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Eldan
2015-08-17, 12:06 PM
I'm trying to name a ship. A bit of background first, on the general tone I want to convey.

Think of essentially spaceships, though space in this case is not really space and everything is magitech. Anyway. Ships, even old ones, are expensive, since the machinery necessary to build, fly and navigate them is monopolized.

The captain is a young heir of a merchant family, who invested most of his wealth in buying an old, but sound hull for a relatively low amount of money and then outfitting her with all the newest equipment. The idea is to go outside known territory, to try and find new trade routes. Lost humanoid "planets" (they aren't quite planets, but the comparison is enough here) are found every so often and there's always the chance that there's some amazing new or magical trade good there.

So. The general sense I want to convey is:
*Old, but reliable
*Somewhat romantic ideas of exploration and conquest
*Risky venture, this might bankrupt the entire family


I'd like to hit these points with a catchy name, but I can't think of anything. Ideas?

Keltest
2015-08-17, 12:23 PM
Old Crusty.

Vitruviansquid
2015-08-17, 12:24 PM
The Pioneer

The Reliable

The Prizefighter

The Expeditious

The First Resort (it's also the last resort)

The Grizzly

Gnoman
2015-08-17, 12:42 PM
Wayfarer's Dream

Memories of The Stars

The Explorer's Lament

Jenerix525
2015-08-17, 01:41 PM
I don't feel like it's easy to hit all of those. Risky and reliable are hard to sum up in a word or two.
But here are a few I like.

Argo
Endeavour
Venerable
Allure of the Stars

Magellan
Trinidad
Victoria

Anders

VoxRationis
2015-08-17, 01:59 PM
Dauntless
Intrepid
Enterprise
Vanguard of [insert obscure name of appropriate culture (e.g., Albion, not England)]

Red Fel
2015-08-17, 02:00 PM
"The Sadder But Wiser Girl." "The Girl" for short. Or just "Sadder but Wiser," if you like.

Pretty much covers everything. Age, experience, reliability, a combination of romance and bitterness, a certain degree of wry cynicism.

Also a great musical number. Because, you know, every ship needs to be associated with at least one musical number.

Eldan
2015-08-17, 02:08 PM
I like both Wayfarer and Vanguard... hm. Dauntless is also nice, though I have a feeling I've already seen that used somewhere. First Resort has a ring to it, but doesn't seem quite fitting for the ship. Perhaps I'll name a weapon or a boat that way. The opposite of Ultima Ratio.

TheTeaMustFlow
2015-08-17, 05:07 PM
Norfolk and Chance(Because there's Norfolk and Chance of anything going wrong... I'll get my coat)
Insert Famous Explorer here
Youthful Indiscretion
Sleeper Service
Vagabond
Windward
Song in Storm
Fate's Discourtesy (I do like me a bit of Kipling)
Adventure
Odysseus
Ancient Mariner
Dutchman
Wanderer
Gunboat Diplomacy
Speak Softly
...I Said, I've Got A Big Stick

Marlowe
2015-08-17, 05:18 PM
Especially silly ship names I've used have been:

Your Loss And Your Sorrow
Manifest Destiny Apocalypse
Pragmatic Sanction
Classical Liberal

VoxRationis
2015-08-17, 05:21 PM
I like both Wayfarer and Vanguard... hm. Dauntless is also nice, though I have a feeling I've already seen that used somewhere. First Resort has a ring to it, but doesn't seem quite fitting for the ship. Perhaps I'll name a weapon or a boat that way. The opposite of Ultima Ratio.

Dauntless is probably the name of a Royal Navy vessel* somewhere, which is incidentally a great source for ship names. US ships are all named after people and states, which tends to lack a certain punch (especially since enemies are less likely to know or care about those names). By contrast, Victory sounds great in any language.

*According to Wikipedia, there have been no fewer than five ships called HMS Dauntless, and two American ships of the same name.

