What do Americans name their cars?

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

Gen X and millennials are the generations most likely to name their cars, with more than 40 percent 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 GuessingHeadlights.com found clear themes in the names Americans are lovingly bestowing on their motors– many embraced pop culture classics like Batmobile, The Millennium Falcon, or, more recently, Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon.

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

While animal names also stood out, Party Chicken, Blue Goose, Turtle and The Slug were just some of the creature-themed cars hitting America’s streets.

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

And, could the love we have for our cars be a two-way thing? 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 - 26% of Gen Z’ers 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. We gain some of our first independence by obtaining our license as teenagers, often marking our first foray into adulthood.”

“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).”

WHAT ARE AMERICANS NAMING 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

Survey methodology:

Talker Research surveyed 2,000 Americans; the survey was administered and conducted online by Talker Research between May 9 and May 15, 2025.

We are sourcing from a non-probability frame and the two main sources we use are:

• Traditional online access panels — where respondents opt-in to take part in online market research for an incentive
• Programmatic — where respondents are online and are given the option to take part in a survey to receive a virtual incentive usually related to the online activity they are engaging in

Those who did not fit the specified sample were terminated from the survey. As the survey is fielded, dynamic online sampling is used, adjusting targeting to achieve the quotas specified as part of the sampling plan.

Regardless of which sources a respondent came from, they were directed to an Online Survey, where the survey was conducted in English; a link to the questionnaire can be shared upon request. Respondents were awarded points for completing the survey. These points have a small cash-equivalent monetary value.

Cells are only reported on for analysis if they have a minimum of 80 respondents, and statistical significance is calculated at the 95% level. Data is not weighted, but quotas and other parameters are put in place to reach the desired sample.

Interviews are excluded from the final analysis if they failed quality-checking measures. This includes:

• Speeders: Respondents who complete the survey in a time that is quicker than one-third of the median length of interview are disqualified as speeders
• Open ends: All verbatim responses (full open-ended questions as well as other please specify options) are checked for inappropriate or irrelevant text
• Bots: Captcha is enabled on surveys, which allows the research team to identify and disqualify bots
• Duplicates: Survey software has “deduping” based on digital fingerprinting, which ensures nobody is allowed to take the survey more than once

It is worth noting that this survey was only available to individuals with internet access, and the results may not be generalizable to those without internet access.