Audi and Volvo - Latin origin of the car company names - High Names 03.20.13 Posted in Naming blog by christa Let’s get back to the car business. We know a lot of the car companies are named after their founders – the trend was spread worldwide from the earliest electric automobiles. These include Ford (after Henry Ford), Peugeot (after the Peugeot family), also later Bentley (after Walter Owen Bentley), Porsche (after Ferdinand Porsche). The trend is also present in Asia by car manufacturers like Toyota (after Kiichiro Toyoda) and Honda (after Soichiro Honda). However, there are still original company names between the world-wide known brands in the car industry. The naming strategy is often so unique that they cannot be put in categories. But Audi and Volvo can. Can you guess what the connection between those two famous car companies is in terms of naming? Latin. Volvo – on the different car company names Despite that Volvo is a Swedish company the founders didn’t name the car Viking or Nordic or anything like that. They decided on the Latin word volvere, meaning to roll.

It seems a logical word choice since the purpose of working on a Swedish car project was to build cars that could withstand the cold Scandinavian weather and uneven roads – basically a car that rolls. What they did is only conjugate the verb volvere in first person (because unlike in English many other languages use similar but still different words when saying I roll, you roll, etc) and voilà – you have Volvo. It’s like the car speaks to you – I roll. Audi – on the translated car company names The reason for naming the famous car company Audi isn’t that spontaneous compared to Volvo. The truth is that the founder August Horch (and no the AU in Audi doesn’t come from the first two letters of the founder’s name) had originally founded another car company named August Horch & Co. This happened in 1904 when the German engineer had quit working for Karl Benz. However, after some problems in the company, in 1909 Horch founded a second company – but his family name could not be used again as a name for the company because he didn’t have the rights on the company name. The story says that one of his business partners’ son came up with the name Audi.

But this wasn’t a random Latin word that simply starts with the letter A (as you may know by now from our blog posts having a company name that starts with A is great because you get listed early in alphabetically ordered lists). If you speak German you’ll know that horch comes from the infinitive form of horchen and actually has a meaning – to listen (carefully). Now, can you guess what the Latin translation of horchen is? It’s audire – a verb that when conjugated in the same form as horch, becomes audi. The name seemed logical since August Horch could no longer use his own name. And a little more than 100 years later Audi is still one of the most popular names in the car industry. Meanings of Car Manufacturer Brand Names - CarSpyShots Posts: 3,605 Meanings of Car Manufacturer Brand Names Here is a list of Car Manufacturer names. I thought it would make an interesting exercise to see if we could all figure out what the origins of their names are and what the names themselves actually stand for. Feel free to add a response and the staff will keep the list updated. Thanks for all the help guys.

Here's the List as it stands right now: - AC Cars - A shortening of the name "Autocarrier". "Autocarriers & Accessories Ltd." was the name of the original company which was later renamed "Autocarriers Ltd.", and after WWI was further shortened to AC Cars Ltd. - Acura - Meaningless marketing speak supposed to allude to the concept of "accuracy" or "accurate" or perfection (hence the caliper logo) - Alfa Romeo - An Acronym for Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili. When the company went into bankruptcy it was bought by Nicola Romeo in 1915, the source of the second name. - Aston Martin - "Martin" is the founder's last name and "Aston" comes from the Aston Clinton Hill climb race where the cars had had great success. - AUDI - A Latin translation of Horch (the founder, August Horch's, last-name), meaning ÂListen!Â. Contrary to popular belief, it is NOT an acronym for Auto Union. - Avanti - Company named after the Studebaker model of the same name.

after Studebaker collapsed the Avanti model was spun into a separate company which continued producing the car under it's own brand name. The name is Italian and it means "ahead" or "forward". - Bentley - Named after the founder's last-name - Bristol - Named it's original parent company, the Bristol Aeroplane Company, which was named after the British town it was located in. - BMW - Acronym for the German name "Bayersiche Motoren Werke" (Bavarian Motor Works). Generic industrial name. - Brilliance China Automotive - Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 3,605 - Dacia - Named after the ancient european Kingdom (and later Roman province) that occupied most of what is today modern Romania, which is the home country of the modern car company. - Daewoo - Romanized form of the korean word Daeu, which means "Great Universe." Named after the large Korean conglomerate Daewoo Industrial, of which the car division was a former part of, and which was the company's second corporate parent. Interestingly the company's founding corporate parent was General Motors.

Financial difficulties led to the purchase of most of Daewoo Motors assets (after very troubled bidding) to General Motors, who renamed the part it purchased, GM-Daewoo. - Daihatsu - - Damlier Chrysler - compound name derived from Damiler-benz and Chrysler. - Dodge - Named after the founder's last-name - Dongfeng - Romanized spelling of Mandarin Chinese meaning "Wind from the east" or "East Wind". Dong Feng is also a reference to a famous slogan used during Mao ZedongÂs Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution: ÂThe wind from the East prevails over the WestÂ (Communism prevailing over Capitalism and China emerging as a power on the world stage). The slogan originates from the following excerpt from MaoÂs ÂLittle Red BookÂ: There are two winds in the world today, the East Wind and the West Wind. There is a Chinese saying, 'Either the East Wind prevails over the West Wind or the West Wind prevails over the East Wind.' I believe it is the characteristic of the situation today that the East Wind is prevailing over the West Wind.

