I?m one of ?those people? who names their cars. My past two cars were ?Rose? ? a dusty rose Dodge Dynasty that had belonged to my deceased sister-in-law, and Bil (the Swedish word for car) ? a maroon Buick Century. When I had the extreme good luck to adopt a white 2003 Toyota Prius with less than 16,000 miles on it two years ago, I named her ?Priscilla Prius, Princess of the Prairie? (? la the movie ?Priscilla, Queen of the Desert?). I greet her every morning when I click ?unlock? and thank her when I arrive safely at home each night and click ?lock.? She even talks to me whenever I use the GPS!
I named my first car, in 1968. It was a 1963 Oldsmobile Cutlass, white with blue interior. I called it Sebastian. I donât know why; it just came to me. I was just out of college, and I named all sorts of inanimate objects. My lamp was Lucifer.
I named my second car, in 1972. A new Chevrolet Nova, medium blue with cream interior. I called it the Bluebird of Happiness.
Since then, I havenât named any cars, or any other inanimate objects.
YES! INDEED! CARS NEED NAMES!
So far weâve had:
âPrince Valiantâ (a green Plymouth Valiant early 1960âs)
âthe Green DumDumâ (a Dodge Dart, mid 60âs)
âBuster Brownâ (a 1978 VW Dasher Wagon)
âMistyâ ( a silver gray, 1985 VW Quantum sedan)
âBlue Boyâ ( a 1989 blue VW Quantum wagon)
âthe Doodle Bugâ (a black 1991 Isuzu Trooper)
âthe DANG THANGâ ( a 1998 silver gray Subaru sedan) - still driven
bought new in 1999
âCuRRRRvvvVVy!â (a 2002metallic beige, Honda CRV) - still driven
bought used in 2006 with only 26,000 miles on it
ONLY TWO of those cars are/were female:
Misty (the VW Quantum sedan), she was wonderful
CuRRRrvvvVVy! (confusing nameâŠyou say her name as you would
sing out âKirrrrbyâŠPucketâ the BB player who led our
BB team to the great 1987 World Series winâŠBUT
sheâs definitely female!
How is the gender of the car determined? - By how it handles, by how it
looks, by how it acts, and by its temperament:
FEMALE: soft, gentle, enduring but with a touch of unpredictablibilty
[easy to handle in all seasons]
MALE: rough, tough getâer done endurance and reliability
[hard to park, sometimes shows brutish behavior]
All our cars have manual transmission, by the way. Cars with automatic and loads of electronic gadgets probably have no gender: neutered or robots.
Lady Murasaki is my carâs name, after the 11th century Japanese novelist. Ever since she revealed her name to me, I have been in awe of her, and have taken better care of her. She is a 1994 Toyota Corolla, with 134,000 miles on her. I keep a copy of her very own book-- The Tale of Genjiâin the glove compartment.
As an adult, I have never named a car, but my family often named vehicles when I was a kid. We had âWookieâ, a 1976 International Scout Traveler II, so named because it was big, it was beige and it growled. We had âPaddingtonâ, the 1972 green Toyota Land Cruiser - we kids were into the Paddington Bear books at the time.
None of the other cars had names, for some reason. I guess regular cars didnât need names, but the SUV-type vehicles were less refined - more like animals or something - and thus had to be placated with special names. We had a small farm and all the animals had names, of course. The first three steers we raised were âBreakfastâ, âLunchâ and âDinnerââŠ
We totally agree that cars are mechanical devices and thus deserve no particular moniker. However, after buying our Toyota Highlander Hybrid last winter (which, by the way, we love), we developed a special relationship with the voice of the nav system. I enjoyed a pleasantly benign (translate, SILENT) relationship with the thing, but it wasnât long before my husband began to carry on conversations with it. At that point we decided the female voice deserved a name. Although there was no apparent Japanese accent, what better name than Rose? We thought it served the memory of Tokyo Rose quite well! Now I listen to my husband saying things like, âThanks, Rose. You saved me again.â or âQuiet, Rose. I KNOW I missed the damn turn.â or âStop beeping at me, Rosie. I WANT to go this way.â The âthreeâ of us have enjoyed some wonderful trips together in our unnamed Highlander!
Dr. Mary and Mike Framptom-Price
Sometimes the name just comes to you - follow your gut!
We always named our boats in our family so I just started naming my cars too.
My first car was âRitaâ, a 1977 camero rally sport, Rita Rally Sport. I had a 1979 silver Honda Accord named Heidi and later a 1985 gold colored Honda Accord named âGoldie Hondaâ.
My white Jeep Cherokee was named Snowy and my current white Ford Escape is named Ellie.
