What’s in a Name? – Naming Your Boat: Part 1

If you were to get a boat, what would you call it – and why? Naming a boat is a very personal thing, and it can be quite revealing. In celebration of being back on our Dutch barge, Karanja, for the next five months, here’s what other Piper Dutch barge owners told me last summer.

Dea Latis (49 feet) – Alan and Marianne

How did you name your boat? Alan: We looked at a database of names. Marianne Googled Dea Latis – it’s Celtic, and means “goddess of the river and of beer”.

What’s been the best thing about your boat? Marianne: I love being able to go where I like on it it. My favourite part of the boat is the saloon – I like its spaciousness, and I enjoyed choosing the colours and putting it all together.

Alan and Marianne’s Dea Latis, meaning “queen of the river and of beer”

Alphi (49 feet) – Alison and Phil

How did you name your boat? It’s obvious, really! We’d looked at another couple of ideas before Phil came up with joining together the first syllables of our name. Apart from identifying ourselves with the boat, it’s a name that’s easily heard and understood.

What’s been the best thing so far? Alison: The adventure of the build! Phil: We love the 49M’s wheelhouse access from the rear deck.

Elysium (65 feet) – Leonard and Diane Grieves

How did you name your boat? Elysium means a place or condition of ideal happiness, and that’s what we hoped it would bring us.

What do you like most about it? Leonard: You can steer from either of the two wheels, and that was especially great this summer in France. When the weather was nice, we hardly spent any time inside. And ordering a wheelhouse that was a metre longer has made a big difference; the dogs don’t have to go into the rest of the boat. Diane: I think its shape and colour give it the wow factor – we went for a colour that’s as close as possible to British racing green.

Leonard and his 65-foot Piper Dutch barge, Elysium

Jacqueline H – Catherine and Michael Head

How did you name your boat? After our daughter – she’s a Halloween baby, hence the two little witches painted on the prow.

What’s the best thing about having a boat? Catherine: We’re looking forward to the adventure of going to Europe soon – France, Belgium or wherever we decide. Michael: I’m only expecting to make slow progress, because our dog, George, drags me into every pub. (Catherine: Michael trained him well as a pup.)

Michael and Catherine Head on Jacqueline H – named after their daughter

Merlot – Ellaine and Mike

How did you name your boat? Mike: Ever since I saw a boat called Cabernet, I wanted to call my own boat Merlot.

What’s been the best thing about it so far? The space, the roominess, and being able to go where we wish.

Ellaine and Mike on their 49-foot Piper Dutch barge, Merlot

Happy Chance – Jeremy and Claire Jensen

How did you name your boat? Jeremy: It was the name of a yacht I saw in Cyprus, owned by a multi-millionaire, silver Olympic medallist in yachting. This is our third boat of the same name. Claire: I think the name seems to fit this boat better than it did our previous two river-boats – she’s jolly and she’s red.

What’s been the best thing about it so far? Jeremy: I love the 360-degree view from the wheelhouse. Claire: I love being able to have a house on the river at a small fraction of the price of a house on the river. And you can choose a different part of the river to be on, depending on what sort of weekend you want: a calm one with the sheep and lambs at Medmenham; or a more busy one, at say Henley. We live in West London; and this provides a real contrast. We had been looking at a house on the river for 1.5million – but it needed work doing to it, and it was on a flood plain. And when you’re on a boat, you meet people, they come by to visit. It’s a very social thing.

Why did you choose Piper Boats? Claire: I like buying British – buying a boat made here and supporting British industry; our other two were Dutch and made in Holland. And Piper is such a lovely team.

Claire and Jeremy’s Happy Chance is their third boat by that name

La Bamba – Trevor and Terry

How did you name your boat? We love dancing, and La Bamba is the song everyone always get up to dance to. Whenever people see the name – for example when we’re coming into a lock – they tend to start singing the song.

Roy and I spotted La Bamba out on the Thames with the Piper guys, just before the handover to Trevor and Terry

Our own Karanja, of course, is named after the B. I. (British India Steam Navigation Co.) ship that Roy spent longest on during his years at sea – and she was named for an island near Bombay.

Watch out for Part 2!