What’s in a name?

          Before any trivia like fitting out or leaning our new boat’s systems, we of course had to ponder the vital question of what to name her. So many things go in to a good name…it should reflect the boats mission, the owner’s personalities, it should be lucky, and it should fit on the transom. It should not have any cutesy little puns involving the words Knot, Reel, or Nauti (Knot Reely Nauti was right out) and please, nothing crass like Empty Pockets or Mom’s Mink. 

We were after something classy but not too pretentious, but not so classy that no one gets it. I remember the cautionary tale of the intellectual gentleman who named his beautiful new sportfisher Bucephalus, after Alexander the Great’s beloved war horse, upon whose mighty back he conquered the known world. Super classy and literary and all that, and a great name for a hard-charging offshore fish machine. But the owner kept the boat in the deep south, where there were far more fans of Hank Williams Jr. than of ancient Greek history. The poor fellow was driven to despair by the procession of dock walkers hollering up to him on the flybridge “Hey, you misspelled Bocephus!”

After much deliberation, we settled on Bella Gatto, Italian for “beautiful cat”. The name had it all – It reflected Jayne’s Italian heritage, gave a nod to our sea dog Bella, and had a touch of irony when applied to the slab-sided hunk of fiberglass that is the Endeavour Trawlercat (say what you will, WE think she is beautiful).