I donât know if you should name your car, but I always did. I didnât think about gender. My white,'57 TR2 was âScoutâ because it was about half red primer and looked just like Tontoâs horse. Coincidentially, my brother had a black TR3 named âBlack Powerâ. This was the early 70âs, you understand. Then there were the three Datsun/Nissan trucks. âString Beanâ, âPanama Redâ and âWhiteyâ. For obvious reasons. I also had a Renault Carravelle named âRobspierreâ that I called âRobbyâ and an R16 that I couldnât bring myself to name. Mon Dieu!
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Sure, a car is an inanimate object without a soul, but that isnât relevant to the reason whether something is named or not. Donât forget, all cars all come to us named as a brand, for example- a Rolls Royce⊠and then a type: Silver Ghost.
So to say it is stupid to name oneâs car is to take away any personal ability of the owner (who spends more time with the car than anyone else) to identify the beast.
Iâve owned three cars, two of them I bought new. I didnât name the first two, but something by my latest car caused me to name her: âMoonlight Booty.â I think the high booty rear end and her color (silver), and how much darned FUN she is to drive (oh she hugs the curves at high speeds), meant for the first time I felt I was going to get along just fine with this one.
I never named my car until I met my best friend, who tried to name my 1994 940 Volvo station wagon victoria. This seemed odd to me but he continued to call my car Victoria until I changed it to Victor. His rule for naming cars is the name has to start with the letter of the car?s make or color, hence Victor Volvo; his Car is Misty Mitsubishi. I think my Grandpa names his cars based on who made them, something like that.
I don?t think naming a car helps you to take better care of it but does help when your encouraging to do something, like start up after leaving the lights on all day. And it may sound crazy but whenever I?m having trouble finding my car in a parking lot I quietly call out ?Victor, where are you? and I find him within about 30 seconds.We have never named our cars until my husband purchased a red convertible MiniCooper. It is obviously a âsheâ since she is so cute. We named her Emma Peel, and it really fits.
He takes great care of his cars anyway, so I donât think naming makes a difference. But we do talk to the car when necessary.
Chris
Well, Iâm really glad you opened discussion about this topic because I listened to the caller and wanted to share my thoughts.
Itâs bogus that girls name their cars male names. All the girls Iâve ever known who have taken the time to name their cars, have chosen female names. One of them, a car named Miranda, I donât know the reasoning behind.
Others are more clever, play on words sort of names. My cousin, Anna, for example, has a red Ford Focus named Betty. Her full name is actually Hot Box Betty Ford.
My silver Honda Accord went six years before a name finally came. I always knew she was a girl, but a name just wasnât coming to me. Finally, my mom came up with the perfect one. Jane. As in, Jane Honda.
Just thought Iâd let you know that there are definitely many ladies that name their cars female names.
Thanks for the discussion!
Laura
Bend, OR
My husband and I have owned six cars, currently a 1998 Ford Contour (mine) and a 1999 Ford Mustang GT (Jamieâs baby), and have never considered giving any of them a name. We have friends who gave their Mustang GT a name, but we found that rather odd and funny. A car is a transportation tool, not a member of the family.
Mollie
I bought my 2004 Honda CR-V with the inheritance my mother left me, so I named my car in her honor. âMargieâ has been a wonderful vehicle, and I try to take very good care of her.
We call our 2003 car Peaty. Why? Because he is a sharp looking red P.T. Cruiser GT. (Am I supposed to call it Geaty?)
Love your show.
Absolutely. Some cars beg for an identity. My 1966 Sunbeam Alpine which I purchased in 1970 and drove exclusevely until 1990 is named Sir Cedric Green of Coventry. Sir Cedric has never failed to get me back home.
Iâve named one vehicle in my life: my 1974 half-ton Dodge Ram which I regrettably sold five years ago. His name is Richter, so named because he rode about 6.5 on the Richter scale. To each his or her own.
I find that some cars beg to be named, like the Herald Triumph I got in college around Christmas time. I named him HectorâŠyupâŠ"Hector Herald Angels Sing"âŠ
Love your show.
Carol
Iâve named every car Iâve ever owned! My first car was a 1972 Plymouth Duster, the Gump (after a goofy magical creature in one of the Oz books), then I had a white 1986 Mazda B2000 pickup I called Pegasus, then a brown 1988 Bronco II named Bruno, and my current vehicle is a white Subaru Legacy wagon known as the Cosmic Twinkie (long story). As to why people feel the need to name their cars, I believe that our
interactions with our cars can rival the complexity and drama with which we interact with other people. Naming an inanimate object is an attempt to ease the confusion and frustration that can arise from depending on a complex machine to serve our needs, by giving the machine a semblance of a personality. We have lots of practice trying to understand and cope with other personalities, so perhaps a car with a name will be less of a mystery. Or something.