# When (if at all) will we run out of new names for vehicles

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-if-at-all-will-we-run-out-of-new-names-for-vehicles/1015398>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [March 10, 2025, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-if-at-all-will-we-run-out-of-new-names-for-vehicles/1015398 "2025-03-10T16:48:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2025, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-if-at-all-will-we-run-out-of-new-names-for-vehicles/1015398/61 "2025-03-11T15:52:17Z")

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> [@Telemark](#):
>
> The Edsel models were Pacer, Ranger, Corsair, Citation, Roundup, Villager, and Bermuda. Pacer was later used by AMC, Ranger by Ford, Corsair by Lincoln, Citation by Chevy, Villager by Mercury. Bermuda was previously used by Willys.

And Roundup by a weed killer. 🙂

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**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2025, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-if-at-all-will-we-run-out-of-new-names-for-vehicles/1015398/62 "2025-03-11T17:10:40Z")

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> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#):
>
> I called the car the “Xrati”, with the X as in Xerox.

Back when Xerox was a household name for “Big stable high tech blue chip company” I pronounced it properly: somewhere between “zeer-ocks” and “zee-rocks”.

As they shrank to an historical also ran, road kill on the (venture) capitalist superhighway, I altered my pronunciation to “ecks-rocks”. As in “former”.

So is the Merkur a “zerati” or an “ecks-rati”? They’re both appropriately silly names for a silly car. 😉

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**Author:** ![phs3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phs3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phs3)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2025, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-if-at-all-will-we-run-out-of-new-names-for-vehicles/1015398/63 "2025-03-11T17:19:28Z")

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Actually I realized last night that the girls were Sierra and Savanna, so aside from the spelling (“Savana”) they WERE both GM products!

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**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-if-at-all-will-we-run-out-of-new-names-for-vehicles/1015398/64 "2025-03-17T12:50:19Z")

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I don’t envy car companies in having to think up new names.

Because, at first glance, there are 26^N : N\<13 options. But of course it has to be readable, not have a rude or weird meaning in any major language, and not be anywhere similar to any brand names out there.

It’s definitely harder than a tech startup, say, which usually are just focused on one market initially, and will probably go through stages of branding so don’t need to pick a perfect name in one shot. Whereas rebranding and marketing completed cars could be an expensive exercise.

I don’t blame car companies for often landing on SJ600 or whatever.

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**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-if-at-all-will-we-run-out-of-new-names-for-vehicles/1015398/65 "2025-03-17T13:39:48Z")

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> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#):
>
> Aside from the already mentioned Ford “Maverick”, once a compact car, now a compact truck, Dodge has the “Hornet”, which used to be the name of an AMC car.

Stellantis is the successor to AMC. Chrysler bought out AMC in the 1980s. Chrysler through several mergers and acquistions morphed into Stellantis, which owns Dodge today. Dodge offering a Hornet is kosher enough.

> [@Telemark](#):
>
> The Edsel models were Pacer, Ranger, Corsair, Citation, Roundup, Villager, and Bermuda. Pacer was later used by AMC, Ranger by Ford, Corsair by Lincoln, Citation by Chevy, Villager by Mercury. Bermuda was previously used by Willys.
> 
> Nothing new under the sun.

This is answer. We will never run out of car names. We will keep inventing new ones and old ones will keep getting recycled.

My dad had a Chevy S-10 Durango made in the 1980s. The Durango is now a popular Dodge model. I don’t know when Chevy stopped making a Durango but it seemed like it was only a few years before Dodge picked up the nameplate.

> [@Mijin](#):
>
> But of course it has to be readable, not have a rude or weird meaning in any major language, and not be anywhere similar to any brand names out there.

But they don’t have to be readable. Lots of completely unreadable names have plenty of brand recognition. NSX, M3, 911, GTI, WRX…

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**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-if-at-all-will-we-run-out-of-new-names-for-vehicles/1015398/66 "2025-03-17T15:16:41Z")

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> [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](#):
>
> But they don’t have to be readable. Lots of completely unreadable names have plenty of brand recognition. NSX, M3, 911, GTI, WRX…

That’s what I meant, sorry.  
I meant if you want it to be a pronouncable word, then there are many challenges. Hence why car brands often just resort to a model number.

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**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-if-at-all-will-we-run-out-of-new-names-for-vehicles/1015398/67 "2025-03-17T15:19:43Z")

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> [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](#):
>
> Stellantis is the successor to AMC. Chrysler bought out AMC in the 1980s. Chrysler through several mergers and acquistions morphed into Stellantis, which owns Dodge today. Dodge offering a Hornet is kosher enough.

And AMC was the successor to Hudson, which also had a car called the Hornet.

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**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-if-at-all-will-we-run-out-of-new-names-for-vehicles/1015398/68 "2025-03-17T15:23:33Z")

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A Hudson Hornet is at least alliterative, which is nice. I like names like Toyota Tacoma or Ford Falcon for that reason.

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**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-if-at-all-will-we-run-out-of-new-names-for-vehicles/1015398/69 "2025-03-17T15:36:56Z")

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I have a vague recollection of reading somewhere that in the mid-aughts Ford decreed that all car model names must start with F (with an exception for the iconic Mustang, and I assume the Explorer didn’t get renamed because it’s technically a truck). That was supposedly why they dropped the Taurus name and replaced it with the Five Hundred. So they had an almost entirely alliterative lineup, consisting of the:

Ford Fiesta  
Ford Focus  
Ford Fusion  
Ford Five Hundred  
Ford Freestyle

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**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-if-at-all-will-we-run-out-of-new-names-for-vehicles/1015398/70 "2025-03-17T15:54:54Z")

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> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> instead of some poster coming back with “Band Name!”, we should now come back with “Microbrew beer name!”

