Personalizing a boat by giving it a name is a tradition as old as sailing itself. This tradition has
long been carried by Greek, Romans,Phoenicians and everywhere else. The people used to
name their vessels after Gods and powerful forces as a way of asking for long life at sea and
bringing good luck to their voyages.
Nowadays, the naming conventions have become more secular.
In this regard,The US Coast Guard has a few documentations and regulations for naming of
vessels and have banned certain names for the vessels due to offensive contents, legal
restrictions and safety concerns. They have banned certain words in naming boats and there
are specific regulations for naming it. According to them:
“The name may not be identical,actually or phonetically,to any word or words used to solicit
assistant at sea;may not contain or be phonetically identical to obscene, indecent or profane
language or to racial or ethnic epithets”
There are three major parts in it.
– The first part indicates that the boats should not be named after soliciting assistance at
sea. It means that the boat’s name should not be phonetically or actually identical to
standard distress signals or calls for help such as Mayday , SOS etc, as it can cause
confusion or lead to misinterpretation during times of actual emergency.
– The second part suggests that obscene ,indecent or profane language should be
avoided while naming a boat. It means that offensive or inappropriate words should be
avoided in order to help maintain a standard of respect and decency in public spheres in
spaces.
– The final part indicates that while naming a boat racial or ethnic epithets should also be
considered. It means that any name that contain or sound like racial or ethnic slur should
be avoided which might be discriminatory or offensive based on ethnicity and race.
– An additional rule that is less about content than form is that a boat name must not be
more than 33 characters.
Examples
– Bullship
– Shiphead
– Sinler
– Mayday
– Play buoys
– Man overboard
How to name a boat
Keeping in view what boat names are avoided and what are banned some things while naming
your boat that will help you to name your boat easily are
-the name should be 2 to 3 word max
– the name should be short enough to fit on the transam and easy to read
– and the names should also be easy to communicate over the VHF radio
Conclusion
So the Coast Guard has proper rules about what you can and can’t name a boat but some
things are specifically banned which are explained above. Anything that could be confusing in
an emergency situation is banned. Any name that is supposed to be offensive, that is supposed
to be the names of agencies, that resemble emergency calls or official services, that are
trademarked or copyrighted, that disgrace ethical or racial values and promote discrimination
and that promote illegal activities are banned so should not be used to avoid any kind of
inconvenience.