That is to say, the forces of socialism have become overwhelmingly superior to the forces of imperialism." The slogan has been used to adorn other products, the most famous of which are all of ChinaÂs intercontinental Ballistic Missiles and the modern car company. - Ferrari - Named after the founder's last-name - Fiat - Acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino - First Auto Works - - Ford - Named after the founder's last-name - Gaz-Volga - Gaz is an acronym for Gorkiy Automobile Factory (in Russian and Named after the writer Maxim Gorkiy). The Volga part is named after the largest river in Russia. - Geely - - GM - Acronym for General Motors. Generic industrial name - GMC - In the early 1900's there was a man named Max Grabowski who established a company called the "Rapid Motor Vehicle Company", which developed some of the earliest commercial trucks ever designed. In 1909 the company was purchased by General Motors and was renamed the "General Motors Truck Company". A year later the marque "GMC Truck" was first shown at the New York Auto Show.

In 1996 GM dropped the word TRUCK from the GMC Truck name, thus creating the GMC name as we know it today. There never was a Grabowski Motor Company or a Grabowski Motor Corp. GMC is a rearranged acronym for "General Motors Truck Company" (with the word Truck removed). - Holden - Named after a late 19th century saddler's shop in Adelaide, South Australia called the "Holden & Frost Company" that worked at repairing and building horse-drawn carriages and coaches (Holden being the last-name of one of the founders of that business). Though not the founder of the Holden we know today, one of this company's corporate descendants became the a body supplier to GM, and eventually joined with GM to form the company we know today. - Honda - Named after the founder's last-name - Hummer - Named after the nickname of the impossible to pronounce HMMWV military vehicle (High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle) - Hyundai - Romanization of the Korean word Hyeondae, which means (more or less) "Modern Times" or "Modernize". Named after former corporate parent.

- Infiniti - Meaningless marketing speak supposed to allude to the concepts of Infinity and luxury. - Isuzu - Named after the Isuzu River in Japan that runs next to Japan's oldest shrine, Ise - Jaguar - Named after a model produced by SS Cars during WWII. The name SS was not exactly popular with the British at the time so the company adopted the name of it's Jaguar model. - Jeep - Not really known, but it's widely believed to be a mispronunciation of GP, which is an acronym for General Purpose [vehicle] - Kia - A compound name claimed by the company to originate from two Chinese words (they do not specify which variant of Chinese). The fist syllable stems from the Chinese word "ki", which means "to arise or come out of". The second syllable stems from the Chinese word "a", which is supposed to be a reference to Asia.

The combined word is supposed to mean to "arise or come out of Asia." Modified by Santeno at 11:41 AM 1/11/2005 Santeno - Koenigsegg - Named after the founder's last-name - Lada - Russian female name - Lamborghini - Named after the founder's last-name - Lancia - Named after the founder's last-name - Land Rover - Named after a Rover Cars model line. The Land is meant to allude to the model's attributes on the land (off-road) as opposed to on the road. Ford turned the model name into a brand name when it acquired Rover's SUV's from BMW. - Lexus - Meaningless marketing speak supposed to allude to the concepts luxury - Lincoln - Named after Abraham Lincoln, whom Henry Leland (the company's founder) voted for in the first presidential election he was able to vote on. The company was made to compete directly against Cadillac, a company Leland also founded but left over disagreements with GM management. - Lotus - Origin Unknown, though it is believed that the source of the name was Colin Chapman's wife.

- Marcos - An acronym formed by the first three letters of the founders' last-names (Jem Marsh and Frank Costin) - Maserati - Named after the founders' last-name - Maybach - Former car line by Mercedes-Benz. Named after chief engineer Wilhelm Maybach in the 1890's. Maybach became CEO when Daimler died - Mazda - Named after the Zoroastrian god of light - Mercedes-Benz - Mercedes was a pseudonym (named after his daughter) under which Emil Jellinek used to race Damlier cars. Jellinek became so successful in racing his "Mercedes" cars and in selling them to European aristocrats, that eventually he convinced the company to change the company name to Daimler-Mercedes. During the economic recession that followed WWI, Damlier and their competitor Benz & Cie formed a syndicate in order to jointly streamline their backroom, design and production operations. 2 years later the companies merged. The resulting company used the compound name Damlier-Benz, and their products were renamed Mercedes-Benz.

- McLaren - Named in Honor of Bruce McLaren, the founder of the F1 team now owned by the founder of the Car company - Mercury - Named after the Romanized version of the fastest of the ancient Greek gods, Hermes (the god of thieves and commerce, and Zeus' messenger). - MG - Acronym for Morris Garages - Mini - Named after the size of the vehicle - Mitsubishi - Japanese term meaning "three diamonds" - Morgan - Named after the founder's last-name - Mosler - Named after the founder's last-name - Nissan - Named after the founder's last-name - Oldsmobile - Named after the founder's last-name (Olds) and part of the word automobile. - Opel - Named after the founder's last-name - Pagani - Named after the founder's last-name - Panoz - Named after the founder's last-name - Perodua - Acronym for the Malaysian name "Perusahaan Otomobil kedua", which literally means "Second [Malaysian] Automobile Manufacturer" (the first one being Proton).

