What's in a Name?

Around my house, the Ford Aspire is fodder for a joke that started when my wife and I were stopped behind one of those Korean-built economobiles at a red light. She noticed the car's name, displayed in jaunty vinyl script affixed to the rear deck. "Aspire? Is that really the name of that car?" she asked incredulously. "You have to be kidding. That is the car that Ford wants me to aspire to own?"

And now the Aspire name is used as sarcastic motivation in our house, as in, "Is this the best you can do in chemistry? I suppose you'd be happy driving a Ford Aspire, too. Don't aim too high!"

You get the idea. So maybe Aspire was not the best name Ford could put on the car resting on the bottom rung of its product line, but it's probably not the worst. Say Kia Sephia really fast and tell me it doesn't sound like a tropical disease or some sort of STD.

Discuss:  What car names do you find unbelievable?

Don't get me wrong; naming a new car is a difficult task. Imagine having to pick a name for your newborn son or daughter and being limited to names that have not been used, that are fewer than three syllables and that you can trademark. You might just end up naming your daughter Sephia. And maybe she'll aspire to do great things in her life.

Look back through automotive history and you'll find many car names that were marketing home runs: A Dodge Charger must be powerful, a Cadillac Coupe de Ville sounds elegant, and a Buick Roadmaster oozes authority. However, sometimes a moniker comes along that makes you wonder what the marketing gurus were thinking. Here's our list of some car names that missed the mark by a mile.

Dodo (1912)

One of the first cyclecars, the Dodo was a compact, 2-passenger vehicle powered by a 9-horsepower engine. It was meant to be affordable transportation that bridged the gap between the motorcycle and the automobile. The name was prophetic, because the Dodo was extinct in a year.

LuLu (1914-15)

This name probably sounded better at the time, when "lulu" was slang for something remarkable, and according to the "Standard Catalog of American Cars," this cyclecar manufactured in Beavertown, Pa., by the Kearns Motor Truck Co. was a well-made vehicle. This little 2-seater had a 12-horse engine and a 3-speed transmission, but arrived at the end of America's short-lived fascination with the cyclecar.

Edsel (1958-1960)

A spectacular marketing disaster, the Edsel was such a big flop that the name became synonymous with business failure. Intended to slot between the Ford and Mercury brands in the Ford Motor Co. product line, this new family of cars was named for Edsel Ford, the only son of founder Henry Ford, who served as president of the company from 1919 until his death in 1943. The name, which consumers later said sounded like "weasel" or "dead cell," was not the only reason the Edsel failed — its styling was suspect, and Ford failed to persuade the public to buy a car that was essentially a restyled Ford or Mercury — but it did not help. Other names considered for the line, including Citation and Pacer, were used instead to name Edsel models, and both were later adopted by other car companies.

Bing: Find more pictures of Edsels

Toyopet (1958-1960)

This name of the first car imported to the United States by Toyota had been popular in Japan since 1947, and it proved apt for an underpowered sedan ill-suited for American roads. Toyota's first sales administrator, James McGraw, says he thought the name was wrong from the get-go. "It starts with toy," he is reported to have told his Japanese bosses, "and ends in pet, which sounds like a dog." Toyota withdrew the Toyopet in 1960, and returned in 1965 with the Corona, a car designed specifically for the American market. The rest is history.

Bing: Learn more about the Toyopet