Dec 15, 2023 By Susan Kelly
Automobiles are mechanical devices. They are soulless and unable to think. Why do so many motorists give their vehicles personalities if that's the case?
According to AAA's manager of repair systems, David Bennett, "we share the milestones of our lives with our cars." You may take it to the hospital when your baby is born or on your wedding day. The cars we drive are intimately linked to our lives in countless ways.
Our vehicles get us to and from work daily, keep us toasty in the winter, and (sometimes) excite us when we punch the pedal. Our vehicles are a reflection of who we are in many ways.
Hence, it should be no surprise that we decorate them with names, vanity plates, and artificial pine tree air fresheners. As a reward, we fill their tanks with premium fuel (don't) and swap out their oil before it needs it. A car's safety features may have saved the lives of its passengers.
Like the people we meet, the cars we encounter frequently have unique characteristics and feelings that can help us decide on a name. Growing up in New England, we had elaborate rituals to conduct to get our automobiles to start on chilly winter mornings, including calling them by their names and pleading with them to fire up.
My brother would take a 6-iron out of the trunk and give the starter a thump when the car wouldn't start. He never found out if it was done to assert authority or to shake it awake. It was only important that it was effective.
If you've decided you need a name for your car, but nothing comes to mind, you're not alone. Thousands of people use Google each month to look for the same thing. You'll likely find a few car-name generators in the list of returned websites, most of which are hosted by auto- and insurance-related resources. One of them came up with the name "Pinky" for my grey 2014 VW Jetta SportWagen TDI. It's intriguing, but I doubt it will catch on.
Hagerty, a website dedicated to classic automobiles, recently polled its members to find out what they call their vehicles. The results revealed that many of the names come from the color of the vehicle's paint. That is consistent with what I have seen in practice. My friend's mid-1960s Chevy Nova is a relic, but he still calls it "Old Blue" because of its nostalgic status.
Cars often get nicknames that play off of the manufacturer's official moniker or the model's unique appearance, just like people do. I gave my brother my 1962 Plymouth Fury, which had horizontal fins and a gaping grill. Our group adopted the name "The Mouth" one day and stuck with it for a long time.
People who are passionate about cars tend to grow emotionally attached to them. A reliable vehicle is like a trustworthy friend or travel companion. But without a label, what is a loyal companion? Forty percent of motorists, per Capital One, give their cars names. We are not even counting the ones who refuse to acknowledge it.
Some people like to give their vehicles a unique identity by utilizing an original combination of letters on their license plates. Some honor a special musician or a dear old pal by naming automobiles. Whatever the motivation, giving your car a name is a common practice among motorists.
If you want to strengthen your connection with your new ride, giving it a name is a great place to start. In the case of pre-owned automobiles, you may be the seventh or eighth owner. When you buy a pre-owned car, renaming it gives you a fresh start. You can do whatever you want to your car, from making it look how you want to maintain it regularly.
It's amazing how far technology has come in creating your car. Since many of us spend considerable time in our vehicles, it seems only natural to give them names. Say your car has some retro features, like a cassette player with an Elvis tape jammed. Name-dropping with "Elvis" or "Presley" gives your vehicle a cool backstory that other motorists will appreciate.
Put, giving your car a name isn't weird. It's something that's done all around the world by car nuts. We may all take pride in the names we've given our automobiles, whether we chose them out of profound feeling or to make our friends laugh. It's okay if you have no clue what I'm talking about when I talk about names. Those who don't like it won't like it.