Modified by Santeno at 2:25 PM 12/27/2004 Santeno - Peugeot - Named after the founder's last-name - Pininfarina - Named after the founder's nickname - Plymouth - Named after Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts, the supposed original site of disembarkation of the Mayflower pilgrims who founded Plymouth colony (They actually first landed at Provincetown not Plymouth). The colony and the name Plymouth have deep recognition amongst Americans, and the reason for it's founding if seen as an example of the ideals this country is founded upon and what it means to be an American. When Chrysler sought to introduce a good all around inexpensive car in 1928 that would appeal to the masses, they picked a name that already carried a distinct meaning and recognition that they hoped to make synonymous with their new brand. They picked the name Plymouth. Interestingly however, that name was already used by a truck manufacturing company called the Plymouth truck company, which built truck in 1909 (and one car), and named itself and it's cars after the town of Plymouth, Ohio. The company never produced many vehicles and instead focused on the production of locomotives and clay machinery.

The worldwide depression of 1929 almost killed the locomotive business and in order to avoid gong under the company switched to production of a line of small tractors they called Plymouth. The tractors proved very popular and Chrysler took notice. In 1934, Chrysler objected to what they saw as the use of their brand name in a line of lowly farm tractors, so they sued. The courts ruled that the name actually belonged not to Chrysler but to the old truck manufacturer (who remember had built 1 car branded as a Plymouth 20 years before Chrysler used it - and before Chrysler Corp even existed). In order to save their brand Chrysler was forced to buy the name from the truck manufacturer. So you see in reality The Plymouth brand is named after a little town in Ohio. - Pontiac - Directly or indirectly named after the 18th century Ottawa indian chief Pontiac, who led a rebellion against the British and eventually surrendered in what is today Detroit.

- Porsche - Named after the founder's last-name - Proton - Supposed acronym for "Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Berhad" - Renault - Named after the founder's last-name - Rolls-Royce - Named after the founders' last-names - Rover - Named after the company's 19th century predecessor the Rover Cycle Co Ltd (a bicycle manufacturer), whose products (Rover Bicycles) where named after the freedom they gave their users to wander and explore (i.e Rove). - SAAB - Acronym for the Swedish name of the founding corporate parent, Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget (the "Swedish Aeroplane Company"). - SAIC - Acronym for "Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation" - Saleen - Named after the founder's last-name - Samsung - Korean word meaning literally "three stars".

Named after the predecessor of it's original corporate parent (a small family trade export business that primarily sold dried Korean fish, vegetables, and fruit to china during the late 1930's) - Saturn - Named for the planet - Scion - English word meaning "offspring of" [Toyota] - Seat - Acronym for "Sociedad EspaÂola de Automoviles de Turismo" (Spanish Society of Tourism Automobiles) - Shelby - Named after the founder's last-name - Skoda - Named after the founder's last-name - Smart - Acronym for "Swatch-Mercedes-ART". The name is also supposed to allude to the obvious attributes of the vehicle's characteristics and their owners. - Spijker - Named after the founders' last-names - SsangYong - Ssangyong means "twin dragons" - hence the double "s" at the start of the name. It refers to a legend in which two dragons waited 1000 years to fly to dragon heaven.

Finally, a single cintamani (In Hindu and Buddhist mythology, it is a magical jewel that is believed to possess the power to grant every wish, hence an epithet of God - or in the case of Buddhism, an attribute of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas, hence a symbol of a mind that has attained its proper desire), which was necessary for the journey was released. Each dragon encouraged the other to take it and make the trip until both missed the opportunity. The king of heaven was so touched that he released a second cintamani and thus the two dragons entered heaven together. - Subaru - Japanese name for the Pleiades star cluster in the Taurus constellation. Also a Japanese word meaning "unite". Named after the union of 5 Japanese companies into Fuji Heavy Industries (the car company's corporate parent). - Suzuki - Named after the founder's last-name - Tata - Named after the founder's last-name - Toyota - Named after the founder's last-name (Toyoda) - TVR - Made-up abbreviation for "Trevor" [Wilkinson], the company's founder. - Vauxhall - Named after the company's founding corporate parent.

The name is a phonetic corruption of the name of the original site that housed the company in London, a medieval knight's (Fulk le Breant) house called "Fulk's Hall". The company is NOT named after the Vauxhall section of Liverpool. - Venturi - - Volkswagen - German for People's Car - Volvo - A derivative (not a translation) of the Latin for "I roll", which was supposed to create connotations of bearings in action. Modified by Santeno at 1:21 PM 8/3/2005 Santeno Quote, originally posted by Hornbag_1 » Just a thing on Holden, i think you should menton they started out essembling Fords! They might have done so at some point, but they started out assembling GM vehicles, not fords. Quote, originally posted by Monkey » One note on Jeep. There is also a belief that military Jeeps were named for Eugene the Jeep from Popeye. Eugene could pass through walls and go anywhere. I also read somewhere that the word Jeep was used for many different military vehicles at the time, and just stuck to the one we know, due to its post-war popularity. Awesome. I had never heard that before.

