‘Betty’ has topped a poll as the most popular car name, as over half of Brits give their cars a pet name.
60% of women and 41% of men have felt emotionally attached to their car, with 25% of Brits admitting to shedding a tear when it was time to part company, reveals a study of 3000 people by the UKs largest second hand car buyer webuyanycar.com.
In total, 53% of Brits have named a car. With inspiration taken from a variety of sources including the colour of the vehicle, the final three letters of the registration plate, and the make of the car e.g. Freddy the Ford.
‘B’ names are a reoccurring theme as they take five of the top six slots as ‘Betsy’, ‘Bess’ and ‘Bertie’ all follow respectively, with ‘Daisy’ breaking up the monopoly of car nicknames.
Other motivating factors for names involved its sex appeal, size, shape and colour, which may explain the more unusual responses to the survey such as, ‘The Love Van’, ‘The Microwave’ and ‘The Silver Hornet’.
Red and blue cars are the most likely to be given a name with grey and green cars the least likely.
First cars are the most likely to be given a name, yet 17% of Brits get emotionally attached to every car that they own.
Despite the majority of car owners naming their vehicles, just 12% passed on the name to the new owner once they sold it. With only 2% continuing to call the car by the same name.
Other names that ranked highly in the poll include Baby/Babes and Freddie. The poll captured some more unusual choices too: ‘God’, ‘it moves in mysterious ways’, ‘Efan Ekoku’, and ‘My Baby Hot Rod’ were just a few of the more ‘quirkier’ titles. Many drivers were creative with their names, including ‘Harrison’ and ‘Anna’ for many Ford cars and Spot- “because it was a Rover (dog) Metro (puppy)”.
Paul Coulter of webuyanycar.com commented, “As Britain’s largest buyer of second hand cars, webuyanycar.com recognizes the emotional attachment felt by our customers to their cars. We know that each car has its own story; some customers cry when handing over the keys, others have told us the nicknames of their pride and joy.”
Top 10 Car names
- Betty
- Betsy
- Bess
- Bertie
- Daisy
- Bertha
- Meg
- Charlie
- Herbie
- Bob
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