What's Yours Called?

[JennyMorgan]

People from outside the area probably haven't got a clue as to what a Jenny Morgan is other than the name of an individual who subscribes to this forum. However a savvy Broads person would probably recognise  'Jenny Morgan' as the generic name for the wind-vane that flies gloriously from the top of a Norfolk Wherry's mast, both being peculiar to the Broads of Norfolk & Suffolk. It was this identity with the Broads that drew me to the name. Both myself and my boat are Broads based hence my adopting the name, firstly for my boat and secondly as a forum pen-name.

The origin of the name is somewhat vague though. Apparently it originated as a folk art figure during the 1700′s and was popularly adopted as a mascot by numerous Norfolk wherryman. It is thought  by many that Jenny Morgan was a locally popular music hall star originating from Wales. It has also been suggested that she was a popular 'lady of the night' although in neither case is there any definitive proof of either occupation, either vertical or horizontal. Whatever, her fame lives on as a wind vane, symbolically keeping an eye on the rivers and Broads of Broadland.

What is yours called?

 

[MauriceMynah]

The second cabin cruiser I ever oiwned, I bought as a fibreglass Hull with its superstructure and cabin soles. so it was brand new and thus un-named. Wondering what to call it, a friend of mine who had a narrow boat said "Choose a short name and one with all the letters made of straight lines. It makes the signwriting easier and cheaper."

This rather ruled out Poseidon and Neptune plus of course I wanted the name to be female! I stayed on the Greek/Roman mythology line and found Nyx.

Nyx was born of Chaos (Fitting) and personified a void (Even more fitting given the empty shell I'd bought) There was no way I was likely to find a shorter name and all the letters were straight, so bingo!

When I've bought boats, I have always been reluctant to change the name, superstition and all that. My first boat was a marine ply 16 footer called Kiwi, my third was an aging Sea Master called St. Christopher. I liked neither name but didn't change them. Then I bought Grey Goose IV.

I didn't mind the "Grey Goose" so much, but the "IV" was not for me. I still liked the name "Nyx" so "Nyx" it became.

Just as a little 'PS' to this some years ago I bought a Dinghy. It had no name so I called it "Nyx II" The BA got the wrong idea of it's name and tolled it as "Nyxii" I didn't rate the dinghy very highly, very unstable in my opinion, so when I saw a better one for sale, I bought it. That also had no name so I tolled that one as "Nyxii II" !

[JennyMorgan]

Thanks, Maurice, for joining in. 

I smile at the thought of Nyx being a void, having been aboard & wondering where on earth to sit or where to put my coffer cup down. Very much a homely, man's boat, a welcome refuge of sanity.

[Vaughan]

Very good idea for a thread Peter.

In the historical Broads section there is a thread called Vaughan's posts of memories (page 3) where I have described how the gunboat Morning Flight got her name, with a couple of photos.

[Guest]

Ours are rather boring, I suppose. I'm not superstitious about it, but think that it is rather nice for a boat to keep her original name. Provided it's a decent one, of course - if I acquired "Things That Go Bump In The Night III" I wouldn't have much hesitation in changing it.

Our half decker is Marianne (1937 Ernest Woods). She had a different name when we bought her but we changed it back to the original immediately. I have a photo of her from the 1960s which I'll attach.

Our latest acquisition is an early 1950's Martham Janet class, currently taking up all our spare time, not to mention our cash. She will simply be Janet - we'll drop the "6". Happens to be my sister's name, which is a happy coincidence!

[BroadAmbition]

Back in our restoration era, we knew we just had to give R641 a name we liked. 

Being out of the wet crinkly stuff doing the actual name change ceremony was going to be straight forward.  What was not so straight forward was picking a name we all liked / agreed upon or so we thought.  Her original name was of course 'Star Supreme I' and we wanted that name to be reflected due to her history so that was already sorted.  Her other names were 'Superb Heart' - Hearts cruisers.and 'Superb Gem' - Richardsons and lastly 'Ivy Lady' which was the name she currently displayed when we bought her. None of us had owt in common with Ivy (or Ladies come to that) and we didn't much like the name anyway.

So one evening in our 'Boat Shed' during a break when having a cup of tea we discussed the situation.  It was decided that we would all come back in a week or so with a suitable name for R641 and we would put it to a vote.  The following proposals were put on the table:-

 

Cindy-Kate           - Dolly's choice - We were a syndicate of lads

Fellowship            - My late Dads choice - a group of fellows with a 'Ship'

Magic Shadow      - Degger's choice - this one had everyone's initials in the name plus added vowels

Norfolk and Good / Norfolk and Chance       - Howard's choice

Over-draft             -  My choice, the cost and her draft

Broad Ambition      - Steve's choice - Broad as in Norfolk Broad and Ambition as it was a long ambition to have our own boat

 

We looked at the potential names and all of us agreed there would be no call for a vote, we were unanimous that 'Broad Ambition' fitted her just perfectly.  Oh and there is NO chuffin 'S' after 'Broad' either !!

Griff

 

 

[ZimbiIV]

Zimbi  IV

When Jill was a little girl she had a border terrier Zimbi (1)

When I meet her another border terrier                Zimbi (2)

When our granddaughter was born I bought

her a soft dog toy                                                 Zimbi(3)

When we got our 2nd boat, Fenland Voyager,

it was too much of a mouthful so the name

was changed, the above 3 were expensive,

so naturally it became                                         Zimbi IV

Although everybody calls it                                 Zimba

paul

ps the step-daughter made us a knitted border terrier, the ships mascot, Zimbi V, along with admiral drake ( a soft toy duck )

from our last boat Capt Matt.

