As part of international Name Your Car Day, carwow (www.carwow.co.uk) – the site for Britain’s new-car buyers – has conducted a national survey of 1000 people to find the most popular car names. Bob came out on top, and was also the most picked name by men, while Betty topped the poll for women.
Bob is the most popular name in all age groups from 18-44, but in the 45-54-year-old age group Herbie grabs the top spot. Clearly those born from 1970 onwards have fond memories of the Volkswagen Beetle from the Herbie films of the late 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s.
And popular culture plays a part in another of our top car names: Betsy is at number three, having been made popular in the 1978 film ‘The Betsy’ about development of a fuel-efficient car of the same name. The popularity of Betty and Bessie is also likely linked to the film.
A name associated with cars since the very beginning – and one that came in at number five in the carwow.co.uk poll – is Bertha. Bertha Benz, wife of Karl Benz (founder of Mercedes-Benz) was the first to take a car on a long journey. Bertha drove the Benz Patent Motorwagen 66 miles to visit her mother in 1886.
Some of the respondents did have more unusual names for their cars, including Silver Dream Machine, Moby Dick and Mr Darcy – while some seemingly have a love-hate relationship with their cars, naming them Loser Cruiser, Oink Oink and Costly.
James Hind, CEO of carwow, said: “Cars are these amazing products that generate a lot of feelings for a lot of people – there’s not really any other product people use regularly that gets a name and the emotional connection that comes with it.
What prompted us to start carwow.co.uk was the fact that often the experience of buying a car doesn’t live up to the experience of owning it. So we’ve simplified the process and made it completely transparent to ensure buyers get great customer service and the peace-of-mind that comes with knowing you’ve got the best price.”
The top 10 most popular car names in the UK are:
- Bob
- Betty
- Betsy
- Fred
- Bertha
- John
- Baby
- Bessie
- The Beast
- Harry
UPS Maintenance says
October 6, 2015 at 11:36 amI can happily state that my car isn’t called any of the above, he’s named Milo.