Marlowe
2015-08-17, 05:29 PM
American battleships are named for states, cruisers for cities, Destroyers for people. Germans uses (mostly)the same scheme in WWI, though it got more mixed up in WWII. Interestingly, German ships back in the late 19th century when their navy was small used to use names from Mythlogy (mostly Norse, but there was a cruiser class with classical names), like the Scandinavian navies did; but as their fleet expanded they ran out of these names and resorted to geography.

WWII American Carriers tended to be named for old battles or US Navy ships that distinguished themselves in previous wars, resulting in oddly mismatched names like "Yorktown", "Hornet", and "Enterprize".

Generically appealing names are nice. But remember that at Trafalgar, all three fleets had a "Neptune". Also remember the power of irony. Naming a ship the "Invincible" is asking for it.

Spartakus
2015-08-17, 06:13 PM
Explorer
Curiosity
Voyager
North Star
Starlight
Far From Home
Onward
Etherwind


And of course my all time favourite:
Indestructible II :smallbiggrin:

Eldan
2015-08-17, 06:26 PM
Windward

Hmm. There is just something about Windward. It's simple, it's somewhat poetic, it has a good ring to it. I think I've found my name. Thank you.

VoxRationis
2015-08-17, 09:16 PM
Also remember the power of irony. Naming a ship the "Invincible" is asking for it.[/NITPICK]

Victory is still around, and that's just asking for a crushing defeat. That said, it looks like many of the ships named Invincible did meet untimely ends—though many didn't as well.

YossarianLives
2015-08-17, 09:42 PM
The Reef Chief

The Shoregasm

Flickerdart
2015-08-17, 09:42 PM
Any of these (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_spacecraft_in_the_Culture_series) should do:

Bad for Business
The Precise Nature Of The Catastrophe
Of Course I Still Love You
Jaundiced Outlook
Death and Gravity
Honest Mistake
Conventional Wisdom
Resistance Is Character-Forming
So Much For Subtlety
Armchair Traveller
Melancholia Enshrines All Triumph
Very Little Gravitas Indeed

Eldan
2015-08-17, 10:04 PM
While I love the culture and especially its ship names (There's none better than So Much for Subtlety), it's not really the tone I'm going for.

JAL_1138
2015-08-17, 10:38 PM
I've always liked "She's One Of Ours, Sir!" for a ship name, just to mess with the enemies.

Edit: Or these--
"Hold Your Fire!"
"Belay That Order!"
"It's Just An Illusion!"
etc., etc., so on and so forth.

golentan
2015-08-17, 10:54 PM
The Cornucopia of Excellent Goods At Low Low Prices.

What sort of cultural background are you going for? A theocracy or religiously devout merchant clan might use a lot of saint/angelic/deific names (I had the flagship of a theocratic government once named the Lance of Heaven) a poetic culture might put more stock in alliterative names, an ancient culture with a rich and well documented history might go for references liable to be lost on barbarians (The Darmok), there are soooo many things we can do with this, so many directions to go even within the guidelines given...

Odyssey
Zheng He
Promise of Prometheus
Here be Dragons
Olvegg's Flying Bazaar
Grecian Gifts
Whaddaya Mean it's Uninsured?
Tangaroa
Risky Business
Horizon
Celeste Venture
Dorado

JAL_1138
2015-08-17, 11:15 PM
You could also go with "O Thou moft glorious and powerfulle Deitys of ye feas and ftorms, pleafe, we doth beggeth Thee, fmiteth us not"

goto124
2015-08-17, 11:39 PM
Titanic.

-whistles-

JanekTheScribe
2015-08-18, 12:21 AM
The Soggy Cracker

Marlowe
2015-08-18, 12:26 AM
If we're doing British warship names, how about Honeysuckle, Pansy, or Cockchafer?

