It will be informal, but I think I will name my new MCS 'Eryx' after a character in Greek Mythology. That particular name is a variation not often found, but in the story of the Jason and the Argonauts and their encounter with the Sirens, all but one of the shipmen escaped the Sirens' temptation. There are variations--either the single man had ears so sharp that he heard the Sirens' song and lept overboard, or that he was the only man unable to press beeswax into his ears to escape the seductive calls. The man's name in most versions is Butes, but some versions refer to him as Eryx. He dove overboard, and likely to his death, had Aphrodite not rescued him from the waves of the sea. The name Eryx is most often associated with the son of Butes and Aphrodite, who is the same man who was killed by Heracles in a boxing match. I'll take the version I like.

A local band (from Denver) named Caustic Soul also wrote a song entitled Eryx that is about the man's experience. It's a really great song, and it is what prompted me to investigate the geneaology of the name and story.

That's the short version of the explanation.

 

would Phi be an odd name for a MINI? (pronounced 'fee')

 

no name is an odd name.
there's a girl in one of my classes that goes by fi, haha

I named my MINI Mighty Mouse... but lately it seems that the MINI doesn't want that name... we'll see what happens

 

No name. Just "the MINI", "the blue car" or even "the car", since the other vehicles are a minivan and SUV.

Occasionally, after looking at the credit card bill, my wife prefixes those names with colorful adjectives.

 

Quite likely her full name is Fiona. In the UK, the nickname for Fiona is Fi.

 

Boomer.

Name Boomerang suggested by someone on NAM in response to my noting that everytime I have attempted to sell or trade it, something happens (like a wreck for one example) that causes us to keep it. Shorter was better.

 

Ours is named "Tina" for now... maybe forever.

The story behind this name... we wanted a "new" '08 MCS Convertible before the "change" would happen. We currently have a Chili Red '05 that we had purchased new that will be put up for adoption soon.

So I did lots of searching for another Chili Red- ALL over the country but the dealerships mostly had used ones or the expensive triple black threat special "last of the 100"... beautiful but I didn't want that one. I found one Pepper White '08 (not automatic- yay!) in Houston, Texas at Momentum MINI. We live in Southwest Florida. The plan was to go and get her ASAP. Then Hurricane Gustav was looking like a beast in the Gulf that could have gone anywhere from FL to TX... regardless... it covered the path we'd have to use to come home... I-10. We waited.

Then we made plans to fly to Houston to go get her in September but Hurricane IKE was brewing. The plan was to get her BEFORE IKE hit and drive her straight home. We even changed our flights to an earlier day so that we could "outrun" the storm... yeah, I'm a hurricane nerd AND a MINI enthusiast!

About an hour before we were going to leave for the airport we got a call from Matthew at the dealership letting us know that the car would be put away and protected since they were going to be closed the next day. I said, "Oh, but we changed our flight and we're coming today! We'll be there this afternoon!". "Great!" he said. But, it ended up that they were closing early that day (before we could get there) so that everyone could prepare for the storm. If we had gone, we would have been stuck in Houston with no Cooper and a possible CAT 4 hurricane.

So we stayed home and watched the news. IKE was heading straight for Houston. We were just sick... and we weren't able to save her. Was the storm going to be as bad as they predicted? We just didn't know. We (or I guess- "I") obsessively watched any and all news and as many of you know... it was bad. We had lots of mixed feelings... worried about the people that had been working with us- Matthew and Lee- worried about their families and homes and some guilt and worry about the car. We thought "what if" the car was ok, how would we feel if there were people that didn't have power and food or a home and here we were driving by in our happy shiny new car? We had lots to think about.

Momentum MINI opened a few days later and from what we were told, everything there was ok. They worked with us as we rescheduled flights and such. Houston still had a curfew and lots of power outages all over though. Many of the city traffic lights were not working. We flew in over Galveston and everyone on the plane was just quiet... it was gone. We took a cab to the dealership and we were able to leave there in time to give us a few hours of light to get out of town. For anyone that doesn't know, I-10 is a long straight road and there's lots of country. It was dark... and exit after exit had no power, no food... nothing.

