I've never really named my swords. I've thought about it, but never had anything call out to me, so I generally refer to them just by their model names. I'd probably be more inclined if I had one custom built from scratch, but there's that part of me that would feel out of place calling my Albion Landgraf by some other name when there's hundreds of them out there identical to mine, for example. Still, I've considered the possibility from time to time.

I've nicknamed a few of my firearms though. For example, my little .410 shot pistol can cause a painful impact on your knuckle from the trigger guard if you don't grip it quite right, so I call it "knuckle-buster".

The funny thing is that people have picked on me for naming all my computers. Then again, as anyone who runs a network can tell you, naming a computer with an easily remembered/pronounced name is a lot easier than something like 192.168.0.113. :)

/What about dragonlance-fire-wolf-bane-silver-sword.

That sounds like a sword with some authority.

Jeremy

I've never had a sword that called out for a name- not yet anyway.

I do, however, have a rather nasty weighted club called Ratslayer. Y'see I used to share a house with this woman who had a cat who liked to drag live rats into the place and let them loose. It seemed to derive great amusement from the ensuing brouhaha. It was my job to ferret-out said rodents and dispatch them, and the aforementioned club was the implement of choice. Hence "ratslayer". It actually became rather famous amongst our circle of friends, and people still ask if I've still got it.

I also had a waster called "Codwalloper" after I whacked myself in the groin while trying a new combination I'd just dreamed up on the pell. I always wore a box when using it after that. I don't have *it* anymore!

I do have a beautiful longsword blade made for me by a good friend, but sadly I entrusted it to someone I shouldn't have to be mounted. The guard is ok, but the grip and pommel are appalling. Once I correct that, it might acquire a name, but only if it tells me it wants one- which is a fancypants way of saying 'if my subconscious mind comes up with something good'!

Viking weapons weren't necessarily named by what they've done in battle for example 'Fotbitr' because it cut off someones foot but often took their name from their previous owner or the smith which made it. In Grettis Saga the protagonist named his shortsword 'Karsnautr' (Kar's Gift) because, ironically, he stole it from a draugr named Kar. In the same vein it's perfectly reasonably to name, for example, an Albion Clontarf 'Petersnautr'. It's not cheesy at all, it was common practice to name anything from the most magnificent sword to the everday skeggøx - naming a medieval weapon in modern times is no more cheesy than owning a medieval weapon in modern times.

Steve Fabert wrote:

I note that some of you have chosen female or vaguely feminine names for a favorite sword. What is the general view of the gender of swords? I see some items in my collection that definitely give off a feminine vibe, while others seem obviously butch and masculine. Plainly they are not all female, the way naval vessels are customarily viewed. Is there a history in pre-Renaissance time of giving female names to swords used by men for serious military work? Does the naming pattern stem from the variations in use of gendered nouns from language to language, or is it independent of culture and linguistic bias?

Viking axes seemed to have a tendency to take a female name, usually mythological. The sagas tell of many axes named after valkyries and goddesses for example 'Hel' in Magnus' Saga. Also I think Skarphedin's axe (in Njala) was called 'Rimmugygr' meaning battle-hag, so it seems that axes were often equated with feminine characteristics (it may have been a joke, like calling a woman a 'battle-axe' today).

From what I've gathered swords were never attributed feminine characters.

I named my smallsword "Black Magic"

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I'd agree with the whole a sword names itself philosophy, generally my friends tend to keep sword names to themselves, though I know of one that is called Sword Breaker for obvious reasons.

Somehow amoungst our lot the inverse is true with weapones other than Swords, we tend to give humerus names and let people know them, i.e. a dagger called "Mr Stabby," a turkish Mace called "The Rounders Bat," and let us not forget "Phallically Oversized Axe" (a daneaxe head that has been mounted on a hand axe shaft).

All I know is that when i get my sword, I'm going to call it "Sarcophilus Harrisii", google that and I think you'll get the gist :P

Renter's Bane, Devourer of Deposits! (I'm pretty sure those marks were on the ceiling when I moved in)

If my Dane ever arrives, I'll probably think of it as Spike.

The tradition continues.....

A cop I know has his patrol shotgun named The Fat Lady.

and a friend currently in Baghdad named his .50 caliber machine gun (including a printed label on the feed tray) "The Duchess."

I have one smallsword that I generally refer to as Albrecht's sword, or sometimes just Albrecht since I brought my own sword for Butler Ballet's production of Giselle last year. I got so into that role that I appear to have given my sword to a fictional character.