I have two Jane's omnibuses and I'm not afraid to use them.:smallsmile:

JAL_1138
2015-08-18, 01:07 AM
Stargazer
Seeker
Windrider
Aurora
Morning Glory
Mourning Glory
[name of DM's beloved childhood pet]
Fidelis

Reltzik
2015-08-18, 01:22 AM
The Venerable
Century Voyager
Fortune's Favor
Sojourn Cache
Eon Venture
Fancy's Flight

Templarkommando
2015-08-18, 09:50 AM
Intransigence - meaning unwilling or refusing to change one's views or to agree about something.

Fearless

Sojourner

Founder

Pilgrim

Awakener

Trailblazer

Vagabond

Nomad

You could tack on Roaming, Roving, or Ranging to several of these (The Roaming Nomad, The Roving Vagabond)

Peddler

Outcast

Exile

Wayfarer

Pathfinder

Swashbuckler

You could put "Memory" somewhere with this to Romanticize your ship: Exile's Memory, Memory of <Insert hometown, or important/disastrous battle here>

My advice: Try a thesaurus for some of your concepts. You might find some words that you like

FabulousFizban
2015-08-18, 10:00 AM
The Reliant

Trailblazer

Starchaser

Starblazer

Galaxy Express 999

The good ship lollipop

JAL_1138
2015-08-18, 10:44 AM
*Morningstar (referring to both the morning star (Venus, Sirius, or Mercury, depending on time of year) and the weapon)

*Anything on the polearm list, e.g., Halberd, Pike, Partisan (which has the double meaning of "strong supporter of a party" as well as the weapon), Guisarme-Voulge, Bohemian Earspoon

*Talon

*Hope

*Indefatigable

*Spirit of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysilio gogogoch (yes, that's really what the place is called)

*Inspiration

*Death and Taxes

*Illuminator

*Argent

*Ardent

*Decade Sparrowhawk

*Boon and Blessing

*We Use Incendiary Ammunition

*Merlin's Marlin

*Technically We're Not Hobos Anymore Since We Live On This Boat, So We're Just Murderers

*Second Star To The Right

Beleriphon
2015-08-18, 02:54 PM
Explorer
Curiosity
Voyager
North Star
Starlight
Far From Home
Onward
Etherwind


And of course my all time favourite:
Indestructible II :smallbiggrin:

Titantic II is just as bad. Seriously, any ship with that name is asking to sink, explode or otherwise meet ill-fate.

For actual names:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ship_names_of_the_Royal_Navy

GungHo
2015-08-18, 02:55 PM
So. The general sense I want to convey is:
*Old, but reliable
*Somewhat romantic ideas of exploration and conquest
*Risky venture, this might bankrupt the entire family
US/UK ship names that are descriptive and likely pompous/bombastic for a private ship.

Challenger
Chevalier
Defiance
Endurance
Enterprise
Excel
Fidelity
Gallant
Impeccable
Impervious
Invincible
Monarch
Opportune
Pathfinder
Persistent
Preserver
Price
Pride
Prime
Providence
Reliant
Stalwart
Strong
Superior
Tenacious
Valiant

noob
2015-08-18, 03:48 PM
Marine Sea?(Absolutely horrible joke)

Lord Torath
2015-08-18, 03:55 PM
I like both Wayfarer and Vanguard... hm. Dauntless is also nice, though I have a feeling I've already seen that used somewhere. First Resort has a ring to it, but doesn't seem quite fitting for the ship. Perhaps I'll name a weapon or a boat that way. The opposite of Ultima Ratio.Pretty sure this was the name of the big ship in Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl.


Spirit of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysilio gogogoch (yes, that's really what the place is called)I thought we agreed gno gnomes! :smallamused:

This sounds like the kind of un-ending name gnomes would come up with, and also something the Mapmaker's Guild would lodge a complaint over. No offense is intended to the inhabitants of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysilio gogogoch. (I will not further insult them by attempting to pronounce the name of their community)

How about:
<PC's SigOther's name>'s Hope.

Eldan
2015-08-18, 04:45 PM
I still like Windward. But it could be The Windward Something.

Just steeling some others from this thread...

