What's in a name ?

[Galway Bay]

I have been meaning to do this for a while - what did you call your boat and why ??

Some names seem selfevident like parhaps "peace" but what is the whole story ? Many choose Poiynesian names but to me this is perhaps better suited to sailors who sail these seas or at least can realistically hope to do so.

My own boat is at this time nameless. So this could help me make up my mind. Having replaced 50% of the entire boat in a reconstruction I feel I am entitled to a new name as well !

In my younger days I was "Circus" and a beginner in circus is called a "First of May" because this is by tradition when the circus starts to tour. So when I became a beginner in sailing I used this name for my boat. You can imagine the mayhem on the VHF when my friends tried to call me - yeah yeah "Mayday Mayday where are you?" So that name is history.

I am an Irish speaker and am tempted by some lovely Irish language names eg. "Gabhlan Gaoithe" [ who goes with the wind ] which is the Irish name for the Swift [bird] who circles the globe without landing - even mating in flight.  

Another line of thought leads me into musical circles. My home [ Clare ] is renowned for it's traditional music and I am a small part of this. I made my living as a tradesman and "The Mason's Apron" is a tune that crossed the ocean to Newfoundland and returned and is a great favourite on both sides of the Atlantic.

But this is not just about me. So go on tell us - what did you call yours and why ???

[Rory McDougall]

OK folks...............I've been wondering .................what would the feline equivalent be for the "Mutts Nuts"???????

[paul anderson]

Moggibag ?

[Rory McDougall]

Perhaps the Moggis Marbles??

[Ann and Neville Clement]

Crazy Cat?  Scatty Cat? 

[Shaun]

How about BaggaPuss,......... too un-PC?

[Galway Bay]

The cat's pyjamas ??  [ something that is just too cool to be real ]

[andrew laurence devy]

in the 1990s in brisbane therew was a boat called woftam when asked what it meant the owners reply was 

waste of flipping time and money,this is the polite version.i leave for australia today will be nice to get home see all my family and friends in brisbane after 3 years in china /,will be buying or building so i cant wait.cheers for now.andy

[Emma Watkins and Graeme Kelly]

Our Tiki 38 was born (built) in Darwin on the Arafura sea.  There is a strong history, predating white man's "discovery" and colonisation of Australia, of contact between the Makassar, Sulawesi seafarers and Northern Australian Aboriginal people (in particular, Yolngu in north east Arnhem Land) - our boat's name Lipa Lipa is one of the words that crossed the Arafura sea from Makassarese language to Yolngu Matha, the language of north-east Arnhem.  When we named her, we still did not know that we would in the future live in Makassar, so it seemed the name (and our last five years here) was pre-destined.  Lipa Lipa means "dugout canoe" in both languages

[Herb Moore]

A friend painted on the name of the first boat and due to the font style it looked like Foofish Pleasure. That became the unofficial name. Next boat  which I would refer to as a Hobie cat on steroids, 36ft all tramp 1st generation racing cat, it was named Lokoino from a Polynesian dictionary loosely  meaning  bad ass. The 3rd boat was prenamed Pharmour and it was sold before I could change the name to piece of crap. The last boat name Far From Turlte came from a very beautiful Bob James song. I like the idea of having a theme song for the journey and will probably try to name the Tangaroa with a musical tilt. I've made a list and just this morning added Copper Moon.

[alex]

Perfect Blend... nothing to do with whiskey though, is just a life philosophy.

Little bit cruising blended with little bit working back home, not a luxury boat, but not that humble as well. low profile with great dreams...

I loved the former name though, Sea Feather, with 4 peacock feathers on the bow , but after a short research I realized that for some  cultures , peacock feathers bring bad luck. the fact is that the 2 previous owners  were dreaming about taking her to the tropics were she belongs but they could not realize their dream....I am not superstitious at all, but just in case I changed it. :-)