We kept driving for awhile until we came upon a "truck stop" that looked to have power and possibly food... there were no working poopers though... just port-o-potties. LOTS of big jacked-up 4x4's and everyone was trying to get gas. As we were standing behind the car getting ready to go in there was a big 4x4 guy that was only paying attention to which gas pump was opening up the fastest. He puts his truck in reverse and he's backing fast... I said "OMG (and other stuff) he doesn't see us!". So the husband (6'5" could barely be seen above the truck's bed) and I (5' and barely above the top of the tire) had the inner bulldog come out and we started beating on his truck bed and screaming for him to stop. The guy finally stops and says, "What?"... you could tell that he had no idea that we were there and what almost happened. His trailer hitch alone (which stuck out about 12" and had a height almost to the top of the lid) stopped less than 1.5" from the car. At the speed he was going, he would have totalled the car... and I don't even know if he would have felt it! He didn't apologize... he just said, "I wasn't going to hit it.". After he got gas he waited around and watched us from across the parking lot. I was convinced that he would do something to the car if we went inside so I waited for him to leave... yep, stood right beside the car and waited (the husband was mad at me for doing that). Finally the guy broke and he left. I still waited to see if he'd come right back but thankfully he left for good. Mission Accomplished.

Fortunately the rest of the trip back home to Sarasota was uneventful. She hit her first 1000 miles in FL. It appeared that the worst was behind "her"... "she" had made it through the wrath of IKE in one piece. So although I had some other names in mind, it's almost like she has to be a "Tina".

PS I wasn't old enough to "know" Ike and Tina... but I saw the movie!

 

Yeaaah i never understood that "Ike and Tina" thing..
when i read the writings on the boarded windows around town i was like eh? "who's tina? another hurricane?"

 

So the movie came out in 1993- rated "R"... I was old enough to "legally" see it and I used a VCR to watch it... I am older than I thought!

 

i Named my mini "Scarface" because i do alot of miles everyday to work and i cant keep a crack off of my widow so i gave up on replacing them and just named it lol

 

Oh no. I have to go sit in my rocking chair, put on a shawl and sip a cup of tea. Yes, I feel OLD!!!! I do remember Ike and Tina very well.

 

I thought it's because of the "leetle friend" you keep in the trunk! (Watch the movie if you don't get the joke!)

 

To me, cars and boats are always female. I call mine Kazzie. It's the nickname of a girl who lives in Hemel Hempstead, England. Her name is spelled Karis but her family always calls her Kazzie.

 

The name determines which sex as far as I'm concerned. My vehicles are my friends, so that's how I prefer to name them.

 

After a year of thinking. I've finally came up with a name for my PW/PW MINI....

ladies and gentleman... I announce you...

Tofu!

 

For some reason, my brain just said "Yeah, Tofu, that's PERFECT!!!" It did not, however, explain to me why it was perfect.

 

TOFU. That is original - and far catchier than the alternative, "Bean Curd".

As far as the gender of a vehicle, I think it's up to the car. I probably wouldn't name a HUMMER Darla and I wouldn't name a VW Beetle Rocco.

My COOOOOP is all man - or boy, really. He likes to play rough and he gets antsy when he is not allowed to show off. Plus, he doesn't sound like a girl when he gets above 5K rpm.

 

Silken or Firm

 

Depends on how I drive it.

 

Due to color? Cute. I had been thinking mine looked like ranch dressing (especially when bugs splat on the front) but couldn't think of a cool name. Plus... we had too much experience with the whole Hurricane IKE thing.

 

Mine is called Checkers. Guess why.

 

I dunno. Why?

Just kidding.

 

Little Jackie Cooper, Jr.

 

My wife believes all cars should have a name.
After I ordered my MINI, Bailey came into my head and was, for me, the obvious choice. The Old Bailey was the London criminal courthouse dating back to 1674. (http://www.oldbaileyonline.org) And the London criminal courts are the setting for the books and TV series, "Rumpole of the Bailey".

 

Every car I've ever owned has had a name of some sort or another. It started when my sister and I named our parent's cars "Behemoth" (Mom's Grand Marquis) and "the Slug" (Dad's Ford Zephyr - way underpowered).

My new MINI is speaking to me about a name. It usually takes awhile, but I think we're close. I think it's narrowed to "Diana" or "Duchess". I'm leaning toward the former.

OK, Diana it is. I'll go let her know now...



I think she likes it.