How to Name Your Boat

It might seem trivial, but the name you give your boat is quite important for a number of reasons. Naming your boat personalizes it and also makes it easier to identify your boat, especially over the radio if you’re in a crisis. But you do need to think carefully about what to name your boat so that you select a name that is appropriate in all respects. Here are some helpful tips.

The History of Naming Boats

Boats have been christened (literally and figuratively) ever since human beings first created rafts and simple dugout canoes. Giving boats and ships names was especially important in the Age of Exploration, as sailors used the names of gods, goddesses, and saints to confer those deities’ favor on their boats as they sailed off into the wild blue yonder. Boating was quite dangerous in the days before modern technology, so you wanted every blessing you could get! Even renaming the boat could be contentious, and this was only done with great ceremony.

Consider Names With Personal Meaning

Think about naming your boat after a beloved relative or, if you’re religious, a favorite saint or entity. You could also consider names of places you’ve been or wish to go, combined with adjectives or other nouns to make them unique. Even interesting words from the dictionary could be combined to create a boat name. Maybe you’d like to call your boat after a favorite song or book character, too.

What to Avoid

When naming your boat, you should try to avoid giving it a name that is offensive or crude in nature; you don’t want to tell your grandmother at your family reunion about your new boat and its dirty name, after all. You should also make sure your name is neither so short it can be misheard or so long that it’s lost on the radio waves. Finally, avoid giving your boat a name that is a current joke or pop-culture reference, as this meaning will likely be lost to the sands of time. Select something more timeless instead.

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