Your Auto's Name May Mean More Than You Realize

A perfect name can summarize a car or truck's personality perfectly: Mustang, Ram, Impala. But the wrong one can send a message the automaker never intended.

Sometimes, automakers seem unaware of an embarrassing name. Despite having a name which means "a seizure in which the victim loses consciousness," Honda has not changed the name of the Fit back to Jazz, which is what it's called in other countries.

Maybe this is why automakers avoid proper words when naming their vehicles; it avoids unintended consequences. You'll understand why when you see what your vehicle's name means.

Here's a sampling of current model names, their definitions and the automaker who uses them.

• Accent: A way of pronouncing a language, associated with a country, area, or social class. (Hyundai)
• Avalon: Celtic legend, the isle of the dead, where King Arthur and other heroes are taken after death. (Toyota)
• Civic: Relating to a city or town. (Honda)
• Enclave: A minority culture group living as an entity within a larger group. (Buick)
• Eos: The Greek goddess of dawn. (Volkswagen)
• Equinox: The time or date at which the sun crosses the celestial equator and when day and night are of equal length. (Chevrolet)
• Equus: Latin word for horse. (Hyundai)
• Escalade: The scaling of fortified walls using ladders, as a form of military attack. (Cadillac)
• Fiesta: A religious festival, especially a saint's day. (Ford)
• Fit: A seizure in which the victim loses consciousness. (Honda)
• Focus: The center of interest or activity. (Ford)
• Forester: A person or animal living in a forest. (Subaru)
• Forte: The strongest part of the blade of a sword. (Kia)
• Fusion: A fusing or melting together. (Ford)
• Genesis: The way in which something comes to be. (Hyundai)
• Golf: An outdoor game played on a large course with a small, hard ball and a set of clubs. (Volkswagen)
• Insight: The ability to see and understand clearly the inner nature of things, especially by intuition. (Honda)
• Juke: Outmaneuver by feint or other deceptive movement. (Nissan)
• Rio: Spanish word for river. (Kia)
• Rogue: A person or thing that is defective or unpredictable. (Nissan)
• Sequoia: A redwood tree. (Toyota)
• Sienna: An earth pigment containing iron and manganese oxides, yellow-brown in natural state and reddish brown when burnt. (Toyota)
• Sierra: A range of hills or mountains having a saw-toothed appearance from the distance. (GMC)
• Sonata: A composition for one or two instruments, usually consisting of several movements. (Hyundai)
• Soul: An entity which is regarded as being the immortal or spiritual part of the person and, though having no physical or material reality, is credited with the functions of thinking and willing, and hence determine all behavior. (Kia)
• Touareg: or Tuareg, a nomadic African tribe. (Volkswagen)
• Tundra: A vast, flat, treeless Arctic region of Europe, Asia, and North America in which the subsoil is permanently frozen. (Toyota)
• Vantage: A place or position affording a good view. (Aston Martin)
• Volt: A turning movement or gait of a horse, in which it moves sideways around a center (Chevrolet)

Courtesy of The Detroit News