{"id":6219,"date":"2015-10-15T05:35:43","date_gmt":"2015-10-14T19:35:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.privatefleet.com.au\/?p=6219"},"modified":"2020-06-20T01:01:36","modified_gmt":"2020-06-19T15:01:36","slug":"nicknames-for-cars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/makes-models\/nicknames-for-cars\/","title":{"rendered":"Nicknames For Cars"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"General<\/a>

General Lee<\/p><\/div>\n

There\u2019s something about cars \u2013 at least cars that have been well designed by human beings rather than computers and algorithms \u2013 that makes them into a sort of mechanical animal. Given that we spend as much time with our cars as we do with our pets, it\u2019s no surprise, therefore, that we give silly nicknames to our cars.\u00a0 Some of us go to the point of getting a personalised plate with the name on.<\/p>\n

Oddly enough, even if you decide to give your car a nickname, it might not stick.\u00a0 Over the years, I have attempted to christen several of the vehicles owned by the family but only a handful of them have stuck.\u00a0 These have been Goldbug (Morris 1300), Suzy (Isuzu Bighorn), Roger The Blute (blue Nissan Navara<\/a> ute) and Dinky-Wee (Daihatsu Charade).\u00a0 Why these nicknames stuck while others didn\u2019t is uncertain. My attempts, for example, to christen the Saab I used to own and the Volvo I currently drive The Valkyrie and Hilda respectively, never quite came off.\u00a0 However, somebody else referred to that Saab as The Eurobeast and that name stuck.\u00a0 Sometimes, I wonder if the car itself has a say in its naming.<\/p>\n

\"kitt_1\"<\/a>

Kitt<\/p><\/div>\n

How cars acquire nicknames is another story.\u00a0 Colour, make and the letters on the licence plate all seem to play their part.\u00a0 My grandmother, for instance, used the letters on the licence plate to christen her Alfa Romeo Lorenzo (plate had LZ in it) and the red Fiat <\/a>Uno Orlando (plate with OR) (Italian names for Italian cars \u2013 my grandmother was nuts about all things Italian).\u00a0 Sometimes two factors get used: our Roger The Blute takes its name from the licence plate letters (RJ) and the colour (blue), with \u201cblute\u201d being a portmanteau word combining \u201cblue\u201d and \u201cute\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"BumblebeeCamaro-05\"<\/a>

Bumblebee<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Research seems to support this hunch. One survey in the UK found that 30% of people who gave their cars nicknames used the licence plate, while 27% used the car\u2019s \u201cpersonality\u201d, 16% used the make or model name as a starting point, 8% used the colour and another 8% just chose something they liked. The same study found that 50% of female drivers and 33% of men gave their cars names, and that those aged 18\u201324 were most likely to name their cars: 70% of this age group in the study had done so, compared to 30% of those over 65.<\/p>\n

That same British study found that the most popular nicknames for cars were as follows:<\/p>\n