A Brief History
On October 2, 2023, Americans celebrate National Name Your Car Day. A tradition since before the 1990 inaugural “holiday” for naming cars, one poll indicates about 40% of Americans name their car.
Digging Deeper
We name our children, pets, boats, and sometimes homes or even body parts, but cars have a special place in the hearts of Americans. Sometimes a “love-hate” relationship, at least according to Adam Sandler! Female names account for a majority of car names, although some famous ones had male names, such as The General Lee, Herbie, and Kit, all from TV or movies.
You can pick an aggressive name, a derogatory name, a cuddly name, or a lover’s name for your ride, and some websites even offer to help you make a choice. We say do not name your car after a lover. You might not want to dump your car when you get dumped!
Question for students (and subscribers): Have you named your car? If not, please tell us about your car and we may recommend a name! Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Krause, William. Hollywood TV and Movie Cars. Motorbooks, 2001.
Publications International Ltd. and Auto Editors of Consumer Guide. 100 Cars That Changed the World: The Designs, Engines, and Technologies That Drive Our Imaginations. Publications International, Ltd., 2020.
The featured image in this article, a photograph by Morky91 of an Italian replica of the Ecto-1 as seen in Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021), is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
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