What's in a name? A lot, for car companies

NORFOLK, Va. — A perfect name summarizes a car's personality: Mustang, Ram, Impala. But the wrong one sends a message that an automaker never intended. The most famous example? The Chevrolet Nova, which means "it doesn't go" in Spanish.

Of course, such a thing couldn't happen today, right? Cracking open the dictionary reveals otherwise.

Take, for example, the Toyota Avalon. Once you know what the word Avalon refers to, you have to wonder what possessed a car company to name its sedan after a mythical Celtic island of the dead.

Increasingly, automakers are avoiding proper words in naming their vehicles to sidestep such unintended consequences. Still, countless hours — not to mention millions of dollars — are spent by manufacturers to come up with the perfect moniker.

And names matter.

Just look at Ford. The company hopes it will stoke interest in the full-sized sedan formerly known as the Five Hundred, renamed the Taurus for 2008.

Here then, is a sampling of current model names, associated definitions and the automaker that uses them.

--Armada: A fleet of warships (Nissan)

--Avalon: Celtic legend, the isle of the dead, where King Arthur and other heroes are taken after death (Toyota)

--Cooper: A person who makes or repairs casks and barrels (MINI)

--Corolla: The petals, or inner floral leaves, of a flower (Toyota)

--Eclipse: A sudden loss of significance, power, or prominence (Mitsubishi)

--Escalade: The scaling of fortified walls using ladders, as a form of military attack (Cadillac)

--Fit: A seizure in which the victim loses consciousness (Honda)

--Lancer: A soldier of a cavalry regiment armed or formerly armed with lances (Mitsubishi)

--Legacy: An amount of money or property left to someone in a will (Subaru)

--Lucerne: Another term for alfalfa (Buick)

--Magnum: A wine bottle of twice the standard size, normally 1.5 liters (Dodge)

--Matrix: The womb, uterus (Toyota)

--Sable: Black (Mercury)

--Tundra: A vast, flat, treeless Arctic region of Europe, Asia, and North America in which the subsoil is permanently frozen (Toyota)