Can you point me to a source which can shed further light on what you said. I'd like to look into it further and add it to the list. Thanks. Guys please contribute any info on any brands we might not have listed, and on any brands listed which we don't have info for. Santeno Re: (Monkey) Quote, originally posted by Monkey » One note on Jeep. There is also a belief that military Jeeps were named for Eugene the Jeep from Popeye. Eugene could pass through walls and go anywhere. I also read somewhere that the word Jeep was used for many different military vehicles at the time, and just stuck to the one we know, due to its post-war popularity. Jeep was a common word in the militery but it wasn't written "Jeep" but "JP". I forgot was JP stood for but it meant all military vehicles. They just started to call them jeeps because it's easier to say. __________________ The stories behind car brand names — David Airey · 11 comments Etymology is the study of the history of words. There’s a collection of company name etymologies on Wikipedia. Here are a few choice picks from the automotive industry.

Alfa Romeo – the company was originally known as ALFA, an acronym for Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili. When Nicola Romeo bought ALFA in 1915, his surname was appended. (photo credit) Aston Martin – from the “Aston Hill” races (near Aston Clinton) where the company was founded, and the surname of Lionel Martin, the company’s founder. (photo credit: carpictures1.com) Audi – Latin translation of the German name “Horch.” The founder August Horch left the company after five years, but still wanted to manufacture cars. Since the original “Horch” company was still there, he called his new company Audi, the Latin form of his last name. In English it is “hark.” (photo credit) BMW – Bayerische Motoren Werke (Bavarian Motor Works). (photo credit) Cadillac – named after the 18th century French explorer Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, founder of Detroit, Michigan. Cadillac is a small town in the South of France. The company, founded in 1902, was purchased by General Motors in 1909 and survives to this day as a GM brand.

(photo credit) Chevrolet – named after company co-founder Louis Chevrolet, a Swiss-born auto racer. The company was merged into General Motors in 1917 and survives only as a brand name. (photo credit) Chrysler – named after the company founder, Walter P. Chrysler. (photo credit) Citroën – named after André-Gustave Citroën (1878–1935), a French entrepreneur of Dutch descent. He was the fifth and last child of the Dutch Jewish diamond merchant Levie Citroën and Mazra Kleinmann (of Warsaw, Poland). (photo credit) Daewoo – company founder Kim Woo Chong called it Daewoo which means “great house” or “great universe” in Korean. (photo credit) Datsun – first called DAT, from the initials of its financiers Den, Aoyama and Takeuchi. Soon changed to DATSON to imply a smaller version of their original car, then (as SON can mean “loss” in Japanese) again to DATSUN when they were acquired by Nissan. (photo credit) Ferrari – from the name of its founder, Enzo Ferrari.

(photo credit) Fiat – acronym of Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (Italian Automobile Factory of Turin). (photo credit) Ford Motor Company – named after its founder, Henry Ford, who introduced automobile mass production in 1914. (photo credit) Honda – from the name of its founder, Soichiro Honda. (photo credit) Hyundai – connotes the sense of “the present age” or “modernity” in Korean. (photo credit) Mercedes – from the first name of the daughter of Emil Jellinek, who distributed cars of the early Daimler company around 1900. (photo credit) Nissan – the company was earlier known by the name Nippon Sangyo which means “Japan Industries.” (photo credit) Porsche – car company named after founder Ferdinand Porsche, an Austrian automotive engineer. The family name may have originated in the Czech name “Boreš” (boresh). (photo credit) Proton – Malaysian car manufacturer, where the name is derived from Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional. (photo credit) Renault – named after the founder Louis Renault. (photo credit) Rolls-Royce – name used by Rolls-Royce plc and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, among others.

In 1884 Frederick Henry Royce started an electrical and mechanical business, making his first car, a Royce, in 1904. He was introduced to Charles Stewart Rolls on 4 May that year. The pair entered into a partnership in which Royce would manufacture cars to be sold exclusively by Rolls, and the cars would be called Rolls-Royce. (photo credit) Saab – founded in 1937 in Sweden as Svenska Aeroplan aktiebolaget (Swedish Aeroplane Company); the last word is typically abbreviated as AB, hence Saab and Saab Automobile AB. (photo credit) SEAT – an acronym from Sociedad Española de Automóviles de Turismo (Spanish Corporation of Touring Cars). (photo credit) Subaru – from the Japanese name for the constellation known to Westerners as Pleiades or the Seven Sisters. Subaru’s parent company, Fuji Heavy Industries, was formed from a merger of six companies, and the constellation is featured on the company’s logo. (photo credit) Toyota – from the name of the founder, Sakichi Toyoda. Initially called Toyeda, it was changed after a contest for a better-sounding name.

