#4: The Name Game
It took us 4-ev-errrrrr to pick out a name for our yet-to-be-born catamaran. I’m talking years. My friend joked that we should build her first and then see what she looks like—who she wants to be, if you will. I’m going to let my friend do that with her own boat; I’m too impatient. At least this way, while we’re waiting for our boat parts to be shipped, we already have the name covered. One big checkmark on the To-Do list!
It was fun to kick around possible names with Nick and the boys. I thought of the name Luna Sea for our boat, which Nick surprisingly really liked, but after more serious reflection, I realized I didn’t want to be sailing in lunacy the whole time. At first it’s funny, but after awhile, I’d like to think the lunacy would wear off a bit. Also, I’d probably get tired of pausing after “Luna” and/or spelling it out every time I told someone the name. Some other contenders were: Alina or Olina (“joyous” in Hawaiian), Athena (Greek goddess of wisdom and war strategy), Alexandra (Nick and I like names with “x” and “z”—you’re not the only one, Elon), Azura (“sky blue” in Spanish), Jeu de Vie (“game of life” in French), Cadence (to represent the rhythmic ocean waves), and Infinity. As soon as we thought of the name Felicity, we clung to it because it represents the happiness we want to live in, and—bonus—it’s pretty easy to spell. The jury is still out on whether it will be understood over radio waves.
After we finally chose Felicity as our cat’s name back in July, then we had to come up with a domain name for our blog to keep people up to date on our progress. That was a much faster process, probably because I was thinking about it with more immediacy so I could start this chronicling before the parts get shipped. One night I threw out “Reaching Felicity” as an option, and Nick and I realized the double meaning and knew that was where we should drop anchor. Felicity means “a state of great happiness,” so that seems like a great goal to strive for, hopefully reaching it as often as possible. Plus, it’s kind of cool to say, “We’re living in Felicity.” And then there’s the nautical meaning: Reaching a boat is basically sailing when the wind is coming from the side. The boat can go faster when reaching than when the wind comes from behind (called running). So, I imagine we’ll actually be reaching Felicity from time to time!
And there you have it. Our sailing vessel (S/V Felicity) is ready to be born.
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” —Shakespeare