Microbrewery house band name!

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**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-if-at-all-will-we-run-out-of-new-names-for-vehicles/1015398/71 "2025-03-17T18:34:34Z")

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> [@WildaBeast](#):
>
> I have a vague recollection of reading somewhere that in the mid-aughts Ford decreed that all car model names must start with F

Interesting. Back when I first became aware of car names (mid-1960s), most Chevy models had names beginning with C: Caprice, Corvette, Camero, Corvair, Chevy II, maybe others. OK, it wasn’t complete, since there was the Impala and the Malibu, but it was close. Later on, there was the Chevette and Citation continuing the C names.

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**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-if-at-all-will-we-run-out-of-new-names-for-vehicles/1015398/72 "2025-03-17T18:53:15Z")

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And their SUVs all began with an E - Escape, Edge, Explorer, Expedition, Excursion.

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**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-if-at-all-will-we-run-out-of-new-names-for-vehicles/1015398/73 "2025-03-17T19:45:53Z")

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> [@WildaBeast](#):
>
> Toyota’s larger model was the Corona, which is Latin for “crown”. So they named their smaller car Corolla, which is Latin for “small crown”.

I did not know that. I thought Corolla was just made up.

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**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-if-at-all-will-we-run-out-of-new-names-for-vehicles/1015398/74 "2025-03-17T19:58:31Z")

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> [@WildaBeast](#):
>
> And who remembers the short lived [Merkur XR4Ti](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merkur_XR4Ti)

I sure do. And the longest car name that is not a name is the MGB GT V8.

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**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-if-at-all-will-we-run-out-of-new-names-for-vehicles/1015398/75 "2025-03-17T20:17:33Z")

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And for a short time Fifth Avenue was a trim level on the Chrysler New Yorker before they made it a separate model, making what was probably the longest car name that was an actual name – Chrysler New Yorker Fifth Avenue.

Honorable mention goes to the Buick Electra Park Avenue. It was the same deal, Park Avenue was a trim level before they made it its own model.

Actually if you go by syllable count, they’re both 9 syllables. But the Chrysler has both more words and more letters.

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**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-if-at-all-will-we-run-out-of-new-names-for-vehicles/1015398/76 "2025-03-17T21:12:22Z")

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> [@Mijin](#):
>
> I don’t envy car companies in having to think up new names.

I understand most car companies use “specialized agencies” for car names, those check that the name is:

a.) legally available/to be protected in many/all countries  
b.) doesn’t have any “adverse meaning” in one of the (mayor?) markets

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**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-if-at-all-will-we-run-out-of-new-names-for-vehicles/1015398/77 "2025-03-17T21:44:32Z")

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A quick google search said there are a little over 7000 car models that have ever existed. I don’t know if that’s true, but lets go with it.

Each alphanumeric figure you add to a car’s name increases the number of potential names by 35.

So even if you limit car names to 5 letters/numbers, that is 10^24 potential car names. We’re only at 10^3 right now.

As far as drugs, there are something like 20,000 approved pharmaceuticals. According to a study on the potentials for small molecules, there are something like 10^60 potential small molecules in the universe.

Proteins however are a different story. Each amino acid in a protein is 20 potential amino acids. Also in \<100 years I’m sure we will be inventing entirely new amino acids, using the D-isomers, etc so each amino acid in a protein will have endless thousands of potential synthetic amino acids. We may reach a point where we know enough about computational chemistry that we can identity a totally novel synthetic amino acid for a protein to have a certain effect on a receptor. there are virtually endless potential synthetic amino acids. However I have no idea what harm that would do to the body, to introduce synthetic amino acids.

Even a protein of only 30 amino acids could have virtually infinite potential forms when we have thousands of synthetic amino acids.

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**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-if-at-all-will-we-run-out-of-new-names-for-vehicles/1015398/78 "2025-03-17T21:50:26Z")

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> [@Mangetout](#):
>
> But not all vehicles are named after real words - some manufacturers use boring alphanumeric codes and some maufacturers use word-like names instead of actual dictionary words; some dictionary words are probably out of bounds for use as vehicle names, for example it’s unlikely we’d ever see the Nissan Failure or the Honda Clitoris.

With the now-common usage of 2-3 letters plus a digit, we’ve got a few hundred options to go (though ‘X’ seems to be required in about 30% of such cars, so that limits it a little).

Chevy used to have a car called the Nova… which apparently was a concern when marketing to Spanish-speaking countries (“No Va” supposedly meaning “does not go”).

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**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2025, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-if-at-all-will-we-run-out-of-new-names-for-vehicles/1015398/79 "2025-03-17T22:06:52Z")

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> [@Mama\_Zappa](#):
>
> Chevy used to have a car called the Nova… which apparently was a concern when marketing to Spanish-speaking countries (“No Va” supposedly meaning “does not go”).

Thoroughly debunked urban legend.

> **[FACT CHECK: Did the Chevrolet Nova Fail to Sell in Spanish-Speaking Countries?](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/chevrolet-nova-name-spanish/)**
>
> Did the Chevrolet Nova sell poorly in Spanish-speaking countries?

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**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-if-at-all-will-we-run-out-of-new-names-for-vehicles/1015398/80 "2025-03-18T03:13:21Z")

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> [@commasense](#):
>
> Thoroughly debunked urban legend.

Well phooey. Opinion busted by facts yet again.

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