Do You Name Your Cars?

I don’t name my cars. In fact, I never once thought I could / should / or would name my car. But now I am wondering if I am in the minority.

The first time I even heard of anyone naming a car was when I heard my daughter-in-law refer to her car as Lulu. “We’re taking Lulu to the park.” What? Who is Lulu? A child from the neighborhood?

When our son recently got a new van, our grandkids named it Trolly, after a character in Daniel Tiger.

And then this week, I learned that my sister-in-law is getting a new car. She picked up her 6-year old twin granddaughters from school one day; and with sad faces, they asked if this was the last time they were going to be riding in “CAR.” She gets her new car tomorrow, and last night, the girls said good-bye to “CAR.” It was a tearful event.

Is this a generational thing? Do people who name their cars feel differently about them than I do? Does my car know it doesn’t have a name? And, oh my gosh, does that mean I am a bad car “mom?

“What about you? Do you name your vehicles?

Saying goodbye to “CAR”
Taking care of Trolly
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Comments (10)

  1. Sue Ogden

    OMG, this is so cool! I never named a car until the mid-2000s and to put that in perspective, I learned to drive in high school in 1966! I was scrapping about a trip in my 1985 motorhome who was named GGB which stood for gas-guzzling-__itch. When towing my Honda CR-V, we got 10 mpg no matter what, uphill, downhill, tail wind, it didn’t matter. 10 was it. So for scrapping, I gave her a 2nd name that was printable: Gas-Guzzling-Babe!!! Then I felt like a bad car owner because my ’98 Honda didn’t have a name. I’m not inventive with names, the best I could do was Curvy but it seemed to fit a fire engine red CR-V! I do remember back in the 60s my uncle called his Oldsmobile “Ol’ Shep”. I never learned why! He had allergies and never had a dog so maybe that’s why he picked that name for his car! Bet there’s lots more funny stories out there! Come on ladies, join in, the ice is broken!!!

    September 12, 2019 at 7:47 pm
    • Karen

      I had a red Honda CRV too. I loved it!!! Thanks for sharing your stories. They made me smile!

      September 13, 2019 at 5:05 am
  2. My friend called her car ‘Oliver’ because it was ‘all-over’ the road…

    September 15, 2019 at 8:43 pm
  3. Sonya

    I’ve never named a car because I have enough problems with all the children, their spouses, grand-children, g-grandchildren names. Sometimes it takes some time remembering the vehicle brand and its type and year. I do remember years ago it seemed that everyone called their vehicles ‘ole Bessie’.
    If any of my friends have a name for their vehicles, I most likely think they are referring to one of their relatives. Guess I’m completely out of the loop!

    September 15, 2019 at 8:51 pm
  4. Judy

    I’ve named several of my cars (to my son’s chagrin). When I was a teenager, the old ’55 (I think) Oldsmobile my dad let my sister and me drive we called The Pig. More recently my hubby and I had a car named BOB for Big Old Buick. The Buick that replaced him was Ruby, and the one that replaced her was Sylvia Can you guess what color each was? Now I drive a rather sporty Honda Accord named Steel Magnolia, Maggie for short. Thanks for asking.

    September 15, 2019 at 9:58 pm
  5. Franghurst

    Like you, I have never named my car. I just refer to it as “the Hyundai” and that’s only because we have two cars. I have a friend that has named her computer, her printer, and her Silhouette (die cutting machine) so I guess anything is probable but it is a bit weird. Ha!.

    September 17, 2019 at 1:48 am
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