We all give names to babies, and our pets, and sometimes even plants. But some people take it to the extreme by naming their cars.
Giving probably the most inanimate object a personality, and referring to them as if their human.
For many, their car is their pride and joy. So, here’s some names of some metal machine friends and their story behind them.
Imogen and Bumble
Social care worker Imogen Cox, twenty-three from Devon, named her car Bumble because “it’s yellow and black like a bee.”
However, it seems someone else already had that idea…
“It’s also named that because that’s the name it is registered with on a Citroen website from the man I bought it off” she added whilst laughing.
Georgia and Polly
It was just the number plate that lead 19-year-old Georgia McCool to name her SEAT Ibiza Polly. “It’s a little rocket, like Polly Pocket” says the 19-year-old from Cheltenham.
Jack and Roxanne
Jack Bartlett from Manchester has been incredibly original with the idea behind Roxanne. The Peugeot is named after the Police song because she likes to ‘put on her red lights’. Keep making Sting proud Jack!
Thorston and Panda
Second year university student Thorston, has taken inspiration from his Ecology course. His Ford Fiesta clearly has more animal characteristics than human. Maybe it’s the Eco Boost?
“I’m going for the black and white look, and the ecologist side of me prefers the animal name to a human name.”
Alice and Smurfette
It seems some people don’t even get the chance to name their own car. “My mum named my car for me.”
The Citroen C2 is named after ‘Smurfette’ in the Smurf movies, although, I can’t see its white hat anywhere.
Matteo and Marshmallow
Sometimes it’s the simplest things that inspire people’s car names. For example, Matteo Pirelli from Evesham named his Vauxhall Corsa Marshmallow, “just because it’s white and reminds me of one.
Josh and Cliff
Clifford the big red dog is what inspired Josh Jenkins from Wales to name his car. But just to be clear, it’s a fraction of the size.
Codie and Mika
Codie Davies obsession with the hit TV series Waterloo Road was the inspiration behind her name idea.
“Mika was my favourite character from the series, and I was in the middle of re-watching it and I knew the name went really well”.
It seems even the 19-year-olds friends are on board with Mika – “I call her it so much it sticks with everyone, so people are like we need to give Mika a wash”.
Harry and Chevvy
“I suppose Chevvy is kind of a name” says Harry Carne from Brixham. However, he said the bright orange Chevrolet Kalos also went by the name of ‘The Inbetweeners car’ thanks to his brother Dan. Sadly, Chevvy and Harry are no longer friends, because the 25-year-old no longer wanted to look like an old man.
Lucy and Clive
I’m sure you’ve all been highly anticipating the name of my car, which is infamously known as Clive the Clio. I was so proud of myself when I bought the car that it instantly became my life, soul and best friend. So of course, I had to give him a name, it would’ve been rude not too.
I’d always loved the name clementine, but I felt like he was a boy from the start, so I settled for Clem as soon as I bought him. However, my grandma quickly told me it sounded like an STI… so I had to rename him due to her instant disgust of the name.
I then instantly thought of Clive and I never looked back. He just felt like a Clive, and ever since it’s what everyone’s referred to him as. “Clive can take us” they say, “I’ll grab it, it’s in Clive”, “I just need to lock Clive”, “How’s Clive going?.”
Unfortunately, at the end of last year, Clive passed away on the M5 in the outside lane. It was a tragic death that I’m still mourning. Myself and my family gave him a deserved send off, however he’s now probably about the size coin after being crushed. But, in loving memory, I kept the number plate and broke of the Clio emblem from the front of the car as some memorabilia of my best friend.
It seems even Fiat are a fan of naming cars. The company launched a service where you can get a unique name sticker for your car.
But what do the experts say?
Scrap Car Network say: “Our tendency to see faces in things is an innate evolutionary trait.”
“Shared experiences can provide a powerful basis for emotional connection, and we go through a lot of experiences with our car”.
Do you name your car?
