OK, boomer? Gen-X-ers, elder millennials most likely to name their cars, says DVLA
- Reference: 1639062788
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/12/09/dvla_survey/
- Source link:
It cited some of the more "unusual" names – which seem very, very tame to those on this news desk – as "Disco Dave", "Lady Patricia", "the Beast", and "ZZ Top."
Disco Dave is apparently the moniker of several DJs ranging far and wide over this green and pleasant land – all the way from the mullet-wiglet-sporting DD of Warwick Uni (who seemingly gave up his deejaying gig to one [1]"Party Paul" in 2017) to more than one kids party entertainer in Essex.
[2]Oops, says Manchester City Council after thousands of number plates exposed in parking ticket spreadsheet
[3]Y2K quick-fix crick? 1920s come roaring back after mystery blip at UK's vehicle licensing agency
[4]It looks like tech-savvy drivers will have to lead connected car data purge
As for Lady Patricia, aka the "2nd Countess Mountbatten of [then] Burma", she has already [5]given her name to a fleet of Swindon buses and seems to have at least one fan amongst Brit car drivers of a certain age.
The agency's latest motoring [6]survey went on to detail the most "popular" names given by the survey's 2,095 respondents to their precious vehicles. These included Max, Ruby, and Doris (yet more proof [7]the 1920s are back again at the drivers' agency?) – with lockdown kids' TV inspired Max and Ruby also among the top 50 most popular baby names this year.
[8]
This correspondent used to drive a Bluebird with a hole in its floor that was already in its twenties when she got her licence. You needed to park it on a downwards slope, so you could coax it into life by opening the driver door, pushing it down the hill with your foot and then slamming it into second gear as soon as it crested 15kph (9mph). My siblings and I called her "Trusty."
[9]
Have you named your car – ironically or otherwise? Prove you can be more creative than this lot by chiming in below. ®
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[1] https://thetab.com/uk/warwick/2017/03/31/breaking-news-disco-dave-retires-22163
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/13/manchester_numberplate_blunder_open_data/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2020/01/13/y2k_dvla/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2018/09/07/connected_cars_privacy/
[5] https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/9866175.naming-our-buses/
[6] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/zz-top-kermit-and-the-beast-among-most-unusual-car-names-dvla-reveals
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2020/01/13/y2k_dvla/
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YbI2RQiqtT6zYRDPqmQpswAAAAQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YbI2RQiqtT6zYRDPqmQpswAAAAQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Audi
Audi Murphy
Nope, Not Named
I've not really named it, but I have said to it several times "Start, you f***ing piece of s***, don't do this to me you lump of ****** **** ****** ***** ******************".
(Doesn't that icon look like a car in a certain light?)
Our old knackered camper conversion - a 16 year old Citroen Relay with over 200,000 miles on the clock - was "Myvan the Terrible".
Our shiny new camper conversion (well, you've got to do something in lockdown) is based on a minibus, and so is called "Minnie the Moocher", 'cos, well, it's a minniebus, and we mooch about the country side in it!
Icon, 'cos I bet she knows a thing or too about being a hoochie-coocher!
What?
15 kmph? kmph? What?
Re: What?
10 kmph faster and it'll escape earth's gravity.
Re: What?
15 kilo-mega-parsecs per hour? Weeeeeee!
Always named my cars
My Dad didn't, so I don't get it from there.
My elder brother did, no idea if he still does.
My wife named her cars before I met her too, The younger kid named his car as soon as we bought it, when we recently got one for the older of the kids she wasn't interested, but their brother named it anyway and that's stuck.
Car names
I once had a Lada, a bright fire-engine red, Lada. I called it Trotsky, the Italian Communist. Trotsky could barely trot. Trotsky had problems climbing hills. Trotsky had the worst steering, gearbox, and brakes that I’ve ever seen, and I was convinced that it had to be the Russians’ fault, if Fiat had tried to sell anything like that in Italy there would have been a howling mob burning down Fiat HQ in Turin. I said, loudly and often, that if this was an example of Soviet engineering prowess, the Soviet Union was doomed. As it happens, shortly after I got rid of Trotsky and replaced him with a Suzuki Samurai, an example of Japanese engineering which had numerous problems and which I called Ten-Go, the Soviet Union imploded. (Students of history may recognize the name ‘Ten-Go’… think Okinawa 1945) Ten-Go was replaced by a much better behaved Honda Accord, a.k.a. Kaiju. My current ride is a Toyota, Silver Shadow. (Honda parts were hideously expensive…)
I've always wanted to get a number plate
But the only one I would be prepared to pay for would be FU2
That old Bluebird...
If it could really hit 15kmph (that's 15,000mph) just by rolling down a slope you really should have kept it - hole in the floor or not.
Re: That old Bluebird...
It was, after all, a Bluebird. Land speed record, and all that.
Re: That old Bluebird...
and, perhaps, you were inspired by Electric Light Orchestra
In the stone age...
...before anyone heard of "Breaking Bad"...
...I named my '68 Plymouth Whatever model...
...because of the shade of its paint (and, yes, inspired by the late, great George Harrison, by way of his protégés, Badfinger)...
..."Baby Blue"...
...color me, Baby Boomer
(a real classic-- '55 model)
I'm not really one for naming my cars, but I have named a few. One old Talbot (I forget the model) was called Baldrick, because it was dirty and unreliable. I had a blue Ford Fiesta that I called "Sonic" after a cow orker said he saw me me go past him at high speed.
That's about it. My current car has no name.
My old horse-lorry had the letters KTH in the reg - called it Katie Horsebox.
Current small car has FUM in the reg - called Fumbelina
Previous Red Shogun - called Big Red Car as we had a small child who liked The Wiggles
Current Black Shogun - called BBC (Big Black Car)
B**ch!
I have been know to apply a number of names to my vehicles, most of which would make a drill sergeant blush, because the only time an inanimate object gets a name is when it is not complying with my intentions.
I give (pleasant) names to children horses, cats and dogs, never name anything I am likely to eat (chickens, cows, goats etc) although I have considered having a halibut named Eric.
I've been through the desert in a car with no name
My current nameless car is 24 years years old, I'm looking for a replacement. Now I will start telling people I don't give it a name because then it would be unbearable to part with it. I hope someone believes me!
Haha so True,
My Cars
Bumble
Doug
Edd
Tigger
Kimi
Jenny
VinnyD
I've nver named a car
Girlfriends on the other hand...
... and yes I now that is ambiguous.