The new name was written in katakana with eight strokes, a number that is considered lucky in Japan. (photo credit) Volkswagen – from the German for people’s car. Ferdinand Porsche wanted to produce a car that was affordable for the masses – the Kraft-durch-Freude-Wagen (or “Strength-Through-Joy car,” from a Nazi social organization) later became known, in English, as the Beetle. (photo credit) Volvo – which means “I roll” in Latin, from the infinitive form “volvere.” It was originally a name for a ball bearing being developed by SKF. (photo credit) You can read a ton more company name etymologies on Wikipedia. Additionally, you might find these Logo Design Love blog posts of interest: I had absolutely no idea where any of these names came from — some of the logos actually make sense now. Great collection of photos as well. Classic cars (The Classics Pages) Words & Derivations Classic Cars Nothing to do with Bristols or Bugattis - but why do so many automobile manufactures give their machines Latin names - or, failing that, what I'd call Latinish names - not actually Latin, but sound as if they might be to the uninitiated?

Cars named for Roman authority figures: Prefect: Ford Prefect, as well as being a character in the Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy (not of course to the Ford People Carrier of that name), was the name of the first car I ever bought. It was less than half the price of the toy illustrated on the right,which costs £80! Prefects (Praefecti) were senior officials in the Roman Empire - but like a Ford car, they were regarded as socially inferior, as recruited mainly from the equestrian class. A Praefectus was in charge of the corn-supply (Annonae), the Emperor's Bodyguard (Praetorio) and the fire brigade (Vigilum). The name may well owe as much to the implicit snobbery of the English Public School system, where a prefect was a superior youth, but still inferior to a real old master. Consul: better than a Prefect - the Consul had delusions of grandeur, which made it the car to aspire to in the early 60s. Consul evokes the Empire On Which The Sun Never Set as much as the Roman one.

In the sixties, the British Consul in a foreign land was the gentleman's Grand Tour rep. Roman consuls came in twos. They were elected by the most undemocratic voting system ever seen outside Florida, and only a small number of élite families (the nobiles) could hope that one of their number would become consul in "his" year (the year he reached 42, the minimum age). Very occasionally would they allow fresh blood into the consulate. It was very expensive - the words for candidacy and for bribery (see the Octavia Ambiente below) were almost identical. Senator: a posher car, but a less important figure in Rome. Most members of the upper class would be eligible to attend the senate, as entry was automatic for all ex-officials. But as a body, the senate continued to exercise auctoritas - even under the empire - although the potestas was in the hands of those who controlled the army. Latin verbs: Audi : 2nd person singular present imperative active of audio, I hear, listen.The car company traces its origins back to 1899 and August Horch. In 1910, Horch was forced out of the company he had founded.

He founded a new company and continued using the Horch brand. His former partners sued him for trademark infringement and the German court stated that the Horch brand belonged to his former company. August Horch was obliged to refrain from using his family name in connection with cars. As the word "horch!" is old German for "listen!" (= English "hark!") , August Horch used the Latin equivalent of his name, "audi!" for his next effort. Both Horch and Audi, along with DKW and Wanderer merged in 1932 to form the Auto Union, hence the four rings which are now the badge of Audi (possibly influenced by the Olympic Rings which were first seen at the Los Angeles games in the same year). Volvo: I roll, I turn, I run on wheels. Proud boast of a haughty car. Actually originally the name for the ball-bearings made by Volvo's parent company in Sweden, SKF. Transit: back to Ford - he/she/it crosses. A long-lost part of a family that includes Introit (hymn) and Exit (all from Latin eo,ire,ii,itum, go).

Sic transit gloria mundi [Gloria was unwell in the van after a weekend of over-indulgence] Vito: I avoid. A Mercedes van - probably meant to suggest French vite (quick), or Latin vita (life). But it suggests Vito Corleone to me. I avoid. Fiat: Let it be (as in fiat lux: let there be light)? Actually it's a mere acronym from Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino. Let it be anyway. Latin Nouns: Cortina: Successor to the Consul. A weird one this - the Latin for kettle. I know it was a tin can on wheels, but Actually, probably named for the once-fashionable Italian ski resort at the foot of Mont Blanc, Cortina d'Ampezzo (so named as it's in a cauldron-shaped valley in the Alps?) Corona and Corolla: Names for early Toyotas - the Crown and the Coronet. The car for the king of the road. Corona (also name of a fizzy drink) also means the group of people who surround a speaker or celebrity - one's fans. So quite a good one. Carina: Another Toyota.

A Japanese company who seem very loyal to Latin! Carina is the keel of a ship, and by metonymy, the ship itself. Or it can mean a nutshell: or conceivably it could be the imperative of carino, I abuse, revile. Only an owner could tell us whether it's a boat on wheels, a tough little nut - or is requesting you to shout rude words at it! Focus: Latin "fireplace" - another superbly chosen name from Ford. Astra: "stars". A nondescript Vauxhall for the less than stellar. Ignis: "fire". A small Suzuki. Should keep well away from the Focus above. Auris: what's this ear? (Latin auris = ear.) Toyota claim the prize for the first car named after a body part, though I'm certain others will follow. Lamborghini Penis? Latin Adjectives: Viva - Latin for "alive" - name for a nasty small Vauxhall. Simply to be driving one was considered sufficient reason for the police in my local town to stop a friend.

