Naming a boat is as personal as naming a baby (even if few male skippers would risk telling the wife that). The culmination of many years of dreaming and penny pinching, the purchase of a boat of any size is a huge event for any sailor, and with that comes serious naming pressure. Many boatowners have a secret fear that someone else got their brilliantly original name first – or ruined it for ever by reducing its reputation to snigger-worthy opprobrium. Sometimes it’s so difficult to name a boat that skippers are desperate enough to ask the sorts of people who think Boaty McBoatface would be a good choice…

The perfect gift for any skipper or would-be skipper, and featuring hundreds of common and uncommon names, this entertaining little book will answer perhaps the most important question new owners should ask themselves: what will this name say about me? And as everyone knows, once you’ve named a boat, you never ever change it, so it also answers the question: what is my boat name saying about me?

Names will be categorised and listed alphabetically within these chapters:
- Pun Intended (some reveal a classic wit, others reveal just how many desperate unfunny dullards there are sailing around in yachts called Seas the Day)
- Common as Muck (bad names – Moondancer, Wave Catcher and others that sound like names from a bad children’s novel: where they come from, why they’re bad, and how to avoid inventing another)
- A Bit of Pedigree (good names – but probably too classy for you to get away with copying them)
- Don’t Even Go There (they might be uncommon these days, but sometimes there’s a good reason for that)
- Word Piracy (expressions borrowed from other languages - with varying degrees of wisdom)
- Myths, Legends and Gods (inspired by heroes and deities of cultures now lost to the past)
- The Devil’s Own (don’t tempt fate by calling your boat Invincible, as the Royal Navy did each time the last one sank/exploded – plus other superstition-violating names)

With fascinating history, a fair bit of psychology and a lot of humour, this is the essential guide for all would-be boat owners, and anyone buying a gift for Dad for Father’s Day or Christmas.