Us Kiwis have always had a special love affair with the cars we rely on every day.
Valued as more than a mere mode of transport, many New Zealander's have that 'dream car' they aspire to one day own that reflects their lifestyle, personality and passion.
The bond runs so deep that, in many cases, we feel the need to make any car our own with one special personal feature; a name.
New Zealand owned petrol company GAS knows this and conducted a survey to discover our most popular car name, with unsurprisingly colourful results.
The survey found that the next time you are stuck in traffic, chances are you will be close to a 'Betty', the most popular name given to cars by their owners.
Betty and Betsy were the most popular names, which mirrors a trend seen overseas, as it is also the most common name amongst US and UK drivers.
Kermit was second, with Bob and various names involving the word ‘little’ also recurring in the survey.
“We didn’t realise Betty was going to be so popular,” said Kylie Baudet, Head of Marketing at GAS. “People quite often form a strong bond with their car, so we wanted to see if there were common names and what the reasons were behind them.”
432 Kiwis took part in the survey, which also found 79 per cent of those who named their car were female, with those aged 18-44 most likely to give their car a name.
When asked about the inspiration behind the name of their car, 42 per cent cited the appearance as the main reason, with the number plate also proving a source of creativity.
“We received so many funny stories as to how people created their names and what they call their car – not all of them family friendly!” said Baudet.
“It’s certainly given us a lot of laughs, and even some tears to read the stories.”
Some other noteworthy names to appear were ‘Mazdarati’, ‘Stella McCARtney’, ‘Hondaway to the scrap yard’ and ‘Lancer Armstrong.’
When asked what gender they thought of their car as, 61 per cent of responders said female, with 25 per cent saying male and the rest stating neither.
Japanese cars also dominated the survey, with a handful of German marques also appearing.
Names Kiwis have given to their cars
| 0NDA |
| 3DITHZ |
| Agnes |
| Agnetha |
| Agnus |
| Alle |
| Amon |
| Ancient Beast |
| Baby beast |
| Baby doll |
| Baby Girl |
| BARNEY |
| Beat up betty |
| Beets |
| Bessie |
| Betsy |
| Betty |
| Betty Hot Box |
| Big red |
| Big white |
| Black Beauty |
| Blue boy |
| Blueberry Muffin |
| Bluey |
| Bob |
| Bob Marley |
| Bob the builder |
| Boris |
| Brax |
| Brucie |
| Bubbles |
| Bud |
| Butch |
| BUZ |
| CaCa |
| Cashy |
| Cee cee |
| Cefy |
| Cera (Sarah) |
| Charlotte |
| Cheap colt |
| Chocolate |
| Clive |
| Cooper |
| Copeland's bread or Jaffa |
| Craig |
| Delilah |
| demio levato |
| Dezmond |
| Di |
| Dicey |
| Diego Enrique de la Hugo Ramires |
| Dorothy |
| Edna |
| Eggsy |
| Eleanor |
| ERB |
| Evil REN |
| Faithful |
| Fast Kev |
| Fitty |
| Flash drive & black beauty |
| Flick |
| Foxy |
| Fred |
| Gertie |
| Gertrude |
| GG (as in Gigi) |
| Girl |
| Gm0rk |
| Golf cart |
| Gorjs (gorgeous) |
| Green beast |
| Guacamole |
| Gurt |
| Hellsing |
| Henry |
| Herbie the love bug |
| Hoerolla |
| Holly Astra.... |
| Honda wonder |
| Hondaway to the scrap yard |
| Howie |
| HumbleBee |
| jade wrx |
| Jessie |
| Johnny |
| Juju |
| June |
| June Bug |
| Kelly |
| Kermit |
| Ketchup |
| Kids taxi service |
| Kinky |
| Kite |
| Kraden |
| Krystal |
| La Toya |
| Lancer Armstrong |
| Lane |
| Larry |
| Leenah the ballerina |
| Legend |
| Lewis |
| Lexxy |
| Libby |
| Lil bobby blue |
| Little blue |
| Little Joe |
| Little missFIT |
| Little Red |
| Little Rosey |
| Little yellow submarine |
| Lois's Hearse |
| Lolla the Oll Corolla |
| Lucille |
| Lucy |
| Mabel |
| Madmini |
| Maleficent |
| Mary the primary |
| Mavis |
| Maz |
| Mazdarati |
| Mazzy |
| Nissandra the Nissan |
| MIGHTY vitara |
| Mildred |
| Mimi |
| Mo & Ed |
| Molly |
| Mondo |
| Monty |
| Mr jeepie |
| Muldoon |
| Mum's taxi |
| Ned |
| Noddy |
| Odie |
| Ol’ Blue |
| Old smokey |
| Optimus Prime |
| Orange roughy |
| Pascal |
| Patsy |
| Pearl |
| Peeley the green banana car |
| Pocket Rocket |
| Pugmobile |
| Puppismobile |
| Ra. Like the sun |
| Rashida |
| Ravvy Girl |
| Red devil |
| Red sparkle |
| Rhonda |
| Ruby |
| Ryana |
| Salem |
| Sass |
| Sexy Lexi |
| Shirley girl |
| Shrek |
| Silver surfer |
| Silverfish |
| Sixeight |
| Skye |
| Snifter |
| Snow |
| Snowflake |
| Speedy |
| Spirit |
| Steeeve |
| Stella |
| Stella McCARtney |
| Subie |
| Suby |
| Suby Duby Du |
| Sue |
| Sunshine |
| Super Sheddan Shuttle |
| Suz the suzuki. Short for "Suzanna" |
| Suzy |
| Swagger swag car |
| Tambo |
| TAMZ |
| TayTay |
| Terrance |
| The Batmobile |
| The Bean |
| The Beast |
| The black beast |
| The Black Pearl |
| The Boss |
| The Dickmobile |
| The dirty diesel |
| The French Tickler |
| The Mazdabator |
| The Old Girl |
| The pregnant ladybird |
| The red beast |
| The Rig |
| The roller skate |
| The Shann |
| The Swamp Rat |
| The Whale.. |
| Timone |
| Tina |
| Tina the Tiida |
| Toni |
| Tractor |
| Trotty |
| Trusty blue |
| Trusty ippy |
| TuaTua |
| Vanny |
| Vicky |
| violet |
| wag |
| Whale |
| Whitney |
| Zippy |
| Zoomi |