What's in a name? If you're inspired to name your child after your favourite car brand or model, you're not alone.
Naming your baby can be a difficult decision, so difficult that some babies go months without having one, others get changed a few months in and some are named with the first name that pops into the mind of the parents’ post-birth (yes, I know people who did this – in this case it was the midwife’s name, Kate.)
Kardashian matriarch and momager Kris Jenner, very famously couldn’t seem to move past the letter K when naming all of her children (well except for her son, Rob), with Kourtney, Kim, Khloe, Kendall and Kylie all karrying a first name beginning with k.
But it’s not letters that have been the inspiration for choosing a baby name, in fact, there’s a whole host of weird and wonderful real-world influences.
From cities of conception (Paris, London, Adelaide), seasons or months of the year (Winter, August), even animals (Bear, Birdie, Bee, Cricket), gods and goddesses (Olympia, Athena), and food (Apple, Brie) – the inspiration for names is everywhere.
According to some experts in the field, 2023 is going to see a surge in ‘dark’ and ‘moody’ names being registered, those inspired by shows such as Wednesday on Netflix (just as long as it’s not Thing).
But one inspiration that has remained pretty consistent over the years, isn’t a letter, a city or a mood but names inspired by cars.
Yes, whether it is car brands or models, baby names that have been intentionally inspired, or even unknowingly influenced by vehicles often dominate the most popular baby name lists around the world and locally too.
According to data from the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages:
Over the past ten years, there have been thousands of babies born in the state with names that are also shared by car brands or models, including over 3,500 Coopers, over 3,000 Hunters, 2761 Hudsons, 1718 Lincolns, 1682 Austins, over 700 Cruzs, over 600 Bentleys and over 300 Morgan and Astons.
While the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages is unable to confirm the reasoning behind the choice by families of naming children, these names are undoubtedly popular.
Take Aussie celebrity, Rebel Wilson, who welcomed her daughter, Royce in 2022.
While Wilson has said her reasoning for the unique name was motivated by wanting her daughter to share the same ‘R’ initial as herself and partner Ramona Agruma, there has been some speculation that it may also be a nod to her appreciation of the luxury car.
One Victorian father, who was definitely inspired by a luxury car when naming his baby, is *Peter, who said his now grown-up daughter was named after the luxury car brand, Mercedes.
“My father was a mechanic for luxury cars and worked on Mercedes which became his favourite. This love was then instilled in me from a young age because he would talk about them all the time,” he says.
Over the years Peter says he became quite “obsessed“ with the car brand but it wasn’t until his wife became pregnant that he considered it as a name.
“When my wife was pregnant, I knew that if it was a girl, this would be her name and luckily my wife liked the idea too and agreed. Nine months later we welcomed our beautiful Mercedes,” he said.
While Peter didn’t continue the car theme with any of his other children, he says he is still extremely glad that he chose the name for his daughter and that she has also “grown to love it.”
“Mercedes is a unique name; it is strong but beautiful too and that is exactly the personality of my daughter. It suits her to a tee,” he says.
All I can say is thank God my mum wasn’t inspired by her car at the time of my birth, or you’d be seeing a by-line featuring Datsun.
Keyword: Car-inspired baby names are revving up