Are you looking for the right name to give your new boat? Or are you racking your brains to find a new name for the used boat you just bought (assuming you are not superstitious)? We fully understand your state of empasse and the realization that it was easier to choose your son or daughter’s name. Then again, there are no books titled “The Best Names for Your Boat” to help you find the one that fits your hull like a glove. Among the most popular names are puns, I for one remember Strange But Not Dumb, Right Course, So Fun Tutte (obviously for a Fun), Drifting, Fat Traveler, S…bronze of Riace, Scaphoid, Totanic, Va Lentina. Also very funny are the names that remind us of the spending done: Thank You Dad, Thank You Mario, In the Face of the Bank, Cause of Divorce, Choloiot, Sucker Euro. You may be a lover of poetry and prefer a romantic name, or opt for a foreign language name rather than cherish the choice of words in Italian. Sometimes the names have cultural reminiscences: Andromeda, Stella Polare, L’Italia s’è desta. Or augurals: Wind in the sails, My dream, I wanted you, A bombazza, A Remengo . Very popular are the hopeful ones: Joy, Waterlive; A life in the Sun; Corazon Partido.
The issue is not simple, so we try to give you five tips to help you choose the right name:
1. Decide on a theme. Whether you prefer a witty or romantic name with a marine setting or a personal connotation.
2. Peek online by searching search engines for words such as “funny name sailboat” “play word name boat.” You may find some useful suggestions.
3. Write down on a piece of paper the names you like best and repeat them out loud several times: sometimes names that seem fine on paper don’t have the same effect once pronounced.
4. Set an end goal of arriving at a list of five names and try playing with the words by creating diminutives or associating the names with particular adjectives, which perhaps can create double meanings.
5. Look for a name that has special meaning to you so that you do not run the risk of having made the same choice as other shipowners but at the same time is not difficult to understand for VHF communications.