"Why did you stop me, officer?" "You was driving a Vauxhall Viva, sir." Nova - successor to the Viva - "new". Unfortunately, in Italian, it means ""won't go" (no va) - and export sales were disappointing. Previa (Toyota): Unfortunate associations with placenta (Latin="cake") for anyone who's had a baby. Praevia means "ahead on the road" - good name for a car, nasty as a cake. Agila - another Vauxhall. Not-quite-latin, which would be agilis. "Active", "busy" - certainly an improvement on previous efforts! Amica - Hyundai were probably told it means "friendly". No. It means "concubine, mistress, courtesan" (Lewis & Short: try a Google image search for "amica"!). But would you want your mistress to be seen driving one? Matrix - another Hyundai - probably named to cash in on the Keanu Reeves films. But they didn't check in the dictionary: it's a breeding animal originally (a cow for instance). Can also mean "womb", or "mother" in the sense of "the original".

The mother of all boring cars? Carens. A real puzzle! Why would anyone want to call their car "deficient" or "lacking" (which is what carens means in Latin)? Perhaps the answer is in the manufacturer's name : KIL , which I always want to pronounce as "kill!" The lambda (supposedly actually an A) at the end of the word is the universally recognised sign for omission - the caret, familiar to anyone who's ever had an essay marked! But possibly it's deliberate - an online review of the motor says "If style, image and status are important to you, the new KIA Carens just isn’t your kind of car." Diffy by name and diffy by nature. Roman Aristocracy: Octavia (with a model called - ungrammatically - "Ambiente" - ambiens signified going round bribing the voters: an ideal car for a Blair/Cameron Babe seeking reelection?). But which Octavia are we to conjure up when we see this Skoda? The dull sister of Octavian (not yet Augustus) whom Mark Antony abandoned to go off with Cleopatra?

Or Nero's wife - daughter of the emperor Claudius - whom he kicked to death while expecting his baby? Neither really seems to evoke class. Fabia: another Skoda. Cicero's sister-in-law was a Vestal Virgin called Fabia. Or there was the Fabia who murdered her husband Fabius Fabricianus, to get off with a young man she fancied. Her son grew up to murder his mother and her lover. Virtue or vice. Take your pick. The Skoda marketing team need to bone up on some Roman history. Mythology: Clio: the miniature Renault named after the Muse of History - which is what the car now is. Orion: Ford wins again. The giant Orion was originally called Urion, to celebrate his origin: he was born from the urine of Zeus, Poseidon and Hermes, who, travelling around Greece in disguise (as gods tended to), promised an old childless widower who'd shown them exceptional hospitality that he could have a son without the bore of getting married again. He was told to produce the skin of the ox he'd so generously sacrificed. The three gods urinated on it, and the old man buried it in the ground.

Nine months later, a huge, but beautiful child emerged. He grew up to become a favorite of Artemis, and became famous as the mighty slayer of beasts. He died from the bite of a scorpion - a creature the Earth produced specifically to destroy the man who'd boasted he could conquer the entire animal kingdom. Other authorities say Artemis killed him for the attempted rape of one of her nymphs. Scorpio: Keep well away from one of these if you are driving an Orion - see above. Mercury: Roman form of Hermes, the communication god and god of the streets. As such he was patron of thieves and luck, and, in Athens and elsewhere in ancient Greece there were symbolic statues of him on every street corner [above] - which Athenian men would touch in passing to ensure they "had a nice day". Cressida (Toyota) Told by Jim I'd missed this one: however, she does not appear in Classical myth. Troilus does - a blameless son of Priam caught by Achilles while off to fetch a pail of water. But the faithless Cressida gets her first mention in Chaucer, and then more extensively in Shakespeare.

For Pistol, groping for insults to besmirch Bardolph in Henry V, she is an archetype of the disease-ridden whore: No; to the spital go, And from the powdering tub of infamy Fetch forth the lazar kite of Cressid's kind, Doll Tearsheet she by name, and her espouse: (As Jim writes: "Not exactly the image a manufacturer would wish to project, I think!!!" ) Cressida was procured for Troilus by Pandarus, "the first pander". But the Fiat Panda has zoological connections, of course. Phaeton Once a rich man's personal high-speed horse & cart, now a new luxury VW - both named after Phaethon, son of Helios the Sun. He was a good-looking young man, whose already excessive vanity was exacerbated by favours from the goddess of Love, Aphrodite. Stung by accusations of bastardy, he decided to confirm his paternity by visiting Helios in his palace. His father not only accepted him, but promised to grant him anything he wanted. Phaethon begged to be allowed to drive the horses and chariot of the sun across the sky for just one day.

One day was enough for him to lose control of the vehicle completely, and threaten to set fire to the entire earth. Zeus was forced to kill him with a thunderbolt. As a name for a car, it would seem on a par with Icarus Airlines, or Medea Childcare Services. But do check out their website - it's beautiful, and does make an effort to justify it! Odyssey From Michelle Vitt, Saint Paul, Minnesota, quoted in "A Word A day" 20 October 2014: "I am a Latin teacher and drive a Honda Odyssey. For years I have told my students that I thought this was the worst name for a car as I don't want my journey home to last 10 years and be populated with misfortunes and monsters! Thank you for many wonderful years of words! " The Greek Alphabet: Omega (Vauxhall): the end. Big and Little: The Austin/Morris/BMC/Leyland/Rover gave us the Mini (from Latin minimus, smallest) more or less contemporary with the miniskirt in the sixties. (Although I remember playing with toy cars called Minic in the fifties).

