Name Your Car Day

What the day is

Name Your Car Day is observed on October 2. The idea is as simple as it sounds: if your car has no name, give it one. It is a lighthearted, unofficial day with no organizer we can identify, and its origin is not documented.

Naming a car is more common than people admit. Owners who spend years commuting, road-tripping and nursing an engine through winter tend to treat the vehicle as a character, and a name is the natural way to say so. Surveys of drivers regularly find that a sizable share have named a car, though the numbers vary by survey and are worth treating loosely.

Origin and background

The habit is much older than the automobile. Ships have been named for centuries, and sailors long spoke of a vessel as a she, with a personality that crews swore they could feel in rough weather. Locomotives, aircraft and even bicycles picked up the same custom. Cars inherited it almost immediately, and early motorists often gave names to the machines that were sometimes cranky, always unique and prone to breaking down at the worst moment.

Famous vehicles have kept the tradition alive in popular culture. Herbie, the sentient Volkswagen Beetle from the Disney films, the General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard and KITT from Knight Rider are all cars known by name more than by make. That is a good reminder that a name does something a model number cannot: it makes an object feel like it belongs to someone.

How to take part

• Look at the car and let it suggest a name. Color, age, noises and quirks all count as hints.
• Ask your passengers. A name that sticks often comes from a child or a friend.
• Try one out for a week before making it permanent. If it feels wrong, it is wrong.
• Give the car a small send-off or a wash in honor of the occasion.
• Share the name and the reasoning with someone, because the story behind a name is half the fun.