People who name their cars, how can you tell if a car's a girl or a boy?

". ." (xllx)
04/06/2016 at 14:17 • Filed to: None

Or do you just use gender neutral names? I’m genuinely curious.

DISCUSSION (52)

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > . .
04/06/2016 at 14:23

I don’t have a name for mine.

cletus44 aka Clayton Seams > . .
04/06/2016 at 14:25

I’ve always named my cars after women. Decided to buck the trend and gave one car a masculine name. That car broke down and screwed me out of a ton of money. Lesson learned and I have never given another car a male name since.

1983 Datsun 280ZX - Suzy
1988 Pontiac Firebird Formula - *Male name
1989 Suzuki Swift GTi - Lily
1966 Chevrolet Impala - Marilyn
1969 Chrysler Newport - Peggy
1969 Lotus Europa - Twiggy

m-b-w loves his SUBAROO > . .
04/06/2016 at 14:25

I’ve had a mix

Kyra the Kia Soul- female

Gavin the Volvo 850- Male

April (as in April Ludgate from Parks and Rec) the Subaroo- Female

Blurple Shitbox the Hyundai Elantra- Gender Neutral

itschrome > . .
04/06/2016 at 14:25

My car is always a girl.

But names aren’t usually flattering to a gender

For instance my current car, Brown 2009 Impala LT is the Buffalo. because she is big, brown and slow. I also bought her in Buffalo but that’s just a happy coincident

All my Sevilles have been the USS battleship Chrome.

My dodge Aries K was: The rally K

My jeep wagoneer was: The Urban Terrorist

ect...

You get the point.

But in casual terms it’s all ways just “She”

vicali > . .
04/06/2016 at 14:27

Boys gas cap is on the left, girls on the right...

BorkBorkBjork > . .
04/06/2016 at 14:29

Kinja'd!!!

Just lift up their skirt and check

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > . .
04/06/2016 at 14:29

I just use a gender neutral non-human nickname.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > . .
04/06/2016 at 14:31

***From a male perspective—reversible***

If you love it and take good care of it, it’s a she. If you beat the crap out of it but take care of it immediately and properly when things go wrong, it’s a bro.

Personally I’m right in the middle. But then, I don’t have a name for it. I don’t think anyone puts this much thought into it anyway. You either name it or you don’t, it’s spur of the moment and more based on the personality it seems to have than anything. Eg, I’d call a Land Cruiser something along the lines of Winston. Tough, determined, and capable no matter what it does or doesn’t look like.

. . > vicali
04/06/2016 at 14:32

That’d indicate that my Fiat is male and my Mercedes is female. Hmm.

jariten1781 > . .
04/06/2016 at 14:32

Mechanical thingys are traditionally gendered female. Looked into it a while ago and there’s no consensus as to why (lots of theories, but the real why is lost to the sands of time) but it goes back nearly a millennium.

Mercedes Streeter > BorkBorkBjork
04/06/2016 at 14:33

But...but... :D

64Mali > . .
04/06/2016 at 14:33

Mostly been girls,

1991 Bonneville : Ruby
2007 Mazda 6: Tama
2012 F250: Beast
2005 Mazda 6: Phoenix
2005 Escape: Escape` (EssCahPeh)
1999 GMC Suburban : Towburbabn
2014 Fiesta: Catfish

I think I must have started to give up

Mercedes Streeter > . .
04/06/2016 at 14:35

I usually choose guy names for inanimate objects that I name. Reason being is because a number of my childhood heroes (Preston Tucker, Nikola Tesla, etc) are guys. Hence, my smart is named Tucker.

interstate366, now In The Industry > . .
04/06/2016 at 14:35

My cars are always female. One is named Cosima (after the Orphan Black character), one is named Lucky, and the third has no name. Cosima definitely has a distinctly female personality but I wouldn’t say it matches the character I named it after.

V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > . .
04/06/2016 at 14:35

Size. My S600 is klaus, but anything smaller(Miata) would be feminine if I named it.

smobgirl > . .
04/06/2016 at 14:35

Cars (and most pets) get non-gendered names from me. Cat named have included Dummy, Skunk, Biscuit, Piggy, and Spot. The Tercel is the banana slug, the high school Caddy was the Jolly Green Giant. I haven’t named the Fiat yet...still too new to have a character of its own.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > . .
04/06/2016 at 14:36

Mines a woman because she’s good companionship, interesting, useful and occasionally unbelievably frustrating. Just like my better half.

JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t > . .
04/06/2016 at 14:36

You’ll know...

