What’s in a name?
We’ve been asked by many folks how we chose the name Catalyst for our boat. Believe me, it wasn’t an easy decision!
In many ways, we found naming our boat more more difficult than naming our kids, because there are so many naming paths to choose from when selecting a boat name. We could go the funny route with names like Grateful Dad, For Pete’s Sake, or Passing Wind. We could go the seafaring route with names like NautiGirl, Wind Dancer, or Reel Time, or go inspirational with Carpe Diem, Boundless, or Audacity. We could do song-inspired names like Daydream Believer, Dream On, or Moonshadow, or animals like Hummingbird, Gazelle, or Puma. We could do family names like Ann Marie (Tasha’s and Katia’s middle names) or Katashian (a combo of all 3 kids’ names that was far too close to “Kardashian”!), or even InCOREYgible. The kids forbade us to even consider gushy names like Honeymoon Suite or Love Nest -- not that we were planning on it, but it was fun to threaten! We even laughingly considered TBD (To be Determined). It was how our boat was listed on the Balance Catamaran order sheet alongside all the other owners’ established boat names, and it also reflected the somewhat spontaneous approach this adventure will entail.
Boat naming wisdom prescribes that the name not be too long, too difficult to spell, or too confusing – in an emergency, you want to ensure it can be easily communicated throughout the world. You also don’t want the name to be offensive or mean something entirely different in some cultures. Other considerations were that we didn’t want the name to be too heavily used or be something that we’d tire of after a while.
Pete went through the entire dictionary to select potential names, creating a “short list” with hundreds of options. He checked multiple registration websites to determine the number of worldwide pleasure vessels with each name (did you know there are 275 boats named Joy, 196 named Aurora and 115 named Imagine?), as well as noting each name’s rationale. We pondered this list for at least a month before each selecting our top ten. Top contenders were Makani (wind in Hawaiian), Cloudbreak, and Catalyst.
Catalyst: An agent that provokes or speeds significant change or action. The dictionary definition fit our situation in life: certainly, selling your home, quitting your job, and moving aboard a sailboat counted as “significant change”! We liked the name’s meaning, we liked how it reflected our respective undergraduate degrees in science, and we liked that it was a fun integration of the word “cat” for our catamaran.
FINALLY, we had a name! We then approached our almost-daughter and talented graphic designer, Katharina Muretta, to design our logo. She graciously obliged, despite being in the midst of planning her family’s cross-country move. We went back and forth a few times and voila! – our much-complimented logo was born! Thank you, Katharina!
Catalyst. Months into our journey, we still get a thrill out of saying her name and pointing her out across the water.