We have a love affair with our cars so it only makes sense that many of us give our vehicles pet names. Several years ago USA TODAY reported on the findings of an AP-AOL Autos poll, which revealed that 20% of all drivers give their cars nicknames. Commonly, the derivation of the name is an obvious reference to the vehicle's color, make, size or some aspect of its reliability or lack thereof. In the latter case, the handle may not be a term of affection, but one of derision.


I've only had one car that had a nickname, and I wasn't the one who gave this vehicle its moniker. It was a silver-colored, 1979 Toyota Corolla that I bought used. A friend of mine called it The Bobbin (the spool that holds the thread for sewing) because he said the engine sounded like an old sewing machine. The name stuck like any good nickname will, and everyone I knew began referring to my car as The Bobbin.  I must confess I called it this myself because it did sound like a sewing machine! But I loved that car because it was so reliable. It had 100,000 miles on it when I bought it, and I put another 175,000 miles on the car before it finally gave up the ghost.

FORD recently conducted a survey to see what owners of their cars nicknamed their vehicles and why. The response was overwhelming with nearly 700 different names provided. Predictably, there were a lot of popular monikers like Betsy, Blue, and Black Beauty, but my favorites were Frankenstein, Exxon Valdez, and Cinco de Mayo.

Check out Ford's Facebook fan page to learn the derivation of these monikers and to see a complete list of the nicknames submitted.

What pet names have you given your cars?