Car companies have different stories for how they came up with their name. Most automakers are just the CEO’s last name while some may have found more interesting inspiration. Here is how each American car company that is still actively building and selling cars got its name.
Buick
Buick was named after its founder, David Dunar Buick. Buick was born in Scotland and moved to Detroit as a child. He began making plumbing parts before he started to make engines. He then founded the Buick brand in 1899.
Cadillac
While many car companies bear the name of their founder, Cadillac uses the name of the founder of Detroit. Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac was a French explorer who arrived in what is now Michigan and founded the city of Detroit in 1701.
Chevrolet
Chevy got its name from
Swiss racecar driver and engineer Louis Chevrolet. He cofounded the company alongside William C. Durant in 1911.
Chrysler
Chrysler was founded in 1925 by Walter P. Chrysler when the Maxwell Motor Co. was taken over.
Dodge
Dodge was founded by John Francis Dodge and Horace Elgin Dodge in 1900 in Detroit.
Ford
As everyone knowns, Henry Ford is the man behind Ford Motor Co. The automaker was founded in Detroit back in 1903.
GMC
Another one of the easiest American automaker names to figure out is GMC, which stands for General Motors Company. It was founded in 1902 Max and Morris Grabowsky.
Jeep
The history of the Jeep name isn't as clear-cut as some of the other brands. The original car that resembles the Jeeps we have today was known as Willys-Overland Motors. These vehicles were 4x4 SUVs built for military use and capable to take on tough terrain. The trademark for Jeep became official in 1950 but there is some debate on how exactly it got that name.
According to Jeep Canada, "The most recognized says the name comes from the letters "GP," the military abbreviation for "General Purpose." However, some claim that the vehicle was named after a popular character named "Eugene The Jeep" from the Popeye comics. Whatever its origin, the name has gone down in legend and for some time even served to define any vehicle capable of venturing off the beaten track."
Lincoln
Lincoln bears the name of a real person but not of the founder. While Lincoln Motor Company was founded by Henry M. Leland in 1917, the automaker was named after his hero, President Abraham Lincoln.
Lucid
While Lucid Motors has had cars on the road only for the last few years the company has have been in business since 2007. It was originally called Atieva but changed the name to Lucid Motors in 2016 by Lexicon Branding. Lexicon is a company that creates names for brands to use and Lucid the word they came up with.
RAM
RAM trucks were sold as Dodge vehicles until becoming a standalone company in 2009. RAM was first used from 1932 to 1954 on Dodge vehicles and they had a hood ornament with a ram on it. In 1981, Dodge released a pickup truck with the RAM nameplate. When RAM and Dodge became separate brands, it was to differentiate the works trucks from the family and muscle cars Dodge builds.
Rivian
Rivian is an EV pickup truck company founded by RJ Scaringe in 2009 in Rockledge, Florida. The name Rivian was inspired by the Indian River in Florida, where Scaringe used to explore the river in a rowboat when he was young.
Tesla
While many believe Elon Musk gave the EV automaker its name Tesla, it was actually named that before he joined the company in 2004. Tesla Motors was founded by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning in 2003. They were heavily inspired by the works of Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla and named their company after him.
Keenan Thompson is a car culture reporter for the Detroit Free Press. Contact Keenan at kthompson@freepress.com. Follow him on Instagram at @keenanautos. To sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: The stories of how each American auto company got its name