Windward Glory
Windward Seeker
Windward Fancy
Windward Pilgrim
Windward Hope
Windward Star
Windward Defiant
Windward Pride

JAL_1138
2015-08-18, 05:32 PM
I thought we agreed gno gnomes! :smallamused:

This sounds like the kind of un-ending name gnomes would come up with, and also something the Mapmaker's Guild would lodge a complaint over. No offense is intended to the inhabitants of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysilio gogogoch. (I will not further insult them by attempting to pronounce the name of their community)


There's always The Lady of Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg, too.


OP: Windseeker, perhaps?

falloutimperial
2015-08-18, 05:46 PM
The Red-Yellow
The Croatoan
The Flash-and-Guile
The Linerunner
The Skull of Kings
The Fightin’ Jezebel
The Black Wave
The Goldsides
The Ambrose
The Ventner
The Beatrice
The Flyin’ Wreck
The Fishmonger
The Queen’s Fancy
The Devil’s Grin
The Chapelhouse
Edgeward
The Kraken’s Promise
The Fancy Dancer
The Starfish
The Moonslave
The Renege
The Renegade
The Pauper-Prince
The Tenor
The Red Cent
The Rumbold
The Gambol
The Dicemaker
The Sailor’s Daughter
The Governess’s Smile
First Contact
The Line of One
The Rookery
The Seaweed
The Tenrudder
The Outsider
The Crown of Jack
The Last Gasp
The Orange and Purple
Forswearance
The Atlas
The Wayfarer
The Standard-Bearer

Eldan
2015-08-18, 06:31 PM
I'm definitely keeping this thread as backup. There's a lot of good stuff here and will certainly be other ships later.

Vercingex
2015-08-18, 06:56 PM
UK ship names are definitely what you're looking for here. Some more:

Venture
Immortalite
Good Hope
Resolution
Renown
Illustrious
Glory
Swiftsure
Triumph

Alternatively, depending on how well fleshed out this character's history is fleshed out, you can have a name that hearkens back to some success of the character's family. Maybe a planet they discovered that resulted in the family fortune, or the name of the person who actually discovered it. Navies often take their names from history, and there is no reason why a private individual could do the same. That would add a nice campaign touch; if you name a ship after a planet, they can go there. Or someone can ask who the ship is named after. Roleplaying opportunities!

For more inspiration, look at UK battleship names, both dreadnoughts and pre-dreadnoughts (there's a list on Wikipedia).

Marlowe
2015-08-18, 07:05 PM
Immortalite
This one is French. Used to be traditional that when you captured a ship and pressed it into your own navy's service it kept the original name, and if the captured vessel distinguished itself it might get a new ship named after it.

This is how the British had a Temeraire at Trafalgar, and the French had a Swiftsure.


Good Hope Not really a lucky name. I don't believe the British have used this one since Coronel.

Eldan
2015-08-18, 07:06 PM
Thinking about it, I think something like Pride or Glory is a bit too self-congratulatory for a crew out on one of their first trips. Would be fun if they named their lifeboats, though. "This is the Windward Fancy. The lifeboats are Triumph, Unbroken, Valiant and Excelsior.

Marlowe
2015-08-18, 07:10 PM
I like Windward Fancy. Private-owned ship tend to have fairly flippant, innocuous names.

After all, why would you call a Trading vessel the Conquerer or the Victory? Who exactly are you supposed to be conquering or being victorious over? Wouldn't that be piracy?

Reltzik
2015-08-18, 09:07 PM
Thinking about it, I think something like Pride or Glory is a bit too self-congratulatory for a crew out on one of their first trips. Would be fun if they named their lifeboats, though. "This is the Windward Fancy. The lifeboats are Triumph, Unbroken, Valiant and Excelsior.

......... I don't think that Triumph is a good name for a lifeboat. Maybe You Should See The Other Guy.

Reltzik
2015-08-18, 09:08 PM
Or you could just give the ship the name of a woman and refuse to tell anyone who asks who you named it after.