Then, as hemlines fell we got the Maxi. Japan gave us the Nissan Micra (from the Greek - but feminine of course, as all cars tend to be. Near Latin: Avensis : suggests Latin avena, oats, becoming the word for any stalk, then a shepherd's pipe (Pan Pipes) made of reeds. It even has the -ensis ending which is commonly used to make a noun into an adjective. Brings to mind a simple sunny world of shepherds abiding in the fields. Tigra (Vauxhall): female tiger? Actually this was tigris, but still the ideal car for the thrusting female executive. Felicia: suggests felix, felicitas etc - happiness and good luck, the birthright of every Skoda driver. Primera (Nissan): suggests primus, first? Or a female Latin primer? Vectra (Vauxhall): suggests a connection with vecta, "having been conveyed, riding" from L veho (from which vehicle also derives) Mondeo (Ford): sounds like a 2nd conjugation verb (moneo - I warn: "Warning!

Get out of my way, you drivers who are not important executives like me driving my top-of-the-range company car".) Also suggests French monde, from Latin mundus - the world. Mondeo drivers are men-of-the-world bent on world domination. Keep well clear. Corsa (Vauxhall): suggests cursus, race-course, or career; a fashionable high-street in every Italian town (corso); corsage and maybe even corset! (It was advertised by Supermodels when it was launched, remember). Also a touch of "corsair" - a free-booting devil-may-care pirate. To me, alas, it has always recalled the rhyme about the two early Saxon invaders of Britain: Hengist was coarser than Horsa And Horsa was awfully coarse. And what about Nubria (Daewoo) - a tall sleek African woman (Nubia) with a suggestion of clouds (nubes)? Xantia (Citroen) - should be driven by a blonde (Greek xanthos, xanthe) - was this the one advertised by Claudia Schiffer in her underwear? (If not, should have been).

The Mitsubishi Carisma is a name touched with genius - Greek charisma (charm, grace) is there, plus Latin carus (dear: beloved - and expensive) - and also sounds like a new art form where the car is the star! The Malaysian Proton is exactly the Greek proton, first. Suzuki have given us the Alto, and , bizarrely, the Baleno, which suggests a whale. Why? From Stephen (Sept 2002): Hi Andrew! Just browsing your classicspage on car names, and spotted one possible hole: the Renault Laguna... [should be the Lacuna? ed.] Have you noticed that the Proton Persona doesn't have one, while the Mitsubishi Carisma doesn't have any? The Classics Pages are written and designed by More Latin car company names: In Rebus: Use the Power of Latin! Latin Quotes, Sayings, Tattoos, Phrases & Mottos Most texts and materials on this site have to do with the Latin language, including its perception in popular culture: movies, tattoos, inscriptions, engravings, bits of ancient philosophy, online Latin resources and company names.

There is also information about learning Latin and Greek: textbooks, dictionaries, DVDs and software that can be used in a homeschooling environment. More Latin car company names ... 118-000634 The funny thing is that company names are so recognizable as such that it takes a special effort to notice their Latin roots. I trust these little snippets of corporate Latin may be useful for teaching Latin. Something along the lines of "see, children, how important Latin is? If you ever start a car company you will need a logo, so you better know your Latin." Audi - "Hear!". Fiat - "Let it be!" This one is, of course, reminiscent of Genesis 1.3: Dixitque Deus fiat lux et facta est lux. Infiniti - Nominal Plural of "infinitus" 'boundless, endless, unlimited'. Technically, this can also be Genetive Sing., but that would not make much sense. Lotus - "Lotus". This common plant name also means 'washed, clean' and in some cases may be taken to mean 'fashionable, luxurious, fine etc'. Volvo - "I roll".

The Best, Worst & Weirdest Car Names The Best, Worst & Weirdest Car Names comments, called-out One of the best episodes of The Simpsons is 1991′s Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?, in which Homer discovers that his long-lost brother, Herb Powell, is the chief executive of a car company. At one point in the episode, Powell (voiced by Danny DeVito) berates his staff for suggesting that the company name a new car “the Persephone,” after the Greek goddess of reviving crops who was condemned to the underworld after eating pomegranate seeds. “People don’t want cars named after hungry old Greek broads!” Powell yells. “They want names like ‘Mustang’ and ‘Cheetah’–vicious animal names.” While Ford Motor ‘s Mustang has one of the best names in automotive history, some marketers who tried to make their cars more high-culture than they actually were could have used a scolding from a guy like Powell. Did any of Chrysler‘s or General Motors ‘ customers really believe that driving a Dodge Diplomat would make them more ambassadorial or a Pontiac Parisienne would make them French? Our companion feature, “ What’s In A Name?

