I’ve always named my car with names most commonly associated with big black dudes. My first, a Mazda 6, was called Denzil, and my current Audi A3 is called Linton. No idea why, and problematic as niether Audis nor Mazdas really have any personallity.
I have had some cars I owned for 20 years, never named them, I have not named my boat either, but thinking about it, my beautiful galaxy boat silver flake coating had a transom that failed, I wanted an aluminum boat to swap the motor to. I went to look at a Lund and dang if the boat is fiberglass. No I do not want a fiberglass boat. But I will deliver it for free! so now my 86 90 horse is powering a 70’s lund fiberglass boat, pea soup green. It still gets up to 35mph with 100 lbs of sand under the closed bow, yes I have trim controls, but for a 3 week a year boat I can deal with it and name the boat split pea. That reminds me of a really bad joke I heard recently, see new post.
I have had two cars that were named by “friends”. The first was a 1960 Green Valiant 4 door, which was named the “GREEN LATIENE”. The second was a 1961 Chevy Biscayne 2 door, which was named :THE BLUE GOOSE".
Every car I’ve ever owned was named “Gypsy” because it moves around… I never even considered it male or female - I only named because I thought it was fun to do. I am a female and a 64 year old mother and grandmother. 
And, I love your show!
In my language things (such as cars) have gender. Unlike Italian or Spanish, the gender is not on the name, it is on the verb when you make a sentence. There are no rules: the general convention is that a cute or small thing is usually a she and an ugly or old (or big) thing is a he. The beautiful morning sun is a she and the blistering afternoon sun (same word) is a he.
My mom and her husband, my buddy, Chuck have three vehicles (they do not speak my language, by the way). They named the Nissan Sentra “doctor X” because the license plate has DR X in it (this one is a she), they named the Suzuki Samurai “Sammy”, and they named the big 'ol pick-up truck “Bubba” (obviously a he). They let me drive Sammy when I go visit them.
I’m a guy and I’m not that into naming cars. My wife likes the idea of naming cars though and named her 2003 Saab 9-5 Aero “Saabrina”. I haven’t named my Honda Accord Hybrid. There’s nothing wrong though with naming a car.
All my vehicles have earned their names. My old '84 Lesabre was, “The Retarded Kitten”, my '02 Grand Am is “Politiac” after a rather poorly written parking ticket, and my truck is proudly monikered, “Bin Eating”.
Naming a car an affectionate name seems to end up with people more aggressive if it should happen that they get in an accident (regardless of fault), I think. It’s likely more of a symptom than a cause, though (they named it because they are overly attached to it).
Most vehicles are females because they come from the motherland. My first named vehicle was a scooter. Her name was Endora (think Bewitched). Presently I have a BMW named Otto. Since he comes from der faderland, he had to have a fine male name: Otto the Auto! It really doesn’t mean anything, it’s just fun.
So Robert has acquired a truck which, much to his dismay, comes with the previuos owners monicker, “Mark”. Robert is unsettled about the gender issue.
Consider the following:
Trucks, by design, are a sort of workhorse. Most are rigged for towing. If Robert approaches the rear of the truck, he may see a trailer ball (or two) mounted on the bumper. If so, the truck is male.
If instead, the truck carries a receiver for the trailer hitch to go in (and out), then the previous owner has clearly mis-identified the truck gender, and Robert can rename the truck to suit.
If necessary, Robert may decide to see his neighborhood welder who has a procedure available to make a change.
With this in mind, there appears to be a clear path to a solution which Robert might find satisfactory.
Mike Bell
Edmonds, Washington
I agree, naming cars is silly.
My cars have been Tonto (used 1980 Ford Mustang shared with my brother), Hiawatha (used 1986 Honda Accord - my first car out of college), Geronimo (1996 Nissan 200SX SE-R - my first NEW car), and Alice (2012 Nissan Altima, named Alice because she’s blue). My wife’s were Sweet Pea (used 1980 Honda Prelude), Constance (1995 Honda Civic - HER first new car), and Henrietta (2003 Honda Odyssey, “Henri” for short).
Each car’s name has ended up matching their respective personalities exactly.
We’ve always named our cars, and they have always been female names - except one, Edgar. In general, our cars were always great, reliable and high performing vehicles. But Edgar, well, after $2K and still not running well, we junked him and cut our losses. We haven’t had a male car since and all our cars since have been great…until now. I got the bright idea to name our Jetta Franzo, a male version of Frances with a Mexican twist because he was made in Mexico. He’s falling apart. I can only hope he lasts another year. I would change his name/gender, but that might smack of superstition, and I can’t do superstition, because it’s bad luck.
Of course you should name your vehicles. Who do you swear at when it doesn’t start? I’ve had two AMC Eagles named Nellie and Nellie II, a Mercury Grand Marquis named Mark, a Ford Crown Victoria named Vic, a Mercury Mountaineer named Monty and now I’m driving a 2001 Chevy S-10 named the Jolly Green Chevy. The vehicles have male or female names depending on their personalities. And make no mistake, they do have personalities. Just think about it.
All my cars are male, of course. My current bright red 4Runner is called Istanbul 'though I usually shout something like “come on The Bull” when I’m trying to pass out some fancy, schmancy car. The truck that I had before that (which I bought from an ex-boyfriend for $1. I think he was glad to be rid of both of us!) was an "85 Toyota pick-up. It was black with a white stripe, looked like an orca and so was named “The Whale”. Previous to that I had a Ford Fiesta called Joseppi which was used in a back robbery shortly after I sold it. It was a flyer all right!
I have pet rats too, all male, would you like me to start naming them???
You are right when you said a car does don’t have ahave a soul. Does the Puzzler have a soul? Why does it get a month vacation every year? If you can give the Puzzler a vacation, I believe you should understand why peoplre give their cars Names!
My wife has named her 99 Chrysler 300 “Cecelia” cause she’s “breaking my heart, and shaking my confidence daily”
I’ve had lots of beaters which all seemed to have their own personalities. My first was an '89 Pontiac Sunbird I named the Bethmobile. After totalling that, I got my grandma’s '79 Chrysler Lebarron that my friends named the Deathmobile. I had a '92 Pontiac Grand Am named “Big Red” that had a broken a/c, power steering, and driver’s window in summer in Myrtle Beach.
However, when I got older and started buying cars I could drive with less, we’ll say trepidation, the names never came to me. Right now I drive a '10 Corolla, but it has no name, although I tried to figure one out. It does have a theme song, though! (To the tune of “My Sharona”) It’s “Ma-ma-ma MY COROLLA!”
We have a 1960 Jag XK150 that was my mother’s car. We call the car “Virginia” after my mother and the license plate is VCD 60, her initials and the cars born-on date.
Of course people should name their cars, the same way you name a ship, or a space shuttle. And, just like with ships or space shuttles, the name should either be female or not gender specific. If you name your car a male name, that’s the wrong name for your car.
Besides, people name their pet fish, and fish can’t even do anything!
I have been taking care of “Goldie” my 1990 Volvo 240DL for 15 years so that my son could drive her when he gets his license.
Well he got his license this morning and her name is now “Sloppy Jalopy”.
I can’t handle it!
Given the technologic advances in automotive technology, cars may someday be naming their owners. Robert may well rename his car to reflect the opposite gender but may feel sexually conflicted when his car starts calling him Roberta!