ju Ju here... Of course, we did ask Tolly's permission before painting on its name! Permission was granted.

Who's On First (Abbott and Costello)

Melon Patch

Boats should be named after women or virtues.

alormaria said:

Boats should be named after women or virtues.

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I tend to agree with you Al. The great thing about boating is we all get the chance to be individual in our approach.

Must admit though that I love the name on the sailboat that Jeffnick posted. Made me laugh.

Janet H said:

Who's On First (Abbott and Costello)

Melon Patch

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That routine never gets old.

JD said:

That routine never gets old.

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True but we get to have fun right!

One thing I do know about boating is that we are a friendly group that is not afraid of helping others......

Tom B,
I was wondering when the women's name thing would surface as I'm in violation of that. But your'e right it's personal preference but if one names a boat w a joke it does reflect on the owner .. positively or negatively. It's hard to be critical of a joke name that outrageously funny, original, and in good taste. But to name a boat "________-________" or one of the other common joke names kinda says the owner hasn't got much imagination or perhaps has an undeveloped sense of humor. But because of that (and this is funny) the person that puts a name like that on their boat is going to be completely oblivious to what a fool he is making of himself. He'll be referred to as "that jerk up the river" ect. But because of his bad taste and dull intellect he won't even realize he's made a fool of himself. The safest is to name your boat after your wife. And I'm in violation of that too.

Anyway Tom I'm just say'in there's no right and wrong here what I post on this thread is pure opinion and the real purpose of a name is to identify the boat. A name should be unique enough to do that .. I think.

I do think the home port should be where the boat most often goes to sea from. As in ships but there's the Panama thing that screws that all up. I think it is however a maritime tradition that the home port on the stern is where the boat operates from. Does anybody know a CG person that could say what the best home port is? If your'e listening S of F what's your mind on this?

Never been much of a fan of cutsie or play-on-words boat names. Like a loud color on a car, I think they would get tiresome after awhile.

We picked the name of our boat long before we ever got a boat to fit it. I became familiar with La Pérouse while living in Hawaii and doing the sound track for a documentary about the "other" Hawaiian Islands, the ones stretching from Kauai northwest to Midway (all these little islands and atolls are part of the state of Hawaii). La Pérouse discovered two of them.

There are places in Alaska and BC named for him as well as places in the western and southwestern Pacific. So for many years I thought having a boat named after him would be cool, to say nothing of the fact I'm half French.

When we got our first boat, the 17' Arima, the name La Pérouse was too "big" of a name for it so we called it Malolo, which means flying fish in Hawaiian and was also the first boat I fished on over there.

When we decided to get the GB, La Pérouse fit perfectly.

Many of the fishing schooners of New England and the Canadian maritimes were named after women--- wives and daughters I assume. Names like Gertrude L. Thebaud, Elsie, and Elizabeth Howard became famous as result of the International Fishermen's Races. Had we not had the name La Pérouse waiting in the wings we probably would have gone with one of the famous schooner names for our GB.

I'm also not a fan of the tendency to try to incorporate the words "grand" or "banks" into names of GBs. The boat we chartered before buying our own was R Banks. Our boat was named Grand Destiny when we bought it. Then there is Baby Grand which seems to be on countless GB32s. Grand Adventure is another popular GB name.

But I agree, a boat's name should reflect the whims of the owner, not some naming convention. And although it's not a big deal to me, I do agree with Eric in that I think a boat's hailing port should be where the boat itself lives.