Gary’s Gorgeous Girls

There are apparently several reasons why vehicles get female names; one of which dates back many centuries, another dates back about one century though they are linked. In ancient times ships were named after goddesses and often had their figureheads in the likeness of goddesses. The idea was that the goddess would look favourably on the ship and its journeys. Also, ships carrying cargo including passengers, across the seas, seemed back then as containers carrying precious items, similar to the female of the species carrying a child. Invariably ships were crewed by men.

When motorised vehicles began appearing in numbers at the start of the last century, with very few exceptions, vehicle ownership, and driving, was perceived as the domain of males. Subliminally the gender of ships seems to have been passed on to other vehicles. Add to that the fact that many early production motor vehicles required a