Why do boats have names?

[Porthandbuoy]

I took my 10 year old granddaughter sailing for a few days and she posed the above question: Why do boats have names?
For the life of me I couldn't come up with a definitive answer. As far as I'm aware boats, yachts, ships, call them what you will, right back into antiquity, have always been named.

Okay, some trains are, or were named; same with planes. We don't paint names over the wheel arches of our cars.

But with boats it seems to be the universal custom. Why?

 

[macd]

If you google "Why do boats have names?", you get 'about 3,730,000' results, which means there are probably only a million or so different answers.

Give your granddaughter a couple of years and she'll be answering your questions via her smartphone, if you can get her nose out of it at all. Enjoy these sort of interactions with her while you can

 

[elton]

To identify them.

Easier to remember.

Easier to associate with the shape/type of boat.

Numbering requires a central register, and no duplicates; otherwise they'd all be number 1.

 

[[70521]]

Give your granddaughter a couple of years and she'll be answering your questions via her smartphone, if you can get her nose out of it at all. Enjoy these sort of interactions with her while you can

They teach Google at nursery these days!

 

[bigwow]

Don't we give all our children a name? My family think Bigwow is the favoured child:encouragement:

 

[dunedin]

To identify them

.... and whilst relatively few in number, nobody thought to bother with formal registration numbering schemes for ships.

Don't have names for (most) cars as they do have formal registration plates - ditto many racing dinghies which simply use their class, nationality & sail numbers (for a while it was un-cool to name a racing dinghy - only done by old boats and old bods at the back of the fleet)

 

[sniffyjenkins]

So they know to come when called.

 

[elton]

.... and whilst relatively few in number, nobody thought to bother with formal registration numbering schemes for ships.

Don't have names for (most) cars as they do have formal registration plates - ditto many racing dinghies which simply use their class, nationality & sail numbers (for a while it was un-cool to name a racing dinghy - only done by old boats and old bods at the back of the fleet)

Boats have been around for an awful lot longer than cars, and for most of the duration it would have been impossible to create or maintain a central registry.

 

[Capt. Clueless]

Kids always come out with it..................years ago, I took my son to the train museum at York where "Thomas the tank engine" was on display. When we got there, I said, "look there's Thomas" his reply was "Thats not Thomas, thats just a train with a plastic face on". What do you say to that?
Kids will always enquire into what we take for granted.

 

[obmij]

.... and whilst relatively few in number, nobody thought to bother with formal registration numbering schemes for ships.

Every merchant ship has an IMO number unique to its hull

Obviously this is a modern convention.

Personally, I think the answer to the OP is apparent when offshore in less than ideal conditions. Just like there are no atheists in foxholes - there are few who do not anthropomorphise the wood / steel / fibreglass and rope keeping them alive in an environment which would kill them in under a minute if not sound..

 

[Orion Jim]

So they know to come when called.

Best response yet.
I'd have said....so they all don't come when called

 

[Sybarite]

I took my 10 year old granddaughter sailing for a few days and she posed the above question: Why do boats have names?
For the life of me I couldn't come up with a definitive answer. As far as I'm aware boats, yachts, ships, call them what you will, right back into antiquity, have always been named.

Okay, some trains are, or were named; same with planes. We don't paint names over the wheel arches of our cars.

But with boats it seems to be the universal custom. Why?

From the Blog "Condesa (Salar 40) :

About My Boat
Clark February 23rd, 2007

"A cruising sailor’s relationship with his boat is perhaps the most intimate a person can have with an inanimate object. (As I write this sentence I whisper aside: I’m sorry, Baby, I have to refer to you as an inanimate object or they’ll think I’m a crackpot.)"

 

[Lon nan Gruagach]

http://www.allthingsboat.com/naming-a-boat/ has a fair bit to say.
Identification is probably the main reason, although when arriving at a busy harbour, trying to find a particular boat, everyone there will know all boats by name and captain. However boats captains might change...

 

[Bru]

Every merchant ship has an IMO number unique to its hull

Obviously this is a modern convention.

