Japanese Ship Name Generator

Japanese ship names follow some of the most systematic naming rules of any navy, so they are easy to get right once you know the pattern. The Imperial Japanese Navy named battleships after old provinces (Yamato, Nagato, Mutsu, Ise), heavy cruisers after mountains (Myōkō, Takao, Atago, Chōkai), light cruisers after rivers (Nagara, Abukuma, Yahagi) and aircraft carriers after flying creatures or auspicious words (Sōryū, Zuikaku, Taihō). Destroyers took poetic names for weather, sea and sky: Fubuki is a blizzard, Yukikaze a snowy wind, Akizuki the autumn moon, Shiranui the phosphorescent sea fire. Submarines were simply numbered I-19 or Ro-33.

The modern Maritime Self-Defense Force kept most of these conventions, so Izumo, Kongō, Murasame and Sōryū have all sailed twice. Civilian ships follow a different rule: almost every merchant, fishing and training vessel carries the suffix Maru, an affectionate word that became standard for ships (Nippon Maru, Hikawa Maru, Daigo Fukuryū Maru). Fishing boats often add lucky words or the Seven Lucky Gods, as in Tairyō Maru or Ebisu Maru, and numbered fleets use Daiichi, Daini and so on.

To name your own ship, decide what it is first. A province or mountain name signals a capital ship, a wind or moon word signals a destroyer, and a Maru name signals a working vessel.