Boat Names

Naming your new boat is one of the most important things that you can do for your new pride and joy. Whether it be for sentimental reasons or superstitious reasons, christening your boat with its own name gives your boat character and a sense of being.

There are many different types of name groups that you could choose your name from. I have listed ten name groups below but I am sure there are many more which I have left out.

You could Google for boat name ideas and use one that you find but how original would that be? The best way to find a boat name is to use one or create one that has your own personal meaning.

Because do you really want a boat name like "Serendipity" like the other thousands of boats around the world with the same name? (Sorry if this is your boat name but I am trying make sure others choose a unique name and not copy your boats name)

I did a Google search of popular boat names, to get some boat name ideas and came up with this list:

This should be your list of names not to use.

1.Second Wind

2.Serenity

3.Wind Dancer

4.Orion

5.Windsong

6.Whisper

7.Escape

8.Carpe Diem

9.Summer Wind

10.Serendipity

The following list shows the 10 boat name groups with examples.

In all there is about 50 examples of boat names with another 100 boat name ideas in the boat name generator (see the table under nautical themes). So there is 150 boat name examples to get your mind thinking of ideas.

1. Sayings

Tiperty Boo

Dambit

Magic

Gotcha

Farkin Eck

2. Names with meaning

Mischievous One - This boat had quite a few problems with it when it was new.

Mischievous Too - This was the previous boats tender (i.e small launch).

Battered Bull - Owned by a stock market genius, Bull referring to bullish stock market.

Wild Turkey - Referring to both the owners nature and love of bourbon.

Income - Owned by an accountant.

Tax - This was the previous boats tender (i.e. small launch), and when sitting on the back of the main boat it read "Income Tax"

3. Fishing Boat Names

Unreel

Reel Time

Reel Fun

Wild Turkey

Hooked

4. Personal Names

Lady Jane

Belinda May

Princess

Miss Jane

Beau Jean

5. Ski, Jet Ski or Speed Boat Names

Wild Thing

Rippa

Ripper

Xena

Hot Stuff

6. Nautical Theme Names

Sea Spray

Tradewind

Sea Wasp

Ocean Spirit

Sea Jay

100 Boat Name Examples with the boat name generator

The table below gives 100 different name combinations for nautical themed names. Granted some don't sound too great when used but the majority of them work.

What you do is take first part of the name from Column 1 and the second part of the name from Column 2. For example Sea Dancer, Sea Spirit, Sea Runner etc, or another example would be Moon Breeze, Moon Mist, Moon Spray etc. By using this table there are 100 unique combinations.

7. Navy or Naval Boat Names

HMAS Anzac

HMAS Bundaberg

HMAS Sydney

HMS Manchester

USS Essex

Follow this link to see the Australian Navy Fleet

Follow this link to see the US Navy Fleet

Follow this link to see the UK Navy Fleet

9. Ocean Liner Names

Oasis of the Seas - The worlds largest ocean liner

QEII (Queen Elizabeth II)

Fairstar

Pacific Jewel

Disney Magic

Disney Wonder

Want a cruise holiday from Australia, follow this link to P & O Cruise Ships.

Want a cruise holiday from the USA, follow this link to Disney Cruise Lines.

10. Greek or Roman Mythology Names

Titanic

Hercules

Nimrod

Nemo

Medusa

Famous Boat Names in the Movies

Here are a few famous boat names that are from the movies or TV. They're just here for fun, please don't name your boat with one of these for obvious reasons, i.e. they all usually ended up in disaster. Some of these boats are famous, real life boats that have had movies made about them and some are just fictional boats in the story.

Titanic

Poseidon

SS Minnow - From Gilligan's Island

African Queen

Our Mutual Friend - Desmond's boat in Lost

Okay, so I have my boat name, now what?

When it comes to naming your baby (naming your boat) the best decals are from self adhesive vinyl. You can get these made up from your local sign writer who has a NC Vinyl Cutter (a computer aided vinyl cutter). You can choose from a large selection of fonts that they have to offer. Pick a font that is clear to read or that takes your fancy. You will be in the sign writer’s waiting room for ages flicking through their fonts booklet (which comes with their software) if you don’t have a font in mind.

Once you have your letters cut out you will want to stick them straight to your yacht or vessel. Get help from the sign writer with how to best apply your letters but from what I have learnt just follow these simple steps:

1. Clean the surface with an alcohol based spirit like methylated spirit (denatured alcohol in the USA) but be careful with mineral turpentine as it may be too harsh for your boat surface.
2. Apply some soapy water to where you want the lettering to go. This will assist in moving the stickers about slightly to get their position correct.
3. Peel the paper off the sticky surface of the decal and carefully place the lettering where you want it.
4. Pat down the back of the sticker and slowly and carefully peel the backing paper off the stickers. Try to push out the large air/water bubbles under the sticker but don’t be too concerned if you can’t get them all out as the sun will dry the sticker and “pull” out the bubbles.

Spooky Stuff, Boat Name Superstition ...

Here are a few rules about boat naming that I have heard over the years. Call them superstition or tradition but there seems to be some unwritten rules about naming a vessel:

1. Boat names, when using human names are always female, i.e. a boat is always regarded as a female.
2. Never rename a boat with a new name, especially if you didn't own the boat first.
3. Never name your replacement boat with exactly the same name as the previous. i.e that's why you will have boats called "Lady Jane II".
4. Christening a boat by smashing wine or champagne over the bow, by a female dignitary, will bring the vessel good luck throughout it's lifetime.

I am sure there are plenty more superstitious quirks about naming a boat, if you know of any drop me an email and I'll add them here. Thanks.

If you are still having trouble with naming your boat then you could always try something random. If you used a name like "Drug Money" above to get attention from passing boaters, then they might be left pondering why you used such a name?

Final word...

Whatever boat name you choose, I think selecting a boat name with meaning to yourself and/or your boat is the best name group to select from. That way it will be original and have special meaning to you only.