CAR NAME THEMES
Theme Celestial/Gods
The quintessiantial name saturn (yeah we know, it’s a company, not a car)
It’s no surprise that many cars have been named for the heavens and its myriad creations. Speed, innovation, exploration, inclusiveness, reliability, movement and timelessness are just a few associations one can have with the sky and all its celestial inhabitants.
And, even though the Celestial theme has been used less frequently than the Luxury, Performance or Placenames themes, just about every name construct has been applied to this theme. Consider that there are real-word celestial names (e.g. Taurus), coined celestial names (e.g., Telstar), composite celestial names (e.g., Star Chief), and non-English celestial names (e.g., Cométe – French for Comet)!
Perhaps our favorite coined celestial name is Celica. Supposedly coined from the Latin Coelica meaning “heavenly or celestial”, the name is both otherworldly sounding and at the same time highly communicative of acceleration and speed. It’s abstract enough to allow for flexibility in meaning and identity, but suggestive enough of a key benefit of the vehicle. Smart naming, Toyota!
| Pontiac | Firebird | Probably a reference to the Phoenix |
| Toyota | Alphard | Brightest star in Hydra |
| Buick | Apollo | Son of Zeus, and American space program |
| Saturn | Astra | Latin for “star” |
| Pontiac | Astre | French for “heavenly body” |
| Chevy | Astro | Latin for “star” |
| Toyota | Celica | Derived from the Latin word coelica meaning “heavenly” or “celestial” |
| Mercury | Comet | Celestial object with a tail of gas |
| Ford | Comète | French for "Comet" |
| Toyota | Cressida | Woman of Troy who left her Trojan lover |
| Buick | Electra | Vengeful daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra |
| Volkswagen | Eos | Greek goddess of the dawn |
| Ford | Galaxie | French for "galaxy" |
| Toyota | Isis | After the goddess of fertility |
| Buick | LeSabre | French for "the sword" |
| Ford | Meteor | A celestial object that becomes incandescent upon entering our atmosphere |
| Chevy | Nova | A star |
| Ford | Orion | A giant hunter who changed into a constellation upon his death |
| Nissan | Pulsar | Derived from "pulsating star"- a star that emits regular pulses of radio waves |
| Saturn | Saturn | 6th planet of our solar system |
| Ford | Scorpio | The eighth sign of the zodiac |
| Pontiac | Star Chief | Composite name suggesting a commanding star |
| Ford | Taurus | The bull constellation |
| Ford | Telstar | The first of the active communications satellites launched in 1962 |
| Nissan | Titan | Any of the older Gods who preceded the Olympians |
| Chevy | Vega | The fifth brightest star in the sky |
| Toyota | Yaris | Derived from "Charis" a Greek goddess of beauty and elegance |
| Ford | Zodiac | The belt of the heavens comprised of the 12 different divisions or signs |
| Pontiac | Phoenix | The bird that rises from its ashes with renewed youth |
