Originally they called her Selkie. Then her name was changed to Cocomo.  We decided that we didn’t want to get the Beach Boys stuck in our head every time we boarded our new Pearson Triton, so we have changed her name back.  We will of course perform John Vigor’s name changing ceremony upon arrival in Mexico so as not to upset the gods and goddesses.

A brief history on the name “Selkie” is thus in order.  (thanks Wikipedia!)

Selkies (also known as silkies or selchies) are mythological creatures found in Faroese, Icelandic, Irish, and Scottish folklore. The word derives from earlier Scots selich, (from Old English seolh meaning seal). Selkies are said to live as seals in the sea but shed their skin to become human on land. The legend apparently originated on the Orkney and Shetland Islands.

Stories concerning selkies are generally romantic tragedies. Sometimes the human will not know that their lover is a selkie, and wakes to find them gone. In other stories the human will hide the selkie’s skin, thus preventing it from returning to its seal form. A selkie can only make contact with one human for a short amount of time before they must return to the sea. They are not able to make contact with that human again for seven years, unless the human is to steal their selkie’s skin and hide it or burn it.

You can learn even more about Selkies at Wikipedias page…

We have no desire to take our Selkie from the sea, we just hope she always stays near the surface to breathe.

Does anybody have any tips on name changing ceremonies?  We do not want to know the ire of the gods!

%d