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Spotted last weekend while sailing with a friend in San Diego:
"Crew Zen"
"License to Chill"
"Last Mango in Paris"

Whenever naming a vessel, the potential name should be subjected to the following test:

"Mayday, Mayday, Mayday this is sailing vessel <<insert name here>>"

and if the name is goofy you will hear laughing in the background during the following reply:

"Vessel in distress this is USCG xxx operations, say name of vessel again?"

When I bought my Marlin it was named "Ribbit". Seriously. That was one of the first things I changed. A previous boat my parents had (a Capri 22) had been named "Latest Fiasco" before we bought it.

Twenty or so years ago I came across a power boat on the hard near Annapolis, MD with the worse name I had ever seen. The vessel's name was "What it is" and the hail port was "Where its at".

I have my own standards and requirements for choosing a boat name. I have yet to find anyone who recognized my choice or its significance. But it suits me.

I would never choose some of the blatantly silly or goofy names some use. But I must admit to getting a chuckle out of some of them.

I always love (not) the "clever" ones that use a play on words, particularly with a nautical theme.

Like Knotty L'atitude (seen on some nasty Chris-Craft monstrosity). How supremely inane.

Any fishing boat that incorporates "Reel" into its name. Yeah, we get it. "Reel" clever of you. Groan.

Any boat that incorporates any monetary reference into its name--how intensely classless. Examples that I have seen:
MT Pockets
Deficit Spending
DJIA (that's Dow Jones Industrial Average)
And a personal favorite: Colin's Tuition

I won't even get into the off-color ones I have seen around here, but there are some bad ones.

Boat names are personal, but show some class, at least.

Yes, I'd rather that the "clever" pun names were all saved for hair-cutting places. There seems to be a rule that they have to use them.

I think the one that's really stuck with me as being awful is one I heard on the radio near Sidney, BC:

"Radio check please? - this is "Dirty Bottom, Dirty Bottom, Dirty Bottom."

Ewwww

I get a chuckle out of the grammatical mistake ones. I saw a boat called "Wood Pecker" in slip other day. Surely he meant that to be one word (i.e. the bird)? One hopes, anyway.

And a boat next to a friend's said "All The Way To Duluth" on the transom. I always wondered about it and one time asked the owner. Turns out it was supposed to be "All The Way Too" with a home port of Duluth (equally obnoxious but a completely different meaning).

Maybe I should name my next boat "Grammar Lady" :snort:

Rachel

Where I come from (Holland) working boats were named after ladies, most often the better half/offspring of the skipper/owner. Naming my boats after my lovely bride avoids a lot of problems on many levels. (Including avoiding tacky names, and her giving it the respect that an objet named after her is worthy of..... )

I heard the Port Angeles Coast Guard calling "Lost in the Fog, Lost in the Fog, Lost in the Fog" one time. I'm not sure if that was the boat's name, or if it was just an identifier assigned by the Coast Guard. Sounded pretty funny though :-)

There was a boat on the same dock as me last summer named "Unsinkable II". Makes me wonder what happened to Unsinkable I?

John

I saw a big powerboat last year - "My 401-K"
Bet he needs less dock space this year - it probably shrunk.

Actually some of the dubious names given to Maine lobster boats can be quite cleaver. "Bad Penny" comes to mind.

Something reassuring about a work boat that always brings you home. http://www.answers.com/topic/a-bad-penn ... s-turns-up

My personal favorite "Never Again ll"