Significance of the Title: The Old Man and the Sea

Once again, I had some difficulty understanding what Ernest Hemingway was thinking when he came up with the title The Old Man and the Sea. I think a more appropriate title would be The Old Man and the Marlin. However, The Old Man and the Sea seems more contemplative and like a much more easy going, laid back sort of book rather than The Old Man and the Marlin. The old man in the title is obviously Santiago, the main character. He is a Cuban fisherman and has had very bad luck with fishing. Why he chose fishing as a career, I do not know. But, maybe it runs in the family and it is all he is good at. However, on the 85th day, Santiago goes fishing and catches a giant marlin, which drags him out into the gulf/sea. So, I am guessing that is where Hemingway came up with the whole "sea" part of his title. However, the sea is a majority of the novel even more than the fish is now that I come to think of it. Santiago is always talking to the sea and the fish, while being pulled along by the marlin. Santiago also refers to the sea as "she" or "her." That is one thing I do not understand about society. Everything is always referred to as "she." My family got in a discussion regarding this on the Fourth of July. America is referred to as "she" and we decided it was probably because of "mother country" and all that. But then, the sea has always been feminine as well. However, the people who came up with the names were all men, so they wanted something to come home to, or feel comforted by, naming the sea and America "her."
I got totally off topic on the title, but the old man is Santiago, and the sea is where Santiago spends most of his time as a fisherman. Therefore, the title is appropriate, but I would have titled the book differently.