Ask Lemmy

I always name them, but I have no naming scheme per se, other than vibes. First car I ever owned was a light blue 83 Cutlass - that was "Bob". Had an early 90s Dodge Shadow with a v6 and that was "Pepe." Most recent is a 2010 VW Final Edition convertible w/ blue & white two tone paint and she's "Elsa." The names just always seem to be there already when I get them.

Only ever named one of them...

Petey.

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I dont usually name my cars, but my first car kind of naturally developed one over time:

Het Groene Gevaar

Meaning "The Green Danger", so called because it was green and had no airbags.

I loved that car

I have a Mercury. It's name is Freddy. Freddy the Mercury.

Edit: hey! That's the wrong "its," me! Get your shit together!

I'm gonna go against the grain and say no, I don't name my cars other than what they are - my "Subaru" and my "Mazda". If I got another car from the same manufacturer, then I'd switch it to the model like my " Forester" and my "323"

However, I do have a friend whose family has a designated learner car that they call "Socks" simply because the number plate ends in SOX

I have a relatively new car thats already had an engine swap. Nicknamed "the wreck" or "Raset" in Swedish. No, it wasn't my driving, the shop fucked up, long story.

My other car, an old Renault box van, hasn't got a name. It looks like it does, but inspiration hasn't struck yet and it might not ever.

To name a car, the car needs to deserve it, have personality. Not any old car gets named.

I name my bicycles.

Steely Fran is my touring and every day ride (she's a Salsa Vaya, a steel-frame gravel bike)

Moon Unit is my fat-tire bike for snow, dirt, and rockhopping fun.

Titine. Doesn't matter what car is it, all cars are Titine. I think it's very french.

Got two cars: one with a hook and one without. With a hook, then it's male, so it's called Herman. The other is called Embla.

My others cars were called, in no particular order: Bob, Betty White, Alfred, Ellie.

Our car is called Tufje, based on some letters on the license plate.
My dad came up with the name as a joke and it kind of stuck.

My wife calls our Mondeo "Fordeus", which I find super cringy but I allow it.

Only one of my cars was named, and not by me.

My friend called my Peugeot 406 the "Chariot of Dreams"

RIP, Chariot of Dreams (2012-2014) 🫡

Yes, currently Robert RedFord and Suby Roo.

My current car is an old heap called "Adventure Car" which earned it's moniker after I did a bunch of off-roading with it, expecting to kill it and then get something newer ... it not only didn't break but is still going strong 5 years later.

Many of my previous cars haven't had names, but all my motorbikes have.

I have had these ones: All Volvo, all station wagons.

• "De kat in de zak" (pig in a poke) - A red Volvo 240 named so because it was a pig in a poke (Name was given afterwards)
• "Het lek in de nek" (The leak in the neck) - A silver Volvo 240 that had a sunroof which could open and it leaked. Everytime I had to brake after a rainstorm, I risked a generous gulp of cold water in my neck. (Name was given in the last few months we had her)
• "De Noordkaper" (the North Caper) - A Grey Volvo 240 that had, before we bought it, taken part in a rally to the North Cape. (This one had her name from the start)
• "Je Reed Heel netjes" (You drove very neatly) - A red Volvo 940, named after the license plate. Its name originally was in present tense but on a fateful new year's eve it fell victim to arson and burned to a crisp. It was a good car and I hated to see her go.
• "De Barones" A fabulous luxurious old dark blue Volvo 960 with a purring six cylinder and flaky paint. It drove like a bat out of hell and I really loved that car. Unfortunately she started to sag in the back and the repairs got way too expensive to keep her.
• "Het Bakbeest" (The Beast) - my most recent car, a Volvo XC90 that is way too modern for my taste. It is big, heavy and chockfull of computers. It is a solid tank but I prefer the older Volvo types.

I have a pink fiat 500 called Lady Penelope

I named my Mustang Sally.

I've named mine after Immortan Joe's "wives" in Fury Road.

My first one was yellow and ancient so had quite a short life expectancy (a 2003 Suzuki Ignis, bought in 2020) so it became Splendid.

Next a white Fiat Panda, The Dag.

Now I have an electric in silver (I didn't have a choice of colour) so I decided to sort of break the pattern and named it Ms. Giddy after the teacher of the "wives".

Hopefully the next one will be red and will be called Capable.

no. a lot of people around me do but i have never really been able to anthropomorphise like that. what's it like?

The first vehicle I owned had no name. My friends kept asking what was named and I kept explaining "it's a car. It gets me from point 🅰️ to point 🅱️." I selected the car for it's high fuel efficiency (record-breaking at the time) and general low total cost of ownership (TCO).

Not wanting to repeat the same conversation again, my second vehicle was named "Prius" and had they/them pronouns. Prius was a simple minded car, and liked car related things. Unfortunately, Prius met an untimely early end it got totaled by another driver (roommate was driving it, but the accident was 100% other driver's fault).

For my third vehicle - another Prius, I immediately noticed her subtle feminity and her adventurous spirit. I'm gay, so it's an immediate gal pal vibes .I named her, "Yetta" - and I knew we were destined to do crazy things together (and indeed we have!) She deserved a middle name fitting my plans for us. Taking a sort of mad hatter vibe, she got the middle name "Nutter".

And that is the story I now tell my friends about how I got Yetta Nutter Prius.

I had Fofus, Lancy and now Yogi.

My cars name is Otto Moe Bill

Our newest car we got of Friday the 13th. Named it Jason. Have a mask facing backwards on one of the back seat headrests.

