Have you ever wondered why an automaker gave a vehicle a particular name?
The name bestowed upon a vehicle can often play a big role in its long-term success. Some names don’t fit the vehicle while others, especially some of those that have been around for some time, would be tough to imagine applied to any other type of car, truck or ute.
Cracking open the dictionary reveals what your car or truck’s name really means, sometimes with unintended consequences. Here is a list of present car names, their definition and the automaker that uses them, according to several dictionaries, including Oxford, Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com.
(Could an all-electric Corvette crossover be in the works?)
Don’t see your vehicle’s name? Most likely, it’s because it’s a made-up word, not an English word, or we overlooked it. Bear in mind some of these names/words also have more than one meaning. Here’s the list:
Acadia: Relating to the former French colony of Acadia (now Nova Scotia) in Canada. (GMC)
Accent: A way of pronouncing a language, associated with a country, area, or social class. (Hyundai)
Accord: An official agreement or treaty. (Honda)
Armada: A fleet of warships. (Nissan)
Atlas: The first vertebra of the neck. (Volkswagen)
Avalon: Legendary Celtic isle of the dead where King Arthur and other knights are taken after death. (Toyota)
Aviator: The operator of an aircraft. (Lincoln)
Blazer: A sports jacket often with notched collar and patch pockets. (Chevrolet)
Bronco: An unbroken range horse of western North America. (Ford)
Canyon: a deep gorge, especially one with a river flowing through it. (GMC)
Cayman: or caiman, a Central and South American crocodile. (Porsche)
Challenger: To confront or defy boldly. (Dodge)
Charger: A large, flat platter. (Dodge)
Cherokee: A member of a North American people originally of the southeastern U.S. (Jeep)
Civic: Relating to a city or town. (Honda)
Clarity: Freedom from indistinctness or ambiguity. (Honda)
Colorado: State of the interior western U.S. (Chevrolet)
Compass: Boundary, circumference (Jeep)
Continental: An American soldier of the Revolution in the Continental army. (Bentley)
Cooper: A person who makes or repairs casks or barrels. (Mini)
Corolla: The petals, or inner leaves, of a flower. (Toyota)
Corvette: A small warship designed for convoy escort duty. (Chevrolet)
Countryman: One living in the country or marked by country ways. (Mini)
Dawn: To begin to appear or develop. (Rolls-Royce)
Defender: One that defends. (Land Rover)
Discovery: Pretrial disclosure of pertinent facts or documents by one or both parties to a legal action or proceeding. (Land Rover)
Durango: State in northwest central Mexico. (Dodge)
Edge: The outside limit of an object, area, or surface. (Ford)
Enclave: A group that is different in character from those surrounding it. (Buick)
Encore: An additional performance at the end of a concert. (Buick)
Equinox: The time or date at which the sun crosses the celestial equator and when day and night are of equal length. (Chevrolet)
Escalade: The scaling of fortified walls using ladders as a form of military attack. (Cadillac)
Escape: To fail to be noticed or recallable by. (Ford)
Expedition: Excursion undertaken for a specific purpose. (Ford)
Explorer: A member of a coed scouting program of the Boy Scouts of America for people ages 14 to 20 focusing on career awareness. (Ford)
Fit: A seizure in which the victim loses consciousness. (Honda)
Ford: A shallow place in a river or stream where it can be crossed. (Ford)
Forester: A person or animal living in a forest. (Subaru)
Forte: A thing at which someone excels. (Kia)
Frontier: The farthermost limits of knowledge or achievement in a particular subject. (Nissan)
Ghibli: A hot dust-bearing wind of the North African desert. (Maserati)
Ghost: A disembodied soul. (Rolls-Royce)
Gladiator: A trained fighter. (Jeep)
Golf: An outdoor game played on a large course with a small, hard ball and a set of clubs. (Volkswagen)
