19 Names Americans Are Giving Their Cars. Does Your Car’s Name Make the List, Floridians?

What’s in a name? From Love Bug to the proudly self-deprecating Rolling Turd, millions of Americans are naming their cars with personality.

A new survey of 2,000 Americans found one in three has a nickname for their car, with Buttercup’s Folly, The Slug, and Old Flame some of the monikers dished out to vehicles.

Did your Florida car’s name make the cut?

Generational Divide

Gen X and millennials are the generations most likely to name their cars, with more than 40% of each doing so.

Boomers are the least likely to throw out a moniker to their vehicle, with less than a third (31%) saying they’ve done this.

The survey, conducted by Talker Research on behalf of Guessing Headlights, found clear themes in the names Americans are lovingly bestowing on their motors.

Themed Names

Many people are embracing pop culture classics for their car names. Batmobile, The Millennium Falcon, and, more recently, Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon all made the list.

Others opt for names of strength, embracing power monikers like Beast, the slightly enhanced Nasty Beast, or Road Warrior.

Animal names also stood out.

Party Chicken, Blue Goose, Turtle, and The Slug are just some of the creature-themed car names hitting America’s streets.

One practically-minded driver appropriately calls their car The Grocery Getter.

Do Cars Have Feelings?

Could the love we have for our cars be a two-way street?

Most Americans feel that’s an undeniable no. Others appear to let their emotions get in the way.

One in eight Americans (12%) say they think that cars have feelings. A further 10% were unsure.

The younger a person is, the more likely they are to think cars have feelings.

Case in point? Twenty-six percent of Gen Zers think their auto is more than just the sum of its parts, versus just seven percent of boomers.

Licensed Psychologist Vincent Miles of Miles Psychological Services LLC gives context as to why our bonds with our cars form and why we might feel the need to name them.

“We form interesting relationships with our cars, often because these vehicles serve as unique transitional elements in our lives,” says Miles. “We gain some of our first independence by obtaining our license as teenagers, often marking our first foray into adulthood.”

Miles goes on to say, “Additionally, our car is often our very first financial investment. This creates a unique bridge between childhood and adulthood, carrying forward some of our childlike creativity and beliefs at a time when we are fighting hard to create our identity. Anthropomorphizing our car in our own imaginations allows us that playful connection with something that we inevitably spend hundreds of hours alone with (and thousands of dollars maintaining).”

Top 19 Names Americans Give Their Cars

• Love Bug
• Puddle Jumper
• Old Flame
• Buttercups Folly
• Road Warrior
• Batmobile
• Nasty beast
• The Rolling Turd
• The Slug
• Toothless
• Silver Bullet
• The Beast
• The Millennium Falcon
• Green Machine
• Beach Whistle
• Turtle
• The Grocery Getter
• Party Chicken
• Blue Goose