In 48 hours, we’ll have a new car. And I have no name for it. I repeat, I have no name for our newest family member, soon to arrive.
Historically, the Husband and I have named our cars, pets, and oh yeah, children, after something that has been significant to us.
- The first dog we fostered was named Brunswick, after the first city we lived in together out of college. Struggling on our own, but holding strong to the belief that we could do it, we thought it apropos to re-name Herb, Brunswick (who names a beagle Herb, anyway).
- Our current dog, RJ, is named after one of the first stocks we bought together, and a stock that has in fact made us a lot of money. We love the stock so much that we bought an actual hard-copy (a single share of stock), framed it, and have it hanging beside our bed. We have single shares of that stock and others, displayed as art around the house, and yes, they are actually worth one share of the current value of that stock, and yes, we get quarterly dividend checks for a single share of these stocks.
- Version 2.0 is named after one of the World’s Strongest Men. Yup, we’ve got a kid with an incredibly unique name (at least in the US) – inspired by WSM. Why? We love watching WSM. We are avid weightlifters. My husband thinks he can be the World’s Strongest Man. It’s a part of who we are and the history we’ve shared – together.
- One of our cars – Don – is named after Donald Trump. Don’t judge. We named our car Don because of the money we made in the stock market when President Trump got elected. With a portfolio heavy in tech and consumer staples, we took a 20% gain in the first quarter of 2017, cashed out, and bought a car.
But what to do about the new car? First world problems, I guess. But what to name it? When I think about all the amazing shared experiences my husband and I have had, I’m absolutely at a loss of where to start.
- WWE wrestling – should we name the car after one of our favorite wrestlers? The CEO of WWE? Our own wrestling names that we’ve made up? The cities where we have traveled to watch some amazing shows together, including Wrestlemania (twice!), Summer Slam, and Hell in a Cell?
- Football – college or professional, you name it. Season tickets to my alma mater? You betcha. Professional teams? Sure – the NY Giants or Green Bay Packers are favorites over here in the Dubowsky household. Should we name the car after a player? A GM? A team mascot?
- College – you see, the Husband and I met in college. College was the beginning of our relationship, and the foundation of where we are now. There are so many things we could name a car after. We both played sports, he was in a fraternity; we could name a car something along those lines (his chapter?), or famous alumni, our shared friends (and experiences), the beer we drank…?
- Investing – how about a great CEO or visionary, or a stock we have loved and held through the years? Or a stock we have learned from, haha, #wellstonefilters. What stock does a reverse 25:1 split? Not one that is doing well, that’s for sure; not all stocks we pick are winners, but we learn from the losers too. Regardless, we buy what we believe in and we love investing. Not trading, investing. We understand the privilege in buying stock, and owning a piece of a great company. So why not name a car after a stock, CEO, or innovator?
- Road trips – we have driven all over the Eastern half of the US. Thousands of miles on our cars, to cities like Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Raleigh, Boston, NYC, Gatlinburg, the Outer Banks, Sunset Beach (and Myrtle Beach), Virginia Beach, and everything in between. We’ve explored Europe together, the Caribbean, the vineyards of Sonoma and Napa, with and without kids. And it never gets old. Should we name our car after a place we love? Or a place we want to go?
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I mean, I could go on. But really, I think this is going to be one of those things where the car doesn’t get named until I start driving it. Like the child that is born and doesn’t get named for a week? So check back in a few days or so and maybe our newest family member will have a name. Either that, or I’ll need a new car every year just to use up all those name ideas above…