Coraline is the name of our boat.  It was chosen by Oogie our cat.  One of the things that no one tells you and that I think is the cause of so many bad boat names is that you have to know the name of the boat to do your Coast Guard registration beforehand.  Which this usually all takes place in the flurry of purchase time.  Problem is; how can you name a boat that you don't know.  So, people end up with names made from nautical puns, using their kid's name, reference to some advertisement campaign or duplicating a boat's name from a movie.  Meh.  

I think you'll find that the boat you purchase will anthropomorphize into a living creature with a personality all it's own.  It has a name, it just might not be the one you chose for it.  But, how could you know if you have to name her before she's yours? Well, you can't.  Like naming a child. for some reason we name them before we know them.    

Just like naming a child though,  I feel that when naming your boat you should take it just as serious.  Not to say don't use a pun in the name.  Just think about it before you do.   You don't want people to walk by reading boat names to make horse teeth after reading yours.  Like a tattoo, stare at a picture of it for a good long while before committing.  

Back to Oogie.  We didn't have a back story in our past that overwhelmingly called out to be a boat name.  So, I had made a list of about sixty names from comic book heroins, constellations, stars, and literary references.  Colleen then rated names on a 1 to 5 scale of what she liked.  I then re-rated them on which of the remaining I liked and passed it back.  We did this until we were down to three.  Second Star (as in Peter Pan), Pyxis (the mariner's compass constellation), and Coraline (not for the movie, just a sea themed girl's name we liked).  We were at mental stalemate.  Enter the fur ball.  I figured that we'd let Oogie pick.  We wrote each name down on a piece of paper.  Mixed them up, laid them individually face down on the counter.  While I held Oogie at one end of the counter, Colleen laid out treats on each piece of paper as he watched.   Then I let him go.  The first one he went to would be the name of the boat.  Hence, Coraline.

A couple things I tell you about naming your boat:

Do

1. Try to be slightly creative.  If you're not creative you can't go wrong with the name of a star or constellation.  It'll sound majestic.
2.  If you're going to use your kid's name, it's got to be more than one kid's name.  ie Jenna Christopher or Jonathan Carol.  If you just use one it doesn't work ie Bob.  If you have one kid use their middle name and reverse it.  If it doesn't sound good, try something else.
3. Check on the Coast Guard registry website.  You can punch in a boat name and see how many boats are registered with that name.  This will give you an idea of the uniqueness. 

Don't

1. Use a nautical pun.  ie KnotSea.  Say that outloud. See how bad that is.  Other boaters will make assumptions about what kind of person you are based on the name of your boat.   Most of the time a nautical pun name equals smuck.
2. Use more than 4 syllables.   This is more of a safety thing.  If you're calling a mayday in a panic, where seconds might count.  Trying to get out "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, In a van down by the river, we're taking on water", it may not end well for you.
3. Pick a name that is hard to pronounce, uses extra consonants, or use cyrillic letters.  Same thing as a long name,  if some one is trying to call you on the radio and cannot pronounce the name of your boat, you may miss a critical warning.  Basically, find an average 8 year old and see if they can read the name out loud without faltering and you'll be okay.   

Not to forget your port of call.  This is another arbitrary name to some degree.  You don't have to use your home town's name as your port of call if you don't want.  You can pick whatever sounds good to you.  I'm not sure if out of state port of calls attract more DNR officers to your boat but, that's not something I'd like to do a case study on.   I'd stick with somewhere local to your cruising grounds to play it safe.  

I'll have more on Coast Guard registration vs state registration and taxation in another article.

Mike

Life's a port