If you have taken the Restricted Operator’s Certificate (Maritime) to legally operate a marine VHF radio in Canada, you have probably had to take the course and pass the test offered by the Canadian Power and Sail Squadrons…and that means you learned and practiced distress calls.

If you were in a real distress situation, a clever boat name could suddenly become a liability though. A mayday situation is no time to have to explain what your name means and how it’s spelled. The Coast Guard may not get the joke!

Before you name your boat, you might want to consider that a name has a real purpose and a lot of value in a mayday.

Still, people love their clever boat names and recently, the folks at BoatUS sent out a release asking “What’s in boat name?”

It’s hard to resist taking a guess at the meaning of a name painted across a boat’s transom – it can reveal much about the personality of a boat owner. But like the wave tops constantly in motion, the fluid nature of boat names is also often a sign of boater’s changing lives.

Have you started fishing? Reel Crazy may be for you. Recently divorced? Alimony says it all. Have kids in school? Tuition says it best. Dundrillin’ could be a Texas oilman or a retired dentist…but how do you spell this in a mayday?

BoatUS has a list of over 8,500 boat names given by boaters across the country over the last 20 years and this American boat owners group has announced its Annual List of Top Ten Boat Names. The top ten names are:

1. AquaHolic
2. Andiamo (Let’s go)
3. The Black Pearl
4. La Belle Vita (The Beautiful Life)
5. Mojo
6. Island Time
7. Second Wind
8. No Worries
9. Serenity
10. Blue Moon

Do you have a boat name story you would like to share? Email it to Andy Adams at Boating Industry Canada; aadams@kerrwil.com