Boat Name - Reason for yours

I do think there's something very nautical and classic and classy about naming a boat after a person, like the freighters out of Duluth on Lake Superior. Edmund Fitzgerald. Charles W. Morgan in Mystic. The Cunard queens. Mary Celeste. Reuben James. Mary Rose. Bonhomme Richard.

Nancy and Bud said:

Emma Mae, middle names of our mothers.

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VERY nice looking boat and a fitting name too.

The PO ran a boat yard. He named her "Diogenes" as he was always looking for a honest man. I bought the boat from his widow and felt it was such a personal name, I removed the name boards and gave them to his wife.

After a long time, I named the boat "Shaman". She takes me on magical trips.

kthoennes said:

I do think there's something very nautical and classic and classy about naming a boat after a person, like the freighters out of Duluth on Lake Superior. Edmund Fitzgerald. Charles W. Morgan in Mystic. The Cunard queens. Mary Celeste. Reuben James. Mary Rose. Bonhomme Richard.

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And then there’s the Joyce L. VanEnkevort... lol

I’m sure she is/was a lovely person, but that name is like listening to a teenager trying to learn how to drive a manual transmission.

Viking God

We named our GB32 Solvogn. It comes from tenth-century Nordic mythology. They believed that there was a god who woke up ever morning and hitched his horse to a little cart and dragged the sun (a round golden disc sitting upright) across the sky. At the end of the day he turned it around to its black side and came back, making night. The cart was the "sun wagon". A GB32 with all its curtains open is truly a "sun wagon." For more google this "trundholm sun chariot."

Our last name is Hawkins so our boat is the Hawks' Nest.

Hawk

Maire - pronounced may-ray. We’re the third owner and the boat’s name is original. The folks we bought the boat from new the first owner and supposedly he was a good Irish Catholic. We were told that Maire is an old Celtic name that means “Mary of the Sea.”

AlaskaProf said:

Well, I am entitled to wear the Good Conduct Medal and the American Defense Medal on my AG-44s, but the 31" waistline is gone forever.


Pfc W.T. Butler
9th Cavalry Alumni Assn.

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I got a couple of those. We called them "didn't get caught medals".

Always figured that the expectation was for bad conduct, or else why else would they give medals for good conduct...

I looked around for an indigionas name.

Murungal is Thunder in the local Aboriginal lauguge for the location that l purchased the vessel.

Cheers

Northern Spy said:

I got a couple of those. We called them "didn't get caught medals".

Always figured that the expectation was for bad conduct, or else why else would they give medals for good conduct...

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We called them, "undetected crime" medal

Boat Names: Boatwright

Two reasons for Boatwright:
1. Family name going back 14 generations to John Boatwright born 1607 in Fressingfield, UK. My Grandmother's maiden name, and she was the cornerstone of good character in our family.

2. Boatwright is the modern English name for "Bat Wyrtha", Old English and "Botvrais", Norman French - a boat builder. In 1066 William the Conqueror, a Norman (North-man - Vikings inhabiting NW France) invaded England, killing King Harold and consolidating the nation under one King. He rewarded his key supporters in the invasion with land grants, including the men who built the ships for his army to cross the English Channel. Two panels of the Tapestry of Bayeaux show the boat builders - Boatwrights - at work. So, Boatwrights were established in England as a family name.

So, Boatwright stands for good character and for the boat-builders who assisted William in establishing Viking Blood as King of England.

A little more: On the back of our "boat-card" we leave with mechanics, marinas, etc., is a verse from Longfellow's "The building of the ship":

"Build Me Straight (right away), O Worthy Master
Staunch and Strong, A Goodly Vessel
That Can Laugh at All Disaster
And With Wave and Whirlwind Wrestle"

While the poem tells three stories - Building a Ship, A Romance and the foundations of our Country, my father interpreted this verse as a prayer for Strong Character. In commissioning Boatwright in service to our family, our country and the majestic environment God has given us, developing Good Character is alongside developing Good Seamanship in the lives of my Grandchildren.

Boatwright: A vessel to draw our family together in heritage, character and seamanship.

Came with the boat. Couldn't think a reason to change it.

https://www.vagalume.com.br/jimmy-buffett/intro-the-legend-of-norman-paperman-kinja.html

The name "Brown Eyed Girl" was the original name on the boat. When deciding what to name the boat after we bought it we realized that both Leathia, my wife and our daughter have brown eyes, so we decided to keep the name.

Boat Name

Our Boat, a Jefferson 37 Sundeck is called 'FEATH'.
Pronounced 'Fee-a', which is Gaelic for 'Calm/Tranquil'. Our boat was documented by the previous owner with the name 'Finn', but my wife and I wanted to have the boat named for something we strive for. It was pricey to document when we boat the boat, but worth it in the long run.

Previous owner built the boat, and named it after his deceased wife. He's also deceased. I dare not change the name.

Good call

BrianG said:

Previous owner built the boat, and named it after his deceased wife. He's also deceased. I dare not change the name.

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Good Call

Gemma - Grandmother in law


Angelina - Grandmother in law

Leo Reise said:

I do not recall a thread covering this topic. Boat names are interesting. They usually have meaning for the owner - sometimes funny, sometimes not so much, and sometimes just because.

