We call our loved ones by pet names, so why not name our cars? There’s even a “National Name Your Car Day” which proves you’re not crazy, just passionate about what you drive.
Nationwide Insurance conducted a poll to see just how many people name their cars and it turns out that, according to their survey, about 25 percent of us love our cars enough to give them names. The age group that is most likely to give their car a moniker is 18- to 34-year-olds with 36 percent of them picking a name. Women are also more likely than men to give their cars a name.
I am going to admit that I’ve named a bunch of my cars. The first car I ever drove, a silver 1980 Buick Century that was my Dad’s hand-me-down company car, was dubbed the Silver Bullet. No, I have no idea how my high school friends and I arrived at that moniker.
It was big. It worked. It could carry an very large number of my friends at one time and I loved the thing, but fast it was not. Still, I loved that car and wherever the name came from it stuck until the poor Silver Bullet met its final demise thanks to a guy who thought stopping at red lights was optional.
I remember a childhood friend whose parents had an absolutely huge station wagon. She was yellow with faux wood paneling on the sides and her name was Jezebel. We rode in the “back back” looking out the rear window, without seat belts.
There was also a neighbor who went to Sweden to pick up a bright red Saab that she decided to give a Swedish name. She named it Rödluvan, which is Swedish for Little Red Riding Hood. There was even a vanity plate to match which is now on her bright red Audi.
So, no, you aren’t crazy for naming your car. Although the guy I saw with “SAY10” vanity plates has me a bit worried.
Check out this video of today’s Buicks which would leave my old Silver Bullet in the dust.
Nicole Wakelin fell in love with cars as a teenager when she got to go for a ride in a Ferrari. It was red and it was fast and that was all that mattered. Game over. She considers things a bit more carefully now, but still has a weakness for fast, beautiful cars. Nicole also writes for NerdApproved and GeekMom.
