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So as a 50 year old, I got back into playing tuba about a year ago. Buying a tuba was a better mid life crisis purchase than buying a muscle car and I'm so happy I got back playing.

When I've played for my friends, one of the questions I get is does my tuba have a name (it doesn't yet but I feel it should)

BB King has Lucille.
Willie Nelson has Trigger.
George Harrison has Lucy.

So do people name their tuba? And if you do, what's the story behind the name?

If I'm not going to name my children, I'm certainly not going to name my tubas!




JK, my kids have names. My tubas don't, though.

My eb MW is called 'tykke Bertha', my Conn 112H bass bone 'tynde Emma' . Go and figure it out.

We had a Lady Face Conn 20J back in school we named Betty.

I've named my instruments before, and all tubas I've had up until now (the highlights of which include a King 2341 named Carl, and a very small Boosey Eb tuba named Benson) but for the life of me I haven't been able to name my 20J yet.

My first tuba´s name was "Heinrich", simply because it said so on the label soldered to ist bell. That was a 3/4 BBb with 3 valves.
(Heinrich Hermuth had been a local master instrument maker in Gelsenkirchen, Germany back in the day. Instrument sales and repair plus occasional brass production).

My second tuba was a Melton 46 (38cm goldbrass bell) I named "Chantal" simply to point out the difference in musical character I was able to produce, in relation to Heinrich.

Today I own four other tubas, None of which have been named other than their brand- or model names.
Which doesn´t mean at all that I´ve failed to "bond" with those horns:
When I´m lucky during practise, they still inspire feelings of gratitude for the joy of producing sound.
I just don´t think it´s necessary to name them in order to publicly advertise this affection.

Schlepporello wrote:All six of mine are simply named "Mine".

I'd steal this, except that my beater tuba, the first one I've ever been truly able to call "Mine" did get named.

Old Ugly. It fits her. She's a middle school reject/de-accession. Went through at least two middle schools before they got rid of it. I feel like I stole her, because I paid $100 plus $50 shipping. And got a playable horn that merely needed a bath. I'm sure some more dent removal would be good for her, and someday when I live near a real brass repairman, I'll have it done. Until then, I'm lucky to have my ugly old tuba. Jupiter considers it a full sized tuba, but it plays more like a 3/4.

None of my other instruments have names, even if they have character.

TT, short for troglodytes troglodytes. Go figure.

Same as with my motorcycle, although we've bonded I haven't come up with any names. Now our dog, lol, she has like ten different names (or more)!

I'm definitely the type to name instruments (and cars).

My 181 is named Gjallarhorn after the horn carried by the Norse god Heimdall. (I think I was learning The Legend of Heimdall by Elizabeth Raum at the time).

My J-865 is named Edward after Edward of York (really bad Shakespearean reference. Kudos if you get it.)

My Rudolf Meinl is named "Regular Sized Rudy" since I bought it to replace my Neptune. My father named my cimbasso "Mean Joe Green".