Ours paid honour to our boat’s history in part, and a meaning for us. My Admiral is a steers-person for the KAB Dragon Boat Team - 3 time World Champions. The combination has its own meaning in dragon folklore.

History first named - Cajun Moon
Second name - Moon Dog II
Our name - Moon Dragon

What is your story?

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I am also on a Moon theme.

My first boat was conventional "Papillon" (Hunter 33' sail), my wife painted the name and image on the stern

My second boat caused all the trouble. I had just moved to the PNW and was so impressed with the complex bay system that I named the boat "Basic Mazecraft" (Cal 34' Sail) after a line in the superb book "Passage to Juneau" by Jonathan Raban. In a nutshell he described mazecraft as the way to get out of a maze by walking around while not letting go of one wall. He used this analogy to describe Captain Vancouver's mission (to prove the absence of a NW passage to Europe). You are already bored with this description and that is exactly what happened whenever I tied up in a marina - I would always get asked what the name meant and had to stop when their eyes glazed over! So that led to:

MoonStruck (Hylas 49' sail)
MoonDance (Bayliner 4788 motor)
MoonShadow - current boat (Wendon 72' Motor).

Moonstruck took us most of the way around the world which most of my family and many friends thought was nuts. I am a Brit and the word Moonstruck dates back to a description of nutty peasants in the middle ages (google it if you like - they might have not been nutty at all, but hiding moonshine).

~A

Lollygag= our preferred lifestyle

Awkward but true.

I posted a version of this before and will start with a similar warning:

Contains 1950's-era sexist humor, which most of us have grown out of. Please don’t continue if you find that kind of thing offensive.

When I was 9 or 10, my dad bought a wooden runabout that he just loved, totally oblivious to what the name, "Gnatnoop," spelled backwards meant . . . or later said he was. He used it for over a year before someone took my mother aside and broke the news. She made him sand it off and paint over it that very night. The boat was rechristened "Star of the Sea."

Our first boat, a Hunter 410 was named Dawn Treader V. The name fit us well so we kept it. Recently we bought an Ocean Alexander 42 and changed the name to Arctic Jade. My wife was born in Fairbanks Alaska and I’ve lived here for 40 years. The Arctic part is thus obvious. My wife came up with Jade. John.Artha. DeRuyter. I thought that was pretty creative and loved it.

Previous boat was named "Hypnautic" because my wife was a hypnotist. She retired from that pursuit shortly after we sold the boat.

Our new boat is named "Here & Now", because that's where we are. Her trailer is "Now & Then"; her future dinghy is likely to be named "Here & There".

Three boats ago was the Captain's Choice, but the name has stuck even though the last two were the admiral's choice.

I snapped this picture a couple of weeks ago at the yard, I figure this guy maybe named it after his ex, but I may be mistaken.

There is a Hell, MI (there's an old saying that anyone who visits can truthfully say they've been to Hell and back), so Hell may be his hailing port.


--Peggie

Ours had a pretty storied career but for five years of its life it was the support boat for the Watchmen in the new park in the Queen Charlottes/Haida Gwaii called Gwaii Haanas. It noodled back and forth in the Hecate Straits from Queen Charlotte City to the southernmost reaches of the park doing crew changes and bringing supplies and fuel to the Watchmen. It regularly crossed the Straits to the shipyards in Prince Rupert. All the scars on the hull materialized during this time. Prior to this life she had spent 18 years in the reservoir in Revelstoke doing much of the same, also cleaning the reservoir, towing logs and forest fire fighting and support. Then she was called Kinbasket Forest and belonged to the BC Forest Service.

We had plans for a family name when we first acquired her but realized that her name was suitable. It means variously "Islands of wonder" or "place of splendour" depending upon whom you consult. We have our own nicknames...

My big love was named after the starship in the Douglas Adams' novels. To me it meant adventure and exploration. Here she is in Newport Harbor.

The little green boat is m/v Mako which I had built during my decade in the Middle East. That's been my nickname since I was a kid.

Knot Salted

To our knowledge, she has always been in fresh water.
PO named ‘South Park’, which the admiral found distasteful.

Also, I always order food “no extra salt”....

If and when we do get her down the Hudson, she might be called 7 Knot - Salted.

Why Bacchus?

Bacchus

Bacchus (Dionysus) was the god of wine and song.
He wandered about teaching people how to tend grape vines and to make wine.
His followers were mostly women who celebrated in a rite that gave us the modern term Bacchanalia, which included wild behavior and drunkenness.
These frenetic celebrations, which probably originated in spring nature festivals, became occasions for licentiousness and intoxication

According to tradition, Dionysus died each winter (stored on “the hard”?) and was reborn (re-commissioned) in the spring.
To his followers, this cyclical revival, accompanied by the seasonal renewal of the fruits of the earth, embodied the promise of the resurrection of the dead.
Dionysus was good and gentle to those who honored him, but he brought madness and destruction upon those who spurned him or the orgiastic rituals of his cult.

Being amateur home wine makers, cruising the Finger Lakes wine country of NY State and always enjoying celebration, especially those involving adult refreshments and fun…
We have named our three vessels “Bacchus”.

My boat is "Ana" because it's only three letters and much cheaper when I buy a decal.