What are the best narrowboat names?

Names on the cut tend to come from four wells: birds (Heron, Kingfisher, Moorhen), weather and water (Mistral, Wanderlust, Ripple), virtues or family names, and puns, a tradition of their own, from Narrow Escape downwards. No category beats another outright. What separates a name you'll still like in ten years from one you'll wince at is whether it survives being said out loud, at a lock, to a stranger, for decades. Short wins over clever. A name tied to a real detail, where the boat was built, a grandparent's name, the first canal you cruised, tends to age better than a joke that was only ever funny once. There's no register requiring uniqueness, so duplicate names exist across the network; it's your boat regardless. Once chosen, the name gets hand-lettered on the cabin side: see what narrowboat signwriting is.

Written by Craig Fearn, Narrowboat Gifts.