A sampling from my history:

2014 FieSTa: “Pickle” or “The Dread Pirate Roberts”, boy.

2011 Hyundai Elantra Touring: “Paco”, boy

2000 Toyota Corolla CE: “Timmy”, boy

1997 Buick LeSabre Limited “CarZilla”, girl

1992 Alfa Romeo 164-S “Ixell”, girl

1989 Mazda Protege LX “The Mach 5", gender neutral

1982 Volvo 242 Racecar “Green Jello”, gender neutral

1998 Volvo V70 AWD “Helga”, girl

1997 BMW F650 “Buttercup”, girl

2005 MZ 125SM “Victor” (pronounced wick-TORRR), boy

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > . .
04/06/2016 at 14:37

We have two dogs and I call them both Doggie.

marshknute > . .
04/06/2016 at 14:38

Well, mine looks like this, so obviously it’s a he, and his name is Bumblebee.

Kinja'd!!!

Alex Zapata > . .
04/06/2016 at 14:38

All my cars tend to be a he, all SUVs tend to be she, however, it is not natural to me to name my cars, don’t know why, it just isn’t, but there are a few nicknames I’ve used in the past:

I called the Mini and call the Juke “Moco”- means Booger (because they are small)

I called the Speed, The Beast, because he was.

I called the 4Runner “La Gorda” - Meaning The Fat One, because she was.

Normally we just call them by their Brand Names, if we have multiple of one at a time we go to whatever we can short the Model Name to, eg. We call my 350Z “The Z” and the Juke “El Moco” or “The Juke”

I do have a friend that puts women’s names to his cars, his Civic was Thirteen (after Olivia Wild on House) which was quite funny.

TheD0k_2many toys 2little time > . .
04/06/2016 at 14:39

usually someone i know names mine for me haha

RyanFrew > . .
04/06/2016 at 14:39

Most of my toys are named after cartoons:

Blue ‘05 Mini Cooper S: Stitch
White ‘13 Porsche Boxster S: Mickey
Orange ‘14 SeaDoo Spark: Tigger
Black ‘89 Porsche 944: Mona (before I started the cartoon theme)
Blue ‘67 Mustang 289: Al (Grandpa’s name, who finished the resto while I was in college)

Urambo Tauro > . .
04/06/2016 at 14:39

Naming cars has never been a habit of mine. There’s just too many possibilities; it’s hard to choose. So for me, it’s something that has to happen serendipitously. The car has to reveal something about itself, preferably in the early months of ownership, to give me a hint as to what to call it.

As for gender, I feel that RWD = male , and FWD = Female . I haven’t made up my mind about AWD, though. I guess I would probably base that on the engine arrangement...

for Michigan > . .
04/06/2016 at 14:40

Personally, depends on my relationship with the car. Like smallbear suggested, all of my cars have been beater-types that I see more as a good guy friend (Falco, Steve, Jujiro). If I ever get a nice project car, it’ll probably end up being female, though.

CRider > . .
04/06/2016 at 14:42

Kinja'd!!!

It’s usually easy to tell the difference if you look closely.

CRider > Mercedes Streeter
04/06/2016 at 14:42

Kinja'd!!!

Twism > . .
04/06/2016 at 14:44

I think it depends on the particular car, or the reasoning behind the name:

my first car (86 New Yorker) had a male name because the voice warning system was a dude, but my Magnum is a ‘’she’’, since it took enough of my time and money to be my life partner...

Steve in Manhattan > . .
04/06/2016 at 14:44

“People who name their cars ...” Aaaaaand you lost me.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer
04/06/2016 at 14:46

My Rover is named Percival. In a general sense I think your rule works.

OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars > . .
04/06/2016 at 14:51

All mechanical items have traditionally been females. My LS400 is named “Alexus” because I am a creative genius.

gawdzillla > . .
04/06/2016 at 15:03

It’s always called Mia

Phyrxes once again has a wagon! > . .
04/06/2016 at 15:05

When I first met the Mrs. she had a 97 Neon that was named “because the name just came to her.” Her current DD, a 08 Corolla, doesn’t have a name and is pretty much an appliance.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > . .
04/06/2016 at 15:05

Well I kow that boats are universally women because, and I’m quoting Red Green here, “They keep men out of the deep stuff”. But cars and bikes? I wait for their personality to show. My riviera was named Jessica, and my Audi was Nadia. My monte carlo got nicknamed lolcar due to the badge mod I did but his actual name in my head was “Crapcan Charlie”. Bierwagen was......bierwagen. My Fiesta is no-name. Which is funny......but it just never found a name that worked. My motorcycle is just “The Nighthawk” because that’s just a fucking awesome name.

