Fergus.
That’s the name we would give our Toyota Highlander.
If we were among the nearly half of car owners that name their vehicles (according to namesforcars.com).
“The name’s as important as the car because it creates a special bond between the driver and the car,” says namesforcars.com. “It’s a mystical bond between [driver] and machine.”
And the website provides a list of “some of the most popular car names in the world” – from Abraham and Ailey to Zenita – to get you started.
Confused.com goes a step further by providing a car name generator for which you answer three questions to “calculate” the best name for your vehicle. For example, for a male, 0- to 5-year-old, adventurous vehicle (regardless of make or model, it appears), the name generator suggests “Prince.” For a female, 5- to 10-year-old, mischievous vehicle, the name selection is “Melody.”
Seriously? Maybe I’m not doing this in the right spirit. At least you can “try again.” And again and again. We didn’t stick around to see how many different names confused.com offered.
In the end, we were confused, so we looked for something a bit more helpful.
Top dozen names
Bankrate.com offered more guidance with its list of top dozen car names in order – Betsy, Bessie, Baby/Betty, Beast, Sally, Bertha, Lucy, Big Red and Buddy/Fred/Stella. The website also identifies the top car names by U.S. region – Bubu out West, Big Blue/Big Red in the Southwest, Beast in the Upper Midwest, Sally in the Southeast and Spark/Steve in the Northeast. Other popular names from Bankrate are Lucy, Billy, Turbo, Buddy, Herbie, Precious, Alice and Steve.
But, let’s say you still are not satisfied, and are determined to name your car, truck, SUV, crossover …
BuzzFeed takes a more comprehensive approach with 10 questions from “What’s your favorite movie?” to “What’s the weirdest thing you ever ate?” and “A genie grants your wish – what’d you get?”
Getting personal
Wouldn’t you like to know how we answered the questions to come up with the name “Slugger” and the explanation that “you and your favorite teams are always aiming right for the goal. All you and Slugger care about is finishing in first – and you don’t care what anyone else says.”
Ultimately, it seems that naming your vehicle (if you’re so inclined) is a lot more, well, personal than something you might get from a website
Something that says, this is me and this is how I view the world.
So, back to Fergus.
After a recent trip to the Scottish Highlands and binge-watching Starz network’s Scotland-based television series “Outlander,” it just sounded like a proper name for a Highlander.
Besides, Dougal just didn’t seem like the way to go.