                                          

 

[BroadAmbition]

Well there's a 'thing' everytime I looked at your avatar name thingy, I always thought it read ''Zimbil 5'     oops   glad you cleared that one up for me

Griff

[BroadScot]

6 minutes ago, BroadAmbition said:

Well there's a 'thing' everytime I looked at your avatar name thingy, I always thought it read ''Zimbal 5'     oops   glad you cleared that one up for me

Griff

Perhaps its time for the old navy seadog, to go to SPECSAVERS! 

Iain

[BroadAmbition]

  to you too!  Only last week had an eye test, one up from bottom line with no specs worn - so there 

And what's this ere 'Old' malarky then?  I much prefer 'Ex salty seadog' or the more commonly used 'Yorkshire Gigolo' 

Griff

[BroadScot]

1 minute ago, BroadAmbition said:

  to you too!  Only last week had an eye test, one up from bottom line with no specs worn - so there 

Griff

You should still have asked for a second opinion ! 

[ZimbiIV]

Griff that's because it is not allowed to have a space in your avatar name.

paul

[BroadAmbition]

that's because it is not allowed to have a space in your avatar name.

Well it should be allowed, I'm going to write a strongly worded letter to my MP that's what I'll do, or in the meantime a post on here to the Captain / Mods!

Griff

[BroadScot]

6 minutes ago, BroadAmbition said:

that's because it is not allowed to have a space in your avatar name.

Well it should be allowed, I'm going to write a strongly worded letter to my MP that's what I'll do, or in the meantime a post on here to the Captain / Mods!

Griff

Sorry Griff, strictly Admin this one!!! Well in truth I think our web supplier.

[BroadAmbition]

Oh and BTW in case any of you were wondering that photo of 'B.A' that I posted earlier on this thread - it was taken on a typical sunny day on the river Ant

Griff

[riyadhcrew]

Was that after Richo's new hires had passed Griff?? 

[BroadAmbition]

Was that after Richo's new hires had passed Griff?? 

Of course, here's a short clip of 'B.A' trying to catch one of them up just before How Hill

Griff

 

[JanetAnne]

Thats funny, I posted to this thread just after Peter started it! Me and computers eh?

Anyway, it seems to have been a long tradition for all boats in our family to carry a name from wives, daughters, nieces etc. the names always go with the boat so are never reused.

I am Janet Anne after my owners mother in law. Can you imagine just how many brownie points that earnt him

 

[BroadScot]

22 minutes ago, JanetAnne said:

Thats funny, I posted to this thread just after Peter started it! Me and computers eh?

Anyway, it seems to have been a long tradition for all boats in our family to carry a name from wives, daughters, nieces etc. the names always go with the boat so are never reused.

I am Janet Anne after my owners mother in law. Can you imagine just how many brownie points that earnt him

 

Glad none have been named Mary Celeste, you would have been crewless !

[JanetAnne]

39 minutes ago, BroadScot said:

Glad none have been named Mary Celeste, you would have been crewless !

I think clueless is closer this end Iain.

[Jim]

When we bought our Falcon in 2004 she was called "The Topaz" and we have stuck with that although everone knows her just as "Topaz"

Her original name "Beaute" was revealed when we were compounding the hull and this was confirmed to me by the builder in 2006.  From Beaute, her name was changed to "Map of Taz" which seems to have transformed to her current name.

Map of Taz, we wonder where that came from??

[teadaemon]

When I bought my boat, she was 'Bonny Anne', a name with absolutely no relevance or meaning to me, so it was definitely going to be changed.

After consultation with the other half, my first two thoughts ('Millennium Falcon' and 'Thunderchild' - both reflecting one of my other passions, science fiction) were dismissed. I thus fell back on one of my favourite bands, The Levellers, and named her 'Liberty Song' after one of my favourite tracks by them.

I've no idea what the new owners plan on calling her, although when I last saw her in Jon's yard at Wayford Bridge they'd removed the old name, so they obviously have their own ideas.

[BroadScot]

If we were lucky enough to win the Lottery and join the Brundall GP Navy, our boat name would be easy peasy....

"RuthIain". Now where are those lucky numbers???

Iain

[Polly]

'Brilliant' was the original name of our saily in 1929, she was renamed 'Gannet' at some point, (???) then returned to her original name maybe 30 years ago. Doug remembers her affectionately as 'The Old Brill' from the 70s so, yes 'Brilliant' why would anyone want to change a perfect name like that?

[ExSurveyor]

My first boat was named after my first granddaughter ,,  Ellie P,  short for what i always call her,  Ellie pickle. 

By the time Ellie P went and we had a grandson the next boat,  a wilds calypso, became Ellieknight .. 

I acquired the Topliner without any further grandchildren so we chose Whitey after a very dear friend who had just passed away.  He was a Royal Navy officer and a true gentleman .. Whitey's signage includes his rank. 

The Broom Scorpio recently joined the fleet and is named after my latest granddaughter ,,  Little Annie.  

I have told my sons,  no more grandchildren please,  I am not allowed any more boats.