Do you name your plane?

I named mine Shirley. She’s a 1947 Cessna 140.

I was very close to my Grandma Shirley, she got me through my parents ugly divorce as a kiddo, I held her hand as she breathed her last- we were tight.

I had 4 boys so never was able to pass on her name to my offspring.

So it seemed fitting as her and my Grandpa Ray ,whom I’m named after, would have just been starting their life, with Grandpa fresh back from beating the Nazis, as a couple when my 140 was new.

The tie into the movie Airplane is fun too! I named my relatively inactive YT channel “Call her Shirley”
 
Re-opening an old thread because I've finally settled on the most appropriate name for my Musketeer. As many of you know, I'm in the middle of an engine overhaul ($$$$) which began just a few months after getting the plane out of the paint shop (also $$$$).

If you've read Dumas' book The Three Musketeers, you will remember Milady de Winter, the beautiful but treacherous femme fatale who used her womanly charms and feigned love to bewitch and seduce men when she was really only in love with their money, and who left a long line of broken, ruined men in her wake.

"Milady's beautiful exterior hides a diabolically cunning, manipulative, ruthless and cruel interior; she is remorseless and unrepentant for her countless misdeeds..."​

As I keep depleting my resources on behalf of my lovely bird, I can't think of a more fitting name than "Milady."

Sigh.
 
No name for my current plane, but my last plane, 182LU, I called 'Lou'. I did have a motorhome that I, and my ex-wife, dubbed 'The AntiChrist'.... I yi yi! ;) If you've owned a motorhome, ya' know. Not an original idea for the name but inspired by a great, quirky movie.

 
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robin ardoin said:
No name for my current plane, but my last plane, 182LU, I called 'Lou'. I did have a motorhome that I, and my ex-wife, dubbed 'The AntiChrist'.... I yi yi! ;) If you've owned a motorhome, ya' know. Not an original idea for the name but inspired by a great, quirky movie.

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You must be a fan of The Gods Must Be Crazy. That was the name of the Land Rover.
 
I tried to embed several videos of 'the antichrist', but, living up to it's namesake, all failed. LOL
 
BB since that’s the last 2 of the tail number
 
My 140 was beautiful and worthy of a name, so she was Nona. My grandmother's name was Iona, but most people called her Nona.
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My wife called my Citabria "Miss Wiggles", which is a cutesy name that is also a vicious burn on my rudder skills.

My Cherokee is "Jenny", since the house on a road of that name financed that particular purchase!
 
My last plane, a '39 Luscombe, had "Faith" on her side - a name that was inspired by two things - a friend had rebuilt a Taylorcraft I'd formerly owned and called it "Grace" and also, I've always been a fan of the Gloster Sea Gladiator in the Defence of Malta which had the name "Faith" along with it's sister ships "Hope" and "Charity."
 
We don't even have the model name on the plane anymore, let alone coming up with a name for it.

I have never named any vehicle that I've owned.
 
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I included this photo in one of my books. The editors cropped it so that just the "Pamela Jean" name remained....

Ron Wanttaja
 
My wife looked at the new nose bowl and said, "She's smiling!" From that point on the name was "Happy Girl."
About a year ago my wife suggested it was time for me to buy another airplane. My response was, of course, "Yes, Dear." Same with the name. :)

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They all do, two-two-romeo, four-three-alpha :)
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Those aren't as cool as "Rosie the Rocketer" tho'.
 
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This one is Mike Mike because of the N number. A previous 421B was called Charlene, everyone from the ramp guys to the mechanics called her that. When I bought it, there was a big cursive C on the tail, no real explanation, so I dubbed her Charlene after Charlene Darlin.
When I had it painted the paint shop owner had a small C under the tail to surprise me!
 
EdFred said:
We don't even have the model name on the plane anymore, let alone coming up with a name for it.

I have never named any vehicle that I've owned.
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I name planes and motorcycles. I've had Regina (Ce-177RG) and "Miss Tango" (SR-20). I just recently came up with a name for my Luscombe (still in project stage, but the name came with the discussions of paint). To explain that last, my Harley Softail was Lucy, my Harley Road Glide is GiGi. GiGi is painted Crushed Sapphire w/Abyss Blue. My wife, Lihua (pronounced "Lee-Hwa") wants to leave the Luscombe primarily silver but trim her out in HD Crushed Sapphire - this got me to thinking the paint scheme on GiGi would look good on the Luscombe (google "2015 FLRTUSE"), polish the control surfaces and struts to give appearance of chrome without all the work of a full strip and polish and . . . when she retakes the air her name will be LiLi.

Opinions on the paint scheme are welcome, I am thinking cowling has the same paint scheme/markings as the HD Fairing, the wheel fairings match the HD front fender, and about 2/3 way back on the fuselage bring in the curved stripes from the HD side panels and bags. In my mind, I can see it, hopefully a paint shop can too.
 
Some days what I called it couldn't be said in polite company.
 
My wife took a look at a picture of the nose and said she looked happy. Consequently, the name that seems to stick is "Happy Girl."
I usually just say "the Coupe."

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