,” takes a look at how cars are named. Here, our interest was the end result of the naming process–for better or worse. The list of the weirdest names is dominated by Japanese automakers, who tend to endow their Japan-only cars with such delightfully puzzling names as Honda Motor ‘s Life Dunk. But the lists of the best and worst names are dominated by Americans, mostly because we can’t fault certain European names for getting lost in translation. We didn’t think it fair to include European names that are difficult to read and/or pronounce (e.g. the FSO Warszawa), and others which have a common meaning in Europe that is obscure over here, such as the Invicta Black Prince Wentworth. (At least we hope it makes more sense over there.) If a car is on one of our lists, it is not a comment on the vehicle’s quality. All that interests us is the brilliance, stupidity or weirdness of its name. We’ll begin with the best names. Ideally, the best car names are the ones that have been around for a while and have been able to withstand the test of time.

No, the Lamborghini Diablo is no longer in production, but we have included it because it is, as Powell recommends, “vicious.” It gets your blood going, and it suits the car. You won’t find any alphanumeric names on the list, meaning that we have skipped everything in the current rosters of Acura, Aston Martin, BMW, Jaguar, Volvo, Saleen, Hummer, Nissan Motor DaimlerChrysler ‘s Mercedes-Benz and Maybach divisions. Notice a pattern there? The brands that give their cars numbers and/or letters for names tend to be upscale. (Some upscale manufacturers don’t use alphanumeric names. Rolls-Royce and Bentley are famous for bestowing their cars with such poetic names as Silver Ghost and Azure.) A name doesn’t have to be “vicious” in order to be great, however. Some of the best names, such as the Ford Explorer, are utilitarian. At the time of its introduction, the Explorer was a radical new thing–and its functional name implied that you could take the vehicle off-road, a message that Ford wanted to communicate. The Dodge Ram is another practical name given that it is a work truck.

Calling it the “Horse” might not have been optimal, but giving it an animal name that doubles as a violent verb was a good move (the Ram is also Dodge’s logo). Similarly, the name Land Rover–and to only a slightly lesser extent, its larger, more expensive cousin, Range Rover–aptly conveys that vehicle’s ability to go wherever it likes and handle virtually any terrain. The car names we like best, where the name not only best suits the car’s nature but where it also sounds, for lack of a better word, “cool,” include such automotive legends as the AC Shelby Cobra, Chevrolet Corvette, DeSoto Firedome, Dodge Viper, Lamborghini Diablo, Plymouth Barracuda and Rolls-Royce Phantom. There are other great names out there but you get the idea. The best use for the list above is as a point of comparison against the bad names you are about to endure. We have divided our list of the worst car names into two sections. The first concerns made-up names such as the Oldsmobile Alero and Chevrolet Lumina. They sound like Latin, but they’re not really words as far as we know.

In fact, we may get letters telling us that a “Lumina” is a real thing, though we doubt it. The Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary has no record of such a word. The closest is the Latin word “lumen,” which means “light.” But what does light have to do with this Chevy sedan? Not much. Then there are just inexplicable misspellings, such as the Chevrolet Luv truck. We know how to spell “love” if you want to spell “love,” but “luv” is not a real word. Ditto for the Pontiac Aztek. Hey, literacy rates are bad enough. We don’t need the car companies making it wurse… Those car names that just don’t make any sense to us include, among others, the Buick Reatta; Checker Superba; Oldsmobile Achieva, Bravada, Firenza and Futuramic; Pontiac Astre and Fiero and the Saturn Vue. The other set of worst car names are ones that seem to be a calculated attempt to play upon consumer class-consciousness and social insecurities.

These names conjure images of country clubs and glamorous lifestyles, yet, for the most part, are cars that were targeted at buyers of more modest means. The names on this list are primarily examples of carmakers trying to tack $100 names onto $10 cars. We doubt any celebrities ever owned a Chevrolet Celebrity station wagon. Among the other cars we include in this group are the Buick LeSabre; Chevrolet Greenbrier; Chrysler LeBaron; Dodge Coronet, Crestwood, Diplomat, Dynasty, St. Regis; Ford Aspire; Lincoln Versailles; Pontiac Executive and Rambler Country Club. The best part of researching this story, however, was the process of combing through the names of cars sold in Japan with odd English titles. There are a couple of European models on our list, but Japanese automakers are the true champions of putting out the wildest car names.

Among the ones that put a smile on our face are the Daihatsu Naked; Honda Life Dunk; Honda That’s; Isuzu GIGA 20 Light Dump and Mysterious Utility; Mazda Bongo; Mitsubishi Delica Space Gear and Pistachio; Nissan Fairlady Z and Prairie Joy; Rickman Space Ranger; Rinspeed X-Dream; Suzuki Cappucino; Toyota Deliboy and Toyopet; Volkswagen Thing and Volugrafo Bimbo. We think it’s a shame that the Honda Life Dunk doesn’t sell over here. Its goofy yet inspiring name would probably attract a fair number of buyers. To see what some of the cars with the best, worst and weirdest names actually look like, follow the link below.

Question: What car maker's name means 'roll' in Latin?
Answer: Volvo