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I am in the process of writing an article regarding the origin of boat names. For example my boat is The Lusty Slogger. That name actually describes a Cricket player who lacks finesse and simply whacks the ball where it will go. As one cricketer was described, "He lustily slogs the ball like he is trying to change its shape" I thought that accurately described me as I lack finesse and just sail the boat where the wind takes me!

Anyway, I need boat names and a short explanation of whatever possessed you to name it that. I will cram as many of them into the article as Josh allows me room for.

Time is of the essence.

Thanks
Norman
The Lusty Slogger

I cannot give much behind the name of my GP, "spark" just came to me like inspiration, so that is her name.

The Montgomery I did rename to "tea". It is a classy sounding name, takes some inspiration from my very English Grandmother, and quite simply, One does not rush tea. Maybe if she had been a powerboat I could have named her espresso, but tea works well for the more relaxed form of movement in a small sailboat.

Thanks. I really like the explanation for "Spark".

"Papou" is the name of my Tanzer 16. It is also how my grand-children call me!

IMG_20190907_144755056_HDR by Michel Boulet, sur Flickr

We've had many.

Molly Brown - an AMF Sunfish. "Unsinkable". She was a survivor of the Titanic sinking.
Dixie Cup - a Glouster 11 (aka "Blue Crab 11") that was a nice little open boat. A little drink.
Dixie Cup II - a Compac 16 II. I'm pretty sure we showed up on charts. Zzzzzzz. But solid!
Bunyip - Nimble 20 & Nimble 24 (same name). An Australian mythical(?) large frog-like creature that likes backwaters and may save good people from drowning. But if you're not so good . . . This name got a LOT of folks to approach us. Turns out there have been early TV puppet shows as well as displaced Australians who spotted it. We took these all up and down the East coast.
Golux - Pearson 27. A character in James Thurber's "13 Clocks" that is an impish rascal.
Delirious - a Catalina 34 Mk II we ordered new. Our hobby farm is now "Delirious Acres" as we have sold that boat. It was nice. I ordered a pair of Vinyl name decals (Lime green with highlight borders in a large block Comic font) to be added from a firm near where we would berth her and told them to place them - "anywhere between the transom and the below deck port of the rear berth". They ended up FILLING an eight foot span with the name! First time we came down the hill into the marina I said "Holy Crap! She better be fast because everyone will know who we are." She did very well.
Catnap - Pearson 31. Well, you need a boat. Ours had been rode hard and put away wet but we brought her back. VERY nice sailing boat. She must have been a dream when factory fresh. But a lot of work for us. By this time THE ADMIRAL and I both appreciated a "gourmet sleep" period around 2:00PM at the marina.

In among those (we have a local reservoir that is a great small sailboat lake for a few hours of sailing):

Drambouie - 1964 Thistle 17 (one of the first fiberglass hulls from D&M) I bought in disrepair (FULL of pigeon crap) and replaced ALL the wood but the sails and rigging were stored indoors. Redid all the wood and found that was the original name from a small fleet on Cayuga Lake all named for liqueurs. What a sailboat! Learned a LOT with this one and never swamped her. She'd do 12 knots under spinnaker. But a young folk's boat in any weather and a handful for a crew of two.
Lucky Lizard - a '96 Sovereign era Mud Hen 17 we bought on the trust of images and telephone conversations off the lot at Marine Concepts in FLA and had it shipped North. When it arrived in NY I found a dried up anole (new world chameleon) in the bilge. I set it aside to show THE ADMIRAL (my wife) and when I did later that day it moved! We kept it for two years and eventually gave it to a pet store. VERY lucky lizard indeed.
Mad Hatter - Current boat - another Mud Hen 17 but an original Florida Bay '86. That's the name she came with and I really liked the prior owner who was in frail shape and just such a personable cuss I said we'd keep the name. This was before Johnny Depp did the role . . . for better or worse.

Interestingly, I built a 15 ft Balsam Swamp Bateau/sailboat we never named. Just called it "the bateau". Also owned a Flying Scot we never named. Just went by the sail number.

Thanks to everyone who has responded so far.

Charlie, I may not use all of your fleet of boats but I definitely want to include "Dixie Cup".

I named my first sailboat after my then girlfriend, Patty Ann. It was an eleven foot sailboat I had purchased from Speigals Catalog Sales for a massive $75.00 A short time later I went on active duty with the Navy. Within a month both my boat and my girl friend had been stolen from me! Ah well, so is life.

Story about naming one of my boats -

https://www.freewebs.com/m15-named-scre ... escred.htm

Our WWP 19's name is Darling. We call each other Dana and Dona Darling and it seemed like that should be her name. We wrestled with is it too cute? But, she makes us smile every time we think of her, sail her, or just say her name, so it must not be TOO cute.

We also have a WWP14 "fixer upper." We recently hit upon a name for her after MUCH discussion and rejection... it's short and sweet and related to Dona's PhD dissertation. I'll not mention it until we've officially & ceremoniously named her.