How to Name a Boat
At last, you’re on a boat. Better yet, you own that boat. Naming a boat is oftentimes an extremely personal choice for most new boat owners. Here are some tips to help you choose a name for your boat.
Check the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s website. Their vessel documentation search will yield results on whether you have matches on your planned boat name.
Keep in mind that the boat’s name will be permanent, and be emblazoned on your boat via boat lettering.
Decide on the personality of your boat. Is it a lazy fishing boat? Or is it an exciting racing boat? It’s usually highly inappropriate to name a slow but steady fishing boat as “Speedy Gonzales” when it’s quite clear it isn’t.
Whatever you do, don’t rely on an online database of boat names. If you want your boat’s name to be personal and unique, accessing a database that thousands of other boat owners are looking at isn’t quite the best way to get a unique name.
However, you can always make an ordinary name more unique by changing something about it, usually because of some personality trait of a boat. For example, “Speedy Gonzales” may be a common boat name, but you can change it to “Sleepy Gonzales” because you always fall asleep while you’re on it.
Think about the little details about your boat, and if any of these characteristics would make a good boat name.
Think about the history of your boat. Did you get to experience something unusual while on it? Missed accidents? Rainbows? Unusual number of crocodile sightings? Your time spent on that both have surely yielded some memorable experiences, all which are ripe for the taking when it comes to naming your boat.
Look at the historical boats and boats you’ve admired. While it may not be a good idea to name your boat exactly after historical ones due to copycats that preceded you, you can base a unique name on them.