At the risk of starting what may be a slightly contentious thread (yeah, right…), I am curious as to what peeps think of the act of giving their car a personal name. Is this taking the love of their Deux Chevaux a teeny step too far, or is it an expected part of the natural bonding process betwixt mankind and basic machine? (You can reposition that ‘basic’ if you like.)

A quick perusal of the ‘Your A-series’ thread suggests that most peeps simply don’t name their wagons, or at least fail to admit that they do. Others do so – and proudly.

And where do these names come from? Some – the best ones, imo – are witticisms based on the peculiarities of the vehicles in question; Galvanizer, Slamboo, Mylo, etc. strike me as being pretty nifty examples. Others are perhaps a bit too ‘cutesy’ and are as likely to invite a ‘keying’ of the vehicle when the owner isn’t looking as much as an “Ooooh – ain’t that sweet…”

(Ok, holding my hands up here, I have to confess I originally introduced my 2 2CVs with terribly contrived monikers – Bugsy and Birdie. I hereby call on mitigating circumstances which include (a) my wife, and (b) my kids. Oh, and (c) me being too chicken to admit I, too, was involved in the naming process.)

So, what’s yours called?! And why? And, why not? Or, what do you think of car names? Or naming cars in general? Or the people who name cars? (As I said, not in the least bit contentious…)

(My Charlie will be having a seeing-to fairly soon, so its name will very likely change from the original ‘Bugsy’ which was based on the plans of it becoming a black & red ladybug. I’ve since toyed the idea of covering most of the panels with road maps of the world, which I thought would look nifty along with black wings. Or, perhaps keeping the colours fairly neutral – perhaps white body with black wings - but with ancient maps of t’Worlde stuck on t’doors. With either of these options, I would likely have named my car ‘Tout’ (pronounced ‘Toot’) for ‘Tout Le Monde’ (gettit? fnurr fnurr). And then, after seeing Old Nail’s beautiful car in the stunning pastel shade he chose, I’ve since been thinking I might keep things more traditional. In which case ‘Deux Rigueur’ comes to mind as a suitable name (oh my - slaps thigh…))

So, what’s your loves and hates in the naming business?

(PS. I'm off on a couple of weeks holiday, so won't be able to look at this until I return. Keep it calm, eh?)

I don't name mine, in the same way I don't have a name for my fridge or my cooker. It's a car, not a pet, and giving it a name (apart from "the f**king car" when it plays up ) would feel incredibly twee. But each to their own and all that.

I rarely name them unless they have a very obvious numberplate issue going on, in which case it's normally forced upon me. Although my first ever bike was called daffodil because it was yellow. I've had a fair few cars now but the only ones with names were...

E345 BJA - Toyota CarinaII GLIi Exec - "BJ"
KY53 FAJ - Vauxhall Vectra 2.2Dti Elite - "Jelly" or "The FAJ mobile"
DEX 959Y - Citroen CX Prestige (mk1) - "Dexy"

The Dyane gets called "The Dyane" as we've a red spesh and my Dyane.

I don't really go for the "oh lets call our car gertrude" thing, but hey, we all have our own minds.

A Brummie nut loosening tool, I2F member, names all his cars and has tried to instill that in me , but I don't really give names to things(I don't have any pets, even), but so many people seem to think it should have a name, that I've given it one-originally Daisy, but as the nut loosening tool's other half has a 2cv named Daisy, I've changed it to Emilie (but to me, it's "the Citroen", "the 2cv", or "the Deuche").

PS:-The problem is, the car has a femmine name, but I'm sure it's a bloke of a car......Oh well, John Wayne's real name was Marion, so.......

I don't, and I try not to refer to other peoples cars by the names they have given them. Not my thing.

yea same i just go with "dyane" or "the Beige Mobile" as HWX 623V is kinda a crap numberplate to make a name out of

No names here .... my 2CV is refered to as the "2cv" ....it used to be "2CV" ....until my C4 came along,but somehow now "2cv" & "C4" seem easier [my previous other car was a BXtzd,simply known as "the B"] .....wifey's Direwoo Matitz is similarly refered to as "the 'Tiz" [or "that F'kin thing" ....depending how charitable I'm feeling].
My bikes are also refered to as "Green 'un,Black 'un & Orange 'un" .....I recently sold "Little 'un" ....so called 'cos it was also green,but the smallest engine cc size.

T.

Jeepers, it's almost 4 am - and I'm the only pansy on this thread so far...

Did I mention - cough - that it was really my wife 'n kids wot named the ca... Ok, you don't believe me.

Anyways, I know that you all - at one time or another - sneaked out to your garages and sat behind the wheel of your newly-purchased As and went 'thrum thrum' as you tried out different names for your beloved...

Well! When I first got my car I was designing a logo for a web site consultancy by the name of 'Fizzy Pixel' so my idea was a square/diamond with fizzy bubbles floating off!..... After a lot of graphic simplification I ended up with lots of blue bubbles floating round my head so decided to re-use and arrange them on my car! Once they where on 'Bubbles' seemed an appropriate name for the slightly quirky thing I've created!

She is really fun stuff too... Really! I sometimes just have to just sit at the wheel and the world is just perfect!

How refreshing,

i cant abide all that anthropomorphic crap, its a car it has no mind of its own.

Youll get much more mileage out of the name thing over on 2cvgb

Sean