Okay, people name their boats; every boat that’s large enough at least. So how did this come about and why don’t people name their cars that they use everyday or their airplanes or trains?
Part of it is tradition. Passenger and cargo ships were named for the same reason that an airline assigns a number to a flight. Sailing on the “Santa Maria” tomorrow is akin to an 11:32 takeoff on United 1156. In this utilitarian sense, people do name their planes and trains just like they name boats.
Another huge part of it is ego. These days, large boats, especially sailboats, live up to the old joke that a boat is a hole in the water that you throw money into. The kind of people who own boats need a name to pin their obsession on. I’ve sailed (as crew) on many a spendy ride, and their owners live up to this bar none.
i once saw a docked boat that had a picture of a few sheep on the back of it. below the sheep it read: “ewe-boat”
that was good for a few laughs i guess, but it was kind of a piece of crap boat.
Actually, a lot of planes and trains are named–the Spirit of St. Louis, Enola Gay, the “train they call the City of New Orleans”. With trains, you have the complication that trains are “modular”–if you give the regular train from City A to City B a name (the Silver Zephyr or whatever), the Silver Zephyr this week may consist of Engine No. 109 and Cars No. 1119 and 3135 and so forth; next week, it may consist of Engine No. 232 and not include any of the physical elements of last week’s Silver Zephyr. On the other hand, many Amtrak passenger cars have individual names; thus, this week’s Silver Zephyr may include the coaches Prairie Breeze and East Wind and the dining car High Plains (Note: All names after “City of New Orleans” I’m just making up off the top of my head.)
So, why do people name stuff that moves? Ships, airplanes–I’ve even seen some passenger jets with names; all the old Pan Am jets were the So-and-so Clipper or the Clipper Whatever, and I’ve seen at least some other passenger planes with names, often of cities–spaceships all get named. Then again, it’s not just stuff that moves. Some people name houses, too. Or computers. (See this thread.) Basically, I think people just like to anthropomorphize. Giving something a name makes it seem more person-like than just a number. And if it moves, it seems even more like an active, living thing, hence personal pronouns (“She’s a good ship”) and so forth. The real question is why more people don’t name their cars (apart from Christine). Then again, an IMHO thread titled “What’s your car named?” might well get a bunch of responses.
So…
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why do Westerners call ships “she”? (Russians call them “he”)
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Why do all Japanese ships’ names end with “maru”? (I have asked a Japanese person this, but she didn’t know).
The answer is we give names to everything, not just ships. Now we are used to street addresses but houses of any importance used to have names and mostly still do. Wars, task forces, if you are going to be referring to something a few times it makes communication easier if it has a name. Every trade has its specific jargon. Names ease communication and naming ships is just part of that. I see nothing strange about it.
Regarding the Japanese Maru, it was discussed in some past thread and the explanation was somewhat involved so I won’t try to repeat it. A search should uncover it.
Because the Russians have such a hard time getting their ships in water.