After Getting Mostly Joke Suggestions, Ferry Naming Extended

OLYMPIA, WA — If you want to suggest a name for Washington State Ferries newest vehicle, you'll have an extra week to do it: the Washington State Transportation Commission has extended the deadline to submit a name an extra week to Oct. 8.

As The Seattle Times first reported, name drive has been postponed because, despite receiving more than 330 potential names, none of the submitted names actually met the state's ferry naming criteria.

Under WSTC policy, ferries should be named after tribal groups, local bodies of water, geographic locations, cities, counties, or other state-adopted symbols consistent with current WSF fleet names.

Instead, ferry names suggested by the public included: Kevin, the Sea Hag, The Always Late, and MV DB Cooper, the Times reported. Those would definitely stand out against currently-operating ferries like Samish, Walla Walla, Yakima and Tillicum.

Now that the naming has been extended, anyone with an appropriate suggestion can submit theirs by 5 p.m. Friday, October 8. Submissions can be emailed to transc@wstc.wa.gov, using “Ferry Naming Proposal” as the subject line. They can also be sent to the WSTC's PO Box 47308 Olympia, WA 98504-7308. Proposals need to explain how the name conforms to the commission's naming policy, background on why the name is locally relevant, and "evidence of public support for the name."

Once submissions are collected, the Commission will debate eligible suggestions from Oct. 20 through Nov. 19, then choose a new name on Dec. 14.

>> Read the full report from The Seattle Times.