A Rivian RT1 electric truck parked outside of Rivian headquartersRivian, the electric automaker known for a cool outdoors-focused electric trucks and SUVs (and Amazon delivery vans), is a fairly new kid on the block. Founded in 2011 by Robert Scaringe, the company offers an SUV called the R1S and a truck, called the R1T, along with two smaller SUVs, the R2 that just went on sale, and the R3 that's still a couple years off. Now, you maybe thinking, those aren't very creative names, but maybe that's because Scaringe had to use all his creative naming powers on the company name.The automaker had to make a name for itself early on to capture customers' attention, being backed by Department of Energy loans, investments from a large auto distribution group in Saudi Arabia, as well as Amazon, Ford (at least, at the very beginning of the project), and a who's who of private equity firms including Vanguard and BlackRock. What that name would be took two attempts before landing on Rivian, a name that evokes nature and rushing water. What's in a name?Yellow Rivian badge on the side of a black carIn 2009, Scaringe founded Mainstream Motors, which didn't seem to fit a breakthrough company looking to shake up the automotive world. Are you really Mainstream if no one has heard of you yet? The company then tried on Avera Automotive for a time — a blending of the words America, verde, the Spanish word for "green," and terra, the Latin name for the planet Earth. That company even had a round, blue-green logo evocative of planet Earth. Avera was short lived, however, and not because creating a name from three different languages is annoying. In 2010, when the name premiered, Hyundai almost immediately sued fledgling Avera Automotive for being too similar to the Hyundai Azera sedan. Not just any sedan — the Azera was Hyundai's flagship car. It was still for sale in the U.S. at the time, so it was pretty important to them that car shoppers not confuse their product with this up-and-coming EV from a nobody company from nowhere. Sale of the Azera in the U.S. ended in 2017, but by then, Rivian was on a roll. It was easier to change the name of the company than go through legal combat with one of the largest automakers in the world. Scaringe went back to his old trick of mashing words together, landing on Rivian, a name inspired by the Indian River he spent his boyhood exploring. River + Indian gives us Rivian. It's a name I quite like. Even without knowing the origins, Rivian is a name that does the work Scaringe obviously hoped for. Rivian evokes water moving in its natural state, even if it isn't a real word. Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox, and add us as a preferred search source on Google.
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