Coventry
2015-08-18, 11:03 PM
Living the Dream
Edge of Success
Overcoming Adversity
Misery's Fortune
The Waterloo
The Ravage
<Family_Name>'s Paradox
Rough and Ready
The Herculean Task
The Deadlock
The Responsibility
The Promise
The Albatross
The Austerity

Marlowe
2015-08-19, 01:24 AM
Or you could just give the ship the name of a woman and refuse to tell anyone who asks who you named it after.

That's right. I had a smuggling skiff named the Naughty Newlywed. She was fast, stripped-down, and often full of junk.

I was quite disappointed that none of the PCs asked how it got the name.

JAL_1138
2015-08-19, 01:44 AM
The S.S. How The Hell Did We Let The DM Talk Us Into Going Anywhere Near Water? This Will End In Disaster, I Just Know It.

Marlowe
2015-08-19, 01:49 AM
And it's sister-ships the S.S. How The Hell Did The DM Give Us SteamShips In A Fantasy Setting? and It Sure Would Have Been Nice If Stormwrack Had Actually Included Some Basic Nautical Information Instead Of All Those Stupid Specialised Spells And Monsters.

JAL_1138
2015-08-19, 02:34 AM
And it's sister-ships the S.S. How The Hell Did The DM Give Us SteamShips In A Fantasy Setting? and It Sure Would Have Been Nice If Stormwrack Had Actually Included Some Basic Nautical Information Instead Of All Those Stupid Specialised Spells And Monsters.

Actually stands for "Screw Steamer" rather than Steam Ship, to indicate screw propellers rather than steam-driven paddle wheels (PS, Paddle Steamer). Should've used SV (Sailing Vessel) in the interest of accuracy, but media and pop culture so often use the SS prefix as a generic that I thought it'd be better for the joke. As for how? Gnomes, of course.

Storm_Of_Snow
2015-08-19, 02:56 AM
If we're doing British warship names, how about Honeysuckle, Pansy, or Cockchafer?

I have two Jane's omnibuses and I'm not afraid to use them.:smallsmile:
I've always liked HMS Spanker personally. :smallamused:

Another source for names could be US Bombers, especially from WW2 - the obvious one is Memphis Belle.


I like Windward Fancy. Private-owned ship tend to have fairly flippant, innocuous names.

Or they're theme named - most of the White Star Line fleet ended in -ic, for example. Alternatively, the company name is included in the ship's name (Maersk's are the "something Maersk").

But I agree, Windward Fancy sounds good.

Marlowe
2015-08-19, 03:03 AM
German merchant raiders are an odd one, since they were not named officially but named by their captain and crew.

Of course the actual list of resulting names is a little generic. Atlantis, Pinguin, Orion, Kormoran, Widder, Thor, Komet, Michel, Wolf, Moewe... The captain of Michel offered to call his ship the Gotz von Berlichingen but, unfortunately, the German admiralty spotted the joke.

goto124
2015-08-19, 03:14 AM
Wait. Pinguin? Not Penguin, but Pinguin?

Marlowe
2015-08-19, 03:27 AM
Apparently, these "German" guys don't speak English. Yeah, I know. I was shocked too.

Fri
2015-08-19, 03:34 AM
Irrelevant for this thread, but everytime my player got a ship in any of my games the default name I gave is always "The Flying Aubergine."

Except that one time when I GMed a star wars game, where they got a millenium falcon rip-off named Alumunium Mallard. I just only found later that there already exist a parody ship with that name. Talking about akashic record...

Eldan
2015-08-19, 03:55 AM
German merchant raiders are an odd one, since they were not named officially but named by their captain and crew.

Of course the actual list of resulting names is a little generic. Atlantis, Pinguin, Orion, Kormoran, Widder, Thor, Komet, Michel, Wolf, Moewe... The captain of Michel offered to call his ship the Gotz von Berlichingen but, unfortunately, the German admiralty spotted the joke.