Actually, it's not that modern

Although the IMO scheme has only been in existence since 1987, it simply adopted as a starting point the existing Lloyd's Register numbering scheme that had been in use since 1963. And that was in itself a development of the Lloyd's regustration scheme that dated all the way back to 1764 although Official Numbers first appeared (for UK registered ships) in 1855. The USA followed suit in 1866 and by the end of the 19th century most if not all maritime authorities worldwide had adopted a scheme of Official Numbers that remained attached to the bottom from first registration until the ship was lost, scrapped or transferred to a different registry

Of course, that leaves an very long period of maritime history when ships didn't have a number

 

[Happy Dayz]

I think it is a human trait to give items an identity. Many people do give names to their vehicles, like 'Betty' or the very common 'you heap of old crap' . As it happens my Wife shortens that to 'Ohi' when referring to me.

My 1st Granddon floored us aged about 4 - i was hanging photo's in thr hall having recently moved in, he pulled a a line drawing ig the Church I was married in, the a photo of everone standing outside.

As kids di he asked their names, so i go through them, noting his intense attention i go onto say who was what relation ect.

By this time wife washing up, and i'n hilding him when Jake takes a moment of study, and then ask's very seriously faced "Grandad - " me "Yes Jake" --------" Why did Nanny make you so fat?"

I'm 9 stone dripping wet in the photo back then, nearer 17 stone now. It was all i could do to put him down safely, which i did by sliding down the wall, i'm sure i heard several plates not make such a safe landing as the Wife and I both roared with laughter for about 20 minutes, he is 19 now and we still giggle over it.

It was the fact Jake blammed his Nanny, kids take no prisoners in expressing their thoughts at that age.

Alan

 

[KellysEye]

Imagine calling the coastguard on CH16 in an emergency and saying my boat doesn't have a name.

 

[macd]

Imagine calling the coastguard on CH16 in an emergency and saying my boat doesn't have a name.

I did just that:
"Good morning Doesn't Have a Name. Go channel..."

On reflection, perhaps the most useful answer the OP might have given his grandaughter would have been another question: "Why do people have names?"

 

[RichardS]

But there are boat names ..... and there are boat names .....

Photo taken last week!

Richard

 

[Porthandbuoy]

After spending 0.69 searching the internet, and several minutes selecting the most plausible answer, I came across this:-

Seafaring is almost as old as civilization itself, and although the origins of the first ocean travel are unknown, boats and sailing became integral parts to travel and trade in ancient civilization. And with the unpredictable weather and raging strength of the open seas, these ancient mariners were strongly religious and superstitious people, trusting in a greater power to protect them while out at sea. Even today, sailors respect the untameable power of the ocean and keep the traditions alive.

The importance of a boat’s name has to do with the gods known to rule the sea. In Roman mythology, Neptune is the god of the sea, and in Greek mythology, it is Poseidon who rules the oceans, living in a palace at the bottom of its depths. As legend has it, Poseidon, or Neptune, has a ledger in which every boat’s name is written, and he watches over each one of them. This is where the unluckiness of changing your boat’s name originates. If you change your boats name, Poseidon and Neptune will not know it and therefore won’t protect it. Renaming your boat is a tricky activity that must be done carefully.

There then followed a long detailed explanation involving a virgin with a full bladder and a bucket of Tippex.

 

[JohnGC]

Imagine calling the coastguard on CH16 in an emergency and saying my boat doesn't have a name.

Don't have to imagine it.

Heard on 16 while approaching Howth marina this summer.

"Coastguard, coastguard, I have an engine problem".

The UK coastguard replied initially and then the Irish CG took over.

Irish coastguard asks for his name, location and nature of the problem.

"Just outside Howth Marina, engine stopped."

"What is your name?"

"Shane, my name is Shane."

Pause; I like to assume it was to stop laughing.

"What is you vessel name?"

"No name, no name".

While causing some amusement, it also demonstrated the swift response of 2 coastguard services to a voice only call for help from someone who didn't declare a Mayday or PanPan. Happily the coastguard was able to elicit the help of a yacht close by who towed the stricken vessel back to Howth.