How We Named Our Boat

We just named our boat. It was not an easy process, but naming things is not our strong suit. Maybe some of you are great at this, but this is not an easy task for us. Our first pet was a cat who we named Miss Kitty. See what I mean? We certainly weren’t as creative as a co-worker who re-named everyone he met. He gave people names that he felt they looked like. He was so good at this that his names often became nicknames. We could have used his help.

We named our first son after his father – he is a IV. This was important – vital – to his father and I had no problem going with it. (Note: I also had no pre-nuptial agreement rejecting it . . . !) We call him by his nickname and he has embraced his legacy. It works. Our second son’s name came quickly to us and his name also comes from much-loved family members. The third son? Well, we had some problems deciding on his name. Seems ironic since he was the only one who we knew was a boy. But those were busy times. . . .

The nurse finally told us we couldn’t take him home until we named him. My husband wanted to name him Stone, Duke or Rock. I just couldn’t live with those names but my sons now wish they had those names. Go figure.

Years ago we had a tough time naming our puppy, too. We talked about it for weeks and couldn’t agree on a name. Finally the night before we were to pick her up, we were flying into Reagan International Airport and it just kinda happened. Reagan was it. It fit her perfectly.

Names are tough and the boat name was no different. We talked about some generic names. There was Island Dreams and Seas The Day and of course the more questionable The Other Woman or Reel Booty. Not us. We wanted to use our last name – Farr – in the name. We had to –all- like the boat’s name and it was important that it was a name that could be called over the VHF radio without embarrassment. That pre-requisite eliminated Farr Play which I thought was adorable. Apparently “adorable” was not what we were looking for. (Think husband + 3 sons).

Next came Farr Wars. I loved this and thought it could be cute with fishing rods replacing the light sabers between the words. This also got voted down. Cute was also not a goal and evidently being a hardcore Star Wars fan is a prerequisite for this name. So, not us.

We threw out Farr Away. Then we got rid of Farr Out. We talked about Farr From Reality. Briefly. All four of my guys belonged to the same fraternity during their FSU days so I tossed out Brothers Farr. Nope. I suggested Twinkle Twinkle Little Farr, somewhat in jest. It got nixed but if one of my sons doesn’t use this for a baby’s birth announcement in their future. . . . well, they SHOULD use it! Another adorable one, right? (Again, adorable is apparently not a desirable trait in a boat name).

Finally someone suggested Too Farr Gone. This turned into So Farr Gone and ultimately we agreed upon Farr Gone. Yup, our boat is the Farr Gone. This
✔️uses our name
✔️represents our physical (and possibly mental) state and
✔️isn’t embarrassing to say aloud.

This coming week we take full possession of our boat and we can’t wait! We have owned a boat the entire time we’ve been married and it’s a big part of our life in Florida. My husband said having a boat was necessary before we even bought a house. I believed him. I’m from South Dakota – what do I know about boats in Florida? I like boats and it seemed like a great plan.

We haven’t always named our boats, but when we were working we did own the Branch Office (so sorry if you ever called our office and got the message that we were unavailable as we were working in our Branch Office) and the last boat was unofficially named after me. They call it the Crazy Lady and it’s currently for sale. Hmm.

So we’re not great at names but it all seems to work out in the end. Once we get more settled into our retirement, we may get the Golden Retriever puppy that we keep talking about. We have already begun to talk about her name. My husband is suggesting Nancy. This one may take a while.

*Knowing that my husband and three sons are highly competitive, you may see an edit coming giving credit to each for their contributions to the naming of Farr Gone. Yes, seriously. Sigh.