Did you know New York ferries were named by second graders?

Did you know that many of the New York City ferries you see cruising the waterways were named by second graders?

Between 2017 and 2019, thousands of kids across NYC entered a ferry-naming competition.

The result? A fleet of boats with names like ‘Tooth Ferry’, ‘Dream Boat’, and ‘City Fishy’.

It’s one of the most unexpectedly wholesome civic projects New York has ever pulled off, and the results are pure joy on the water.

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What happens when you hand the mic to eight year olds

So what happens when you give second-graders this kind of power?

Chaos.

But the best kind.

The kind that replaces corporate branding decks with doodles and turns public infrastructure into a group art project.

These weren’t consultants in a boardroom.

They were kids with pencils, big feelings, and zero sense of limits.

They named boats after hope, curiosity, friendship, even dental milestones (we see you, ‘Tooth Ferry’).

Full list of NYC ferry names

• Dream Boat
• Koalified Cruiser
• White Sands
• River Sprinter
• Ferry Godmother
• Forget Me Knot
• Purpose
• Signs to Liberty
• Cyclone Shark
• Tooth Ferry
• Curiosity
• Melting Pot

Each name turned a functional ferry into a story.

Something to smile at while you’re half-awake on your morning commute.

It proved that when you give regular people, especially kids, a say in their city, they make it better.

Honestly, after seeing what second graders can do with a handful of crayons and a sense of purpose, maybe they should be in charge of all city planning.

The city and it’s love for the New York ferries

The naming contests were part of the NYC Ferry expansion, giving local students a stake in the waterways that link their boroughs.

Teachers say the kids treated it like serious business – brainstorming, voting, and writing essays to back their ideas.

One winner said he felt ‘stupendous’ about seeing his idea come to life.

Another class said their ferry name should remind riders that ‘everyone has a purpose,’ even the boats.

And… we’re crying.

Online, New Yorkers still gush over the results. 

“City Fishy supremacy!” one fan wrote. 

Others can’t get enough of ‘Friendship Express’ and ‘Melting Pot’.

Each ferry name has become a tiny emblem of what makes the city tick.

Funny, hopeful, endlessly curious, and totally New York.

So next time you see the New York ferries gliding down the East River, look out for the names on the hull.

Chances are, it was dreamed up by a second grader who just wanted to make strangers smile.

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