Your Car Is Named After…What?
I was on autopilot driving to work half awake this morning when I finally noticed that the make and model of the car I had been blindly following for the past five miles was a Toyota Avalon. ”Avalon, huh?” I thought to myself. ”Interesting name for a car.”
And that got me thinking, what other odd or unusual things are cars named after?
Browsing through Edmunds and cross-referencing online sources I managed to cobble together this small list of automobile makes and models:
Buick Enclave
Enclave: An enclosed territory that is culturally distinct from the foreign territory that surrounds it.
Buick LaCrosse
LaCrosse: The game of the hooked stick
Buick Lucerne
Lucerne: Latin meaning “circle of light”
Also: Capital of Lucerne canton (small territorial division of a country) in Switzerland
Cadillac Escalade
Escalade: An Act of scaling especially the walls of a fortification
Chevrolet Aveo
Aveo: To strongly desire, to crave something or somebody
Also: Latin form of salutation
Hyundai Sonata
Sonata: A composition of one or more solo instruments, one of which is usually a keyboard instrument
Kia Forte
Forte: Something in which a person excels
Also: A strong part of a sword blade, between the middle and the hilt
Kia Rondo
Rondo: A musical composition built on the alternation of a principal recurring theme and contrasting episodes
Mercury Grand Marquis
Grand Marquis: Marquis = a person who ruled on the lands situated on the border of a realm.
Mitsubishi Galant
Galant: Russian hygienist
Also: French – 18th century musical term to describe a simpler, elegant musical style favored by, for example, Bach and early Mozart
Porche Cayenne
Cayanne: A plant bearing very hot and finely tapering long peppers
Saturn Astra
Astra: Latin for “star”
Toyota Avalon
Avalon: In Arthurian legend, an island paradise in the western seas to which King Arthur went at his death
Toyota Camry
Camry: Phonetic transcription of the Japanese word kamuri, which means “crown”
Toyota Corolla
Corolla: The whorl of petals of a flower that collectively form an inner floral envelope or layer of the perianth
Personally, I’d feel odd about driving a Cadillac “Wall Climber” or a Toyota “Flower Petal”. 
