Mercedes Celebrates 120th Birthday As The World’s Only Female-Named Automotive Brand

It’s been 120 years since the name of an eleven-year-old girl was chosen as the name of the first luxury car brand and Mercedes is celebrating the occasion.

On April 2, 1900, Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft decided to brand its cars Mercédès after the daughter of Emil Jellinek, an Austrian businessman who traded Daimler cars and registered them for racing events. Mercédès is a Spanish Christian name meaning mercy.

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The first Daimler car named after Jellinek’s daughter was the Mercedes 35 PS, which proved to be hugely popular at the Nice race week in March 1901. This was due to not only its advanced-for-the-era technology but also because of its elegant design.

At the 1902 Paris Automobile event, Emil Jellinek hung a large picture of her on the company’s stand and in 1903 he legally changed his name to Jellinek-Mercedes, following the trademark of the name by Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft the previous year.

From the Mercedes 35 PS onwards, the curved ‘Mercedes’ lettering was proudly featured on the radiators of Daimler’s passenger cars. When Daimler and Benz came together in 1926, it was changed to today’s Mercedes-Benz.

Mercedes-Benz notes that to this day they are the only automotive brand that uses a female name. “Women like Mercédès Jellinek or Bertha Benz shaped the success story of Mercedes-Benz from the start,” says Bettina Fetzer, head of Marketing Mercedes-Benz AG. “With our She’s Mercedes initiative, founded in 2015, we are building on this tradition for our numerous female customers around the world. The future of Mercedes-Benz will combine sustainability and luxury in a fascinating way.”