Shakespeare was wrong

“What’s in a name?” is a famous line from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, meaning a name is just an arbitrary label, and the true essence, character, or quality of a person or thing is what truly matters, not the sound or label itself

But SpinSheet magazine reminded us that in ancient times, boats were given names of gods or saints to safely guide them to port. The habit today typically has little to do with this tradition, though billionaire yachtsman did once buy 191-foot superyacht named for a Shinto deity.

The name Izanami was deeply rooted in Japanese mythology for giving birth to the Japanese islands, but that didn’t mean much when he learned what the name spelled backwards – I’m a Nazi. Ellison, who was Jewish, renamed the boat Ronin – a samurai without a master that often becomes a mercenary.