The Story Behind Car Names

What's in a name? A Ford Edsel by any other name would still drive as sweetly, right?

Maybe -- or maybe not. At their core, cars are essentially appliances to get from one place to another. And yet, we want our cars to protect and project a certain image. As J Mays, Ford's chief designer recently told Esquire, "Anybody can make a toaster toast. Very few people can make a toaster something you covet."

A car's name is part of how automakers make their cars worth coveting. Get it just right, and the car's image can be projected in a single word. Get it wrong, and the car can become the butt of jokes and a sales nightmare.

Know Your Numbers and Letters
Because so much is riding on a car's name, a lot of carmakers play it safe. That means designating a car not by a rugged locale, powerful animal or made-up word (Acura Integra, anyone?) but by a few letters and numbers that have less of a risk of offending consumers. According to Forbes, with number/letter names part of the goal is for owners and buyers to "think and talk of the brand, and not the nameplate." That works well for automakers with focused lineups.

Of course, that doesn't mean there aren't trends in the letter names. Odds are, if there's an X in the name, you're looking at a crossover or SUV (Lincoln MKX, Volvo XC90, Infiniti EX, BMW X3), though there are a few exceptions -- like the Jaguar XF and Acura TSX.

Tacking a few numbers onto a car's name not only helps it sound cool, it can tell savvy shoppers exactly what the car is packing. The Infiniti QX56 gets the "56" from its 5.6-liter engine and the Infiniti G37 has a 3.7-liter engine. However, the pattern doesn't always hold. While the BMW 3-Series has 3.0-liter engines across the line, so does the BMW 1-Series. And while we'd love to see what a giant engine could do in the BMW 7-Series, that model only has a 4.4-liter V8, not 7.0 liters.

Of course, automakers don't have to stick with numbers and letters to let you know what's under the hood. The Porsche Boxster, for example, gets its name from its flat-six "boxer" engine. The now-discontinued Volkswagen Cabrio got its name because it was a cabriolet.

Animal Magnetism
Animals have almost always been the go-to area for carmakers hunting for names. It's usually pretty obvious what image the maker is going for: something powerful and unique. No one wants to drive a Honda Tadpole.

So automakers have headed out into the wilds and come back with the Mercury Cougar, Ford Mustang, Chevy Impala and Dodge Ram. The Ram takes its theme even further; while a Ram is simply an uncastrated male sheep, Dodge offers its Ram truck in a Bighorn edition, which is a larger mountain sheep species. The often-maligned Ford Pinto had its name spun off of the Ford Mustang (a Pinto is a horse with large patches of white and another color), which launched the entire breed of pony cars.

Animal names don't always work, especially when they come from an animal that isn't as tough as car buyers might like. While the Volkswagen Rabbit projected an image of speed and nimble handling, VW ultimately switched the car's name to the Golf. Of course the Rabbit is just one of VW's animal-themed car names. VW has used the Beetle nameplate for decades, and one of their more recent models, the Tiguan, got its name by combining the words tiger and iguana.

Lost In Translation
While some carmakers use numbers and letters to keep the focus on their brands, others choose to add a little foreign flair to their models.

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