Some people like to give their cars nicknames, but did you know that in Iraq’s Kurdistan region all cars are known by their nicknames instead of their actual names?
According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, ever since the region was flooded with foreign cars following Saddam Hussein’s fall in 2003, Kurds have had trouble pronouncing the names of some vehicles.
This explains why they used nicknames that are easy to pronounce in their local tongue and why the Chrysler 300 is known as the Obama. A popular sedan in Iraqi Kurdistan, the Chrysler 300 was one of the first cars that arrived in the region when U.S. President Barack Obama came into office.
Everyone in Erbil, the region’s capital, calls the Chrysler 300 the Obama, so it’s not unusual to have someone tell you over the phone something like “Meet me outside, I’m driving the Obama.”
The Toyota Land Cruiser is known as a Wanawsha, the name of a famous Kurdish actress and singer, while the Toyota Corolla was renamed Sabaw, after a Kurdish actress. The Kia Soul is baptized the Potin, or military boot, because of its boxy shape, and the Mercedes-Benz W123 is called Neiw Dinar (dinar and a half), because each of its headlights has a smaller one next to it.
But the tradition of naming cars goes back before 2003. Before being nicknamed the Wanawsha, the Toyota Land Cruiser was called the Monica, after Monica Lewinsky. However, no one in Erbil recalls how Ms. Lewinsky became associated with a Toyota.
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