Hellcat: A violently temperamental person. (Dodge)
Highlander: Inhabitants of the Scottish Highlands. (Toyota)
Insight: Apprehending the true nature of a thing. (Honda)
Kicks: Strike or propel forcibly with the foot. (Nissan)
Kona: Coastal region of Hawaii in the western part of the island of Hawaii. (Hyundai)
Lancer: A soldier of a cavalry regiment armed with lances. (Mitsubishi)
Leaf: A flat structure of a plant that is the main organ of photosynthesis and transpiration, attached to a stem directly or via a stalk. (Nissan)
Legacy: an amount of money or property left to someone in a will. (Subaru)
Malibu: A coastal city west of Los Angeles (Chevrolet)
Mirage: Something illusory and unattainable. (Mitsubishi)
Mustang: A small lightly built feral horse of the south-western U.S. (Ford)
Navigator: One that navigates. (Lincoln)
Odyssey: A long and eventful journey (Honda)
Outback: A remote or sparsely populated inland area, especially in Australia. (Subaru)
Outlander: A person who belongs to another region, culture, or group. (Mitsubishi)
Pacifica: City on the Pacific Ocean in western California south of San Francisco. (Chrysler)
Passport: A thing that ensures admission to or the achievement of something. (Honda)
Phantom: A figment of the imagination. (Rolls-Royce)
(FCA, PSA pick a name for post-merger company: Stellantis.)
Pilot: A television program made to test audience reaction with a view to the production of a series. (Honda)
Ranger: One of a body of organized armed men who range over a region especially to enforce the law. (Ford)
Renegade: An individual who rejects lawful or conventional behavior. (Jeep)
Ridgeline: A line formed along the highest points of a mountain ridge. (Honda)
Rio: Radar intercept officer. (Kia)
Rogue: A dishonest or unprincipled man. (Nissan)
Sequoia: Huge coniferous California trees of the bald cypress family that may reach a height of over 300 feet. (Toyota)
Sienna: A kind of earth used as a pigment in painting. (GMC)
Sierra: Any of several large scombroid fish (genus Scomberomorus) related to the mackerel. (GMC)
Sonata: A composition for one or two instruments. (Hyundai)
Soul: The spiritual principle embodied in human beings, all rational and spiritual beings, or the universe. (Kia)
Spark: a latent particle capable of growth or developing. (Chevrolet)
Stinger: A cocktail consisting of brandy and white crème de menthe. (Kia)
Suburban: An outlying part of a city or town. (Chevrolet)
Tacoma: An industrial port city in west central Washington, on Puget Sound, south of Seattle. (Toyota)
Tahoe: A lake in eastern California and western Nevada. (Chevrolet)
Taos: A North American people native to New Mexico. (Volkswagen)
Telluride: A binary compound of tellurium with a more electropositive element. (Kia)
Terrain: A field of knowledge or interest (GMC)
Titan: A family of giants in Greek mythology ruling the earth until overthrown by the Olympian gods. (Nissan)
Trailblazer: A pathfinder. (Chevrolet)
Transit: Change, transition (Ford)
Traverse: To make a study of. (Chevrolet)
Tucson: City in southeast Arizona. (Hyundai)
Tundra: A vast, flat, treeless Arctic region of Europe, Asia, and North America in which the subsoil is permanently frozen. (Toyota)
Urus: an extinct large, long-horned wild ox. (Lamborghini)
Valkyrie: Any of the maidens of Odin who choose the heroes to be slain in battle and conduct them to Valhalla. (Aston Martin)
Vantage: A place or position affording a good view. (Aston Martin)
Velar: Formed with the back of the tongue touching or near the soft palate. (Land Rover)
Venue: The place from which a jury is drawn and in which trial is held. (Hyundai)
Voyager: A U.S. space probe that obtained scientific information while flying by the planets Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus.
Wraith: An insubstantial form or semblance. (Rolls-Royce)
Wrangler: A person who wrangles, or argues, especially in a contentious way. (Jeep)
Yukon: A river in Alaska (GMC).