Tangent - I miss the cool names motorcycles used to have. Now it’s all “ZXVRS-6TTRRRSR-1000-RRrRPPtXXZZRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.....Repsol Edition brought to you by Monster Energy”

Land_Yacht_225 > . .
04/06/2016 at 15:24

Cars, like ships, are she’s unless they’re bro trucks, and even then you could call it Ellie-May.

My 1994 Park Avenue Ultra - Roxy. Because her first plates were 243-RXY

My 1998 Lincoln Continental - La Contessa because it references the model name.

My S600 - the BarronesS, again because ^.

Bytemite > . .
04/06/2016 at 15:25

I think most people look at Miatas as a female but my smurf blue NA is named Bloo, after the cartoon character.

Kinja'd!!!

Mercedes Streeter > Urambo Tauro
04/06/2016 at 15:26

Based on your metrics, name AWD/4x4 cars gender-neutral names? :)

DanZman > . .
04/06/2016 at 15:27

My cars are lady's because I treat them right and they show me a good time.

Captain of the Enterprise > . .
04/06/2016 at 15:27

I’m pretty neutral on the names my expedition went by big blue and was a she I don’t really know why. I fell in love with it and get safe in it.

My crown Vic I never really bonded with but called it the beige wonder or the beige blunder or that fucking piece of shit or the tan turd at the end (long story)

My Corolla I call my little warrior or the pearl because my friends named it after the pieates of the Caribbean ship because it’s black and it irritates my brother because he didn’t think of it first. I haven’t assigned it gender I find it pretty neutral and think of it as a teen for me to take care of and help it achieve greatness.

Xyl0c41n3 > . .
04/06/2016 at 15:28

My last car was Squeaky. Current one is Jellybean. They’re both pretty gender neutral, as far as names are concerned.

The thing that’s weird is that my last car really WAS Squeaky. I mean, like... Everyone I know referred to my car by its name, versus saying something like “your car.” Like, if we were going out somewhere and people wanted me to drive, they’d say “Let’s just take Squeaky.” Even my parents would do it.

My current car doesn’t seem to have quite that much personality.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
04/06/2016 at 15:39

Kawasaki still makes the ninja. Check out Honda’s cruiser bikes, some pretty cool bikes with even cooler names. And I’m the last person that could be called a Honda person.

Group B Enthusiast - Captain of the supercharged barge > . .
04/06/2016 at 15:43

All my cars worth naming are ‘girls’. I could never show up anywhere and proclaim “This is my car, Philip”

1996 Impala SS: Jessica

2004 Park Ave: *never named*

20006 GTO: Scarlett

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > . .
04/06/2016 at 15:49

Cars are like dinosaurs in Jurassic park. They’re all women. That way that can’t reproduce on their own and take over the world.

Want more evidence that they’re women? Watch gone in 60 seconds.

And well, to put it bluntly, I’m straight (seriously I mean no offense to anyone who isn’t, or is any other combination of genders and orientations, live and let live!) so I don’t really want to think about riding a dude everywhere I go (kidding, I don’t think I’m that insecure (or am I????)).

Aaaaaand my wife says they’re girls. Happy wife, happy life.

Nonster > . .
04/06/2016 at 15:59

Depends on the car or bike, but I view most of my vehicles as fairly androgynous but the name usually isn’t random. I don’t really have a rule, it just depends on their personality

Current vehicles

85 Toyota MR2: Emma - combo of slurred “em -arrr” and I due to celebrity crush on Emma Stone

07 Suzuki SV650: Ruby - Carried over from the previous owner because it just felt right

Past vehicles

10 Buell Blast: Ferris - Cause Buell...like Bueller? get it? Ferris Bueller?

94 Ford Ranger: Trigger - grandpa’s truck so I named it after his horse

82 Jeep CJ-7: Rusty - for obvious reasons

95 Mitsubishi Eclipse: shitheap/dumpster fire/paperweight - motor blew up right after I bought it and I just parted it out, not very fond of this one...

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
04/06/2016 at 16:07

Honda.....kinda yes and no. So okay you’ve got your full-on barcalounger gold wing. Good job. Then you take off some of the stuff, and now it’s the Gold Wing F6B.......Okay.......Trim level? BUT! If you take off some more stuff then it is the Gold Wing Valkyrie. Which is funny because it used to just be the valkyrie but now they want it to be more Gold Wing? And the VFR1200 is an interceptor (VFR800) but with a bigger motor. And don’t even get me started on their cruisers. The “shadow line” is all Shadow ____ while the “1300 custom” line has each trim be a different name sabre/interstate/magna all of which were different bikes entirely before. Oh and the Fury is a customized 1300. But it isn’t a “1300 custom” for some reason?

But yamaha can fuck right off with their letters and numbers. At least their cruisers have names and trim lines that are logical.