Duffys are bundles of pun

Watt’s in a name?

For a Duffy boat, apparently everything.

When a new Duffy owner christens his boat, he often chooses a name that reflects the quirky nature of these one-of-a-kind electric boats.

Once a week, the Newport Beach Duffy dealership celebrates the odd-ball names by showcasing one on its billboard on West Coast Highway.

Spoiled Wattin’, Out Sparkin and Nauti-buoys are some of the memorable ones, said Duffy Executive Assistant Kim Cooper.

When Marshall “Duffy” Duffield opened the Newport Beach storefront in 1998, he wanted to show off the quirky names of the popular Duffy boats by putting the names on a billboard for everyone to see, Cooper said.

For the names that grace the billboard, Duffield likes those that honor the electric boats by referring to electricity in some way.

“He just thought it was funny,” Cooper said.

The names are chosen by the boats’ new owners when the boats are ordered, Cooper said.

“It takes them a long time to sometimes pick out the name because they can’t figure out what they want,” Cooper said.

Some people name their Duffy after family members or for what they use the Duffy for — either way, it’s personal preference.

Judy Weightman was in the process of buying a Duffy boat with three of her friends several years ago when the perfect name popped into their heads as it came time to write the check.

“We said we’ve got to do this,” Weightman said of the spur-of-the-moment decision to buy the boat.

When a friend told her to charge the boat on a credit card, Weightman went ahead.

“I said, you’re right, I’ll just charge it,” she said.

And the boat was appropriately named “Just Charge It.”

“We look around and see all these darling names, and we look at ours and I say, ‘Well, that’s the truth,’ ” Weightman said.

While the Donahue family picked a more traditional name for their Duffy, it was a team effort to make the decision.

“We have four kids and everybody kind of got into the spirit of it,” Nancy Donahue said, of naming their Duffy “Cutty Sark” after the historic ship.

They voted on the names and some got vetoed, including Donahue’s favorite one, which she no longer remembers.

“It was very democratic,” Donahue said.

Donahue said she’s seen some pretty fun names for Duffy boats around Newport Harbor.

“They’re all very personal — that’s the fun part of it,” Donahue said.

For as long as the Duffy store has been displaying the favorite names, it has kept a folder of those featured on the billboard, so no name is used twice, Cooper said.

Having your Duffy’s name on the billboard has become a sort of status symbol for boat owners. People call in, asking how they can get their boat up there, Cooper said. When their Duffy name does make it on the billboard, owners come and take photos of the sign, Cooper said.

“We never expected this to be so popular,” Cooper said.