Americans love their cars. They love them so much, in fact, that you’ll often hear people refer to their ride as their “baby.” And what’s one of the very first things we do with our babies? We name ’em … for better or worse (just ask that boy named Sue from the Johnny Cash song). And according to surveys, the very same goes for our cars.
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Some of the most famous anthropomorphically monikered cars include a 1958 Plymouth Fury named “Christine,” a 1963 Volkswagen Beetle named “Herbie,” a 1982 Pontiac Trans Am named “KITT” and a 1969 Dodge Charger named “General Lee.” But Hollywood isn’t the only place that names its cars. In a new Cars.com study released just in time for National Name Your Car Day, more than half of respondents reported having christened their car with a “personal name.”
More than three-quarters of car-namers came up with the nickname themselves — but like any lasting nickname, it really should come from someone else (see “The Cluck Bucket” in the list below). The remaining 21 percent of people’s car names came from family, friends and significant others. Some folks did it as a joke, others out of sentimental reasons — but more than a third didn’t have any reason at all.
Categories of names ranged from being a descriptor of the vehicle to “completely random,” and from a fictional character’s name to that of a real-world celebrity. Single-name variations were most popular, with Max, Ruby and Sally topping the list, while more descriptive names like Black Beauty, Silver Bullet and Big Betty were also common.
Pickup truck owners are also prone to nicknaming their vehicles, with 27 percent reporting doing so out of pure love for their pickup, according to a new Chevrolet study. The most common truck names, Chevy says, are Betsy and Big Red.
Unsurprisingly (OK, I’m lying, I was actually pretty surprised), members of the Cars.com Editorial staff are particularly inclined to personify their car with a unique name, and you can pretty much see all of the trends from the survey represented.
Here are our past and present autos’ aliases: