Oct 022026

What’s In a Name?

What’s In a Name?

Tessa the folding bike at the Tukwila light rail station, on our way to the airport to catch a plane to Boise for the Idaho Bike Summit where I was speaking. Trip consisted of ride-ride-fly-ride.

October 2 happens to be Name Your Car Day. Who would have thought we needed a day for this? According to the National Today page on this, “Studies show that naming inanimate objects can make us feel more in control and foster a deeper connection.”

We have a newish EV, an Ioniq5. My husband’s name for it is HAL9000. Mine is either Io or WALL-E depending on whether I’m feeling more mythologically inclined or more technologically inclined. I really haven’t named cars in the past; the old Honda Odyssey is Ody (oh-dee), which is hardly original. The Ioniq is the first new car I’ve had in decades and thus probably worthy of a name. And of course we should all be in control of our vehicles and operate them with a sense of connection and care for those around us.

I have names for all my bicycles, though, and each has a history.

  • Sweetie: The Specialized Dolce my husband gave me as a gift when we were dating. For those who don’t speak French, “dolce” means sweet. Since we’ve been married for 19 years, together for 20, Sweetie has some miles on her. She still rides as sweetly as when he surprised me with her, though.
  • Mary Poppins, AKA my happy bike: The upright city bike I bought as a present for myself when I took a leap and took a new job that meant moving us to Seattle so I could serve as executive director of Washington Bikes. I felt like Mary Poppins pedaling along in the upright posture rather than down on the handlebars of road bike and realized how happy that made me feel, to be sitting up and looking around. After I wrote the review linked here, we took her to the bike shop where I bought her and had them add so I could have 16 gears rather than the 8 she came with, because Seattle and because hills.
  • Tessa: Short for tessaract in homage to Madeleine L’Engle’s wonderful book A Wrinkle in Time, this one is a folding bike. Named with the help of a Seattle bike person I connected with via Twitter, back when that was still a good place.
  • Zelda: The most recent addition, my e-bike purchased in 2019. Her full name is Zelda Keen the Peach Machine, inspired by my daughters asking about her paint color (Georgia Peach) and me remembering that in high school I used the phrase “peachy keen” possibly (probably) ((definitely)) too often.

What about you? Do you name inanimate objects to feel a sense of control and connection? Does your bike’s name have a story?

Peach-colored bike parked at a bike-shaped rack. Front of bike holds a large blue pannier, back rack has a bag on either side with a bike helmet on top of the rack.
You can’t tell just by looking, but Zelda here is fully loaded with laptop, notebook, and 36 jars of jams, jellies and chutneys I hauled to a meeting to share with people. The E in E-bike can mean “Effortless”, relatively speaking, but this was still a big load to haul!
Photo of folding bike with bags on back rack parked in front of giant metal sculptures of a banjo. In the background, stairs and escalator in front of glass walls and a high cement ceiling.
Tessa the folding bike at the Tukwila light rail station, on our way to the airport to catch a plane to Boise for the Idaho Bike Summit where I was speaking. Trip consisted of ride-ride-fly-ride.
Smiling white woman with short blonde hair on an upright silver city bike. The woman is wearing black pants and a bright turquoise long-sleeved top.
Picking up my brand-new Specialized Globe Daily 02 at Gregg’s Cycles. This picture is before we had Gregg’s modify it to give me more gears; needed that granny gear for Seattle hills!
Smiling white woman with short blonde hair and glasses wearing a bright blue jacket, black scarf, and blue/white/black flowered dress standing with a blue bike loaded with bags on its back rack. Image is inside a building.
Ready to roll with Sweetie bike via Amtrak. Train + bike travel is just wonderful.

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