Nah. This will be in English. If I can think of any double entendres, I might include some Hermans, but not otherwise.

Marlowe
2015-08-19, 04:36 AM
The Imperial German Navy had a Prinz Albrecht, just in case something comes up.

TheTeaMustFlow
2015-08-19, 05:11 AM
[/I] The captain of Michel offered to call his ship the Gotz von Berlichingen but, unfortunately, the German admiralty spotted the joke.

Joke? Would that be the Goethe er kann mich... thing, or am I missing something?

Marlowe
2015-08-19, 05:22 AM
He was inviting the admiralty to kiss a portion of his anatomy.

JAL_1138
2015-08-19, 09:04 AM
Rain Check for the Hangman

Flibbertigibbet

Magic Carpet

Sea-Camel (very bad pun on camels being called the "ship of the desert"...)

Seagull

Vingilöté (Eärendil's ship in The Silmarillion, with sails of silver and oars of gold, and thus best applied to a leaky, half-rotten failboat)

Rocinante (Don Quixote's old broken-down horse)

Foehammer

Lightning-Bug

Kestrel (Starting ship in FTL: Faster Than Light; it thus explodes a lot, which, if you're near water in D&D, is also likely for your ship)

Bill of Goods

Winter_Wolf
2015-08-19, 09:34 AM
Eh, when my dad bought his new commercial fishing vessel he thought about changing its name to "Black Hole" because he said it sucked all the money out of his pocket. Of course he didn't since changing the name of a boat is a no-no. Superstition if nothing else, but when you're very possibly going to die in the bay, superstition gets it's due anyway.

boat was still ill fated because the original builder/owner named it after his ex-fiancée but she (the boat) did alright by us for many a year. Right up until the engine blew.

JAL_1138
2015-08-19, 10:43 AM
Eh, when my dad bought his new commercial fishing vessel he thought about changing its name to "Black Hole" because he said it sucked all the money out of his pocket. Of course he didn't since changing the name of a boat is a no-no. Superstition if nothing else, but when you're very possibly going to die in the bay, superstition gets it's due anyway.

boat was still ill fated because the original builder/owner named it after his ex-fiancée but she (the boat) did alright by us for many a year. Right up until the engine blew.

I've heard the ill luck from a rename can be avoided with a ceremony involving the following steps:

1) Absolute erasure of any trace of the old name--sand it off, don't just paint over.
2) Invocation (including identifying the old name, expressing of gratitude to the fates/luck, the seas, any entity that might hold a grudge for being left out)
3) Re-dedication, in the name if the aforesaid entities, any gods/faith you personally follow, if different, and to the sea in general
4) Libations with the best booze you can get your hands on; at least two bottles--one to drink, one to break on the bow, and for the love of all that's holy, break that bottle on the first swing. Let the Fighter with 18/00 STR do it, and give them a magic STR-boosting item too, and festoon them in four-leaf clovers, rabbits' feet, fill their pockets with lucky pennies, etc., etc., so on and so forth, but do not score the bottle with a glass-cutter, as that's cheating. Unless you're English; they're fine with cheating fate (as with the prophecy about the kingdom falling when the ravens leave the Tower of London--the Brits clip their wings)

The idea is that you let whatever luck or gods are out there know you're not trying to dodge them by concealing the vessel's identity, you're just changing the name to something you prefer (or to honor So-and-So or Such-and-Such or Wherever) for no other reason whatsoever, and want to be certain they know it and are given their due.

Berenger
2015-08-19, 06:00 PM
For a warship: Disproportionate Retribution

Reltzik
2015-08-20, 01:17 AM
Hmm, warship names....

I like the idea of going with the name Decoy or Distraction. That horrified moment when they get close enough to read the letters and stop paying attention to you to look around for the true threat can be used to tactical advantage.

Also, the name for a fantasy analogue of the HMS Bounty that the party has to hunt down and recapture: Just Deserts