Toyota Camry-Nairobi (favorite character from Money Heist)

Chevrolet Impala-Bessie (she's an old but reliable cow)

CFMOTO motorcycle-Medianoche (it's all black).

I had an old Meriva I called her Marge. She was tall and blue. But my 2008 Lexus SUV … I can’t name it. Nothing sticks man. Occasionally I call it Lexy

I had Horsybird 1, Horsybird 2 and Dobby. My current one doesn't have a name.

I've named mine except for my current one. None of the names have felt right. I have to fix a major problem with the soft top cover deck, so that may inspire me.

It's frustrating because it's a great car and it's fun to drive. Maybe we just haven't bonded fully yet.

I have a red prius named Lobstah and a Nissan names Paul.

My mate had a crappy old van for his run around because it was the cheapest thing he could get his hands on, we called it the Red Enigma. My brother has a crappy old silver hatchback that was actually pretty fast and we called it the Silver Bullet.

So I guess, colour and whatever sounds right.

A couple years ago I had a neighbor named Patrick, and although we didn't have assigned parking at my apartment, we all tended to gravitate to the same spot regardless if others were available, and I parked next to Patrick's car nearly every everyday.

Wife starts calling our car "SpongeBob" cuz it's always next to Patrick.

To this day, as we're doing things like leaving a store forgetful of where we parked, she'll say something like "where's SpongeBob?"

10/10

Only one of my cars has earned a name, otherwise its just "that shitbox"or "the daily"

My blue VW Golf project car I'm always tweaking, modifying and breaking because I'm not a mechanic, thus it often forgets how to car, and it has black and yellow accents. So it's been christened "Dory"

Honda Pilot - Goose (top gun reference) Minivan - Vincent (van Go[gh]! pun) Motorcycle - Stormy (named after Odd Thomas character) First Car - Sexy (doctor who reference)

Baby Shark. Because... it kinda looks like a shark? (Blue Mitsubishi Outlander Sport/ASX, depends on the country)

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The Nihilus. My gateway to anywhere.

Lumpi, in German "Lumpen" means "rag" or "rags", its a 20 year old Dacia Sandero with 170.000 kilometers.

My Truck is named Earle.

My wife’s car is name scarlet.

My jetski is named Blue Five.

Black Dahlia - old Chevy s10 truck and I was a moody teen

Frank - old gold ford explorer that was a grumpy old man

Madame Red - Oldsmobile Ciera that was red

Ares - black ford explorer that was an old undercover police vehicle and a tank

Nessie - silver ford explorer. Full name Vanessa, V for short (5th car, Roman numeral 5)

Mysia - blue rav4. Absolutely loved this car. Got rear ended and totaled within 4 months.

Athena - Nissan rogue

Bonus: my husband’s cars

Barney - purple car but named for the how I met your mother character

Mozzie - named for the white collar character

Sylvie - named for the Loki character

I called by previous car Trolvo. My current one is Lolvo.

You will never guess the brand...

Not really but we occasionally refer to it as "Big Black" for obvious reasons.

I theme the name based on the car. It could be the model, or it could be what it is known for.

I had a VW GTI named “Gertie”.

Currently I have a Subaru STI named “Satori”, and a Hyundai Ioniq 5 named “Electra”.

Any name that seems to fit the character of the car. In hindsight, based on personifying the car's flaws.

One was a Saturn SL2 that had a leaky exhaust, sometimes hesitated to start, and the automatic transmission shifted aggressively. Oscar, because it seemed grouchy all the time.

Another was a manual transmission Volkswagen Passat 2.0 with a tiny turbo and some neat safety features that still worked, including automatically holding the brakes for a hill start to prevent rolling backward. Not particularly fast, but once it got going it just kept accelerating up through the gears, as if rising to a challenge. I named it Walter, it just seemed to fit.

My current car is a 2014 Ford Focus with the "bad" transmission. It needs to either go or stop, asking it to accelerate too slowly burns up the clutches in a hurry, thus the terrible reputation for the dual clutch automatic. The harder I accelerate, the better the gas milage, up until it starts spinning the tires.

Idk what to call this one.

TIL: people name their cars. Honest question, unless you have several identical cars, why?

I don't own a car, but my bicycle is named Aneth. It's French for "dill", pronounced the same as the name "Annette".

I like dill and "Aneth la bicyclette" rhymes.

In our house we have Cedric the Civic, Minnie the Mini, and Pedro the Polo.

My current car is named the Goose, I had never named one before. No particular reason, but I got goose license plate holders and a goose with a knife sticker on the side of the mirror to embellish the ensemble. Still need a good goose to put in the back

1970 Chevrolet Impala: Liberty (I bought it from a guy in Liberty, KY).

1997 Nissan 200SX SE-R: Dot (It was Pacific Blue)

2003 Acura TL: Sally (Generic name for a generic car)

2014 Camry LE: Pearl (It was Cosmic Mica Gray which gave the car a pearlescent sheen).

I currently have a 2019 Camry Hybrid XLE, but have yet to name it. I'm leaning toward "Betty", because the car has so many warnings, alarms, and notifications that I feel like I'm being bitched at when I drive it.

I have owned several cars over the years that I never named. My absolute favorite car I've ever owned was a 1985 Corolla GT-S that I raced in Pro Solo for a few years and it never received a name. The next car I owned was a 1992 Sentra SE-R and it never got a name either. Also had a 1969 Chevelle that I drag raced in my teen years, but no name there.