Finding the perfect name for your new boat can be slightly daunting. When we started this journey, a vlogger suggested that you use the “may day” test to check the name. This involves calling in a may day (which we hope we never have to do), which goes like “may day, may day, may day … this is boat name.”
So that is what we did.
“May day, may day, may day … this is Easy Floater.”
“May day, may day, may day … this is Lifeboat.”
“May day, may day, may day … this is Poop Deck.”
Well, you get the idea. So we started to look for a name that had meaning to us, that passed the may day test, and … well, had a story.
Welcome to MV Aurelia Dawn.
As we explored names James kept getting stuck on not having a name that somehow honored our mothers in some way. Our mothers, like all mothers, had the answer all along, we just had to figure it out for ourselves.
First, the rule for a boat is that she is female. This probably has some misogynistic roots as to why this is the case, but through history boats have been referenced in the feminine. In doing some searching, I found this article that partially explains the rationale behind this (note, I don’t agree with half of the reasoning). A recurring theme – and one that sat comfortably with us – was that sailors often associate their ships to their mothers (or goddesses in some cases), as their ships protected them.
At first, we thought we could use the middle names of our mothers “Olive” and “Bell” but that seemed odd, as the only meaning was their names (which was enough, but we thought there should be more). In talking it through, their first names kept coming back to us. “Aurelia Dawn” just had a nice sound to it. Then Chris mentioned, you know the meaning of Aurelia is “golden” – so we could almost be saying, ‘golden dawn.’ Sold!
The fact that both our mother’s names had multiple meanings, and they supported each other when combined, made this choice the most obvious one. Read about the meanings behind our mothers’ names and why Aurelia and Dawn are the perfect names for our boat.
Our mothers will forever be in our hearts, and now they will continue to protect us as we welcome you on board MV Aurelia Dawn.