Cars are amazing technological feats that litter our roads round the world today. Every passing year witnesses the debut of a new model or some incredible modification on an existing model. But I’m not here to examine car models or talk about which is the newest innovation.
I’m here to talk about the funny names Nigerians give these cars!
It’s amazing how some cars that have become popular end up getting nicknames which are usually as a result of situations surrounding them or their looks.
I took some time to gather as much as I could on the famous car models that were notorious for one thing or the other way back then and presently today.

The Honda series are usually very notorious for getting names.

‘Pure Water’
Honda Accord 1986
This dude became the people’s favorite among regular sedans in Nigeria. Each time someone thought of buying a car, this Honda was not far off from the consideration list. It became so common that Nigerians nicknamed it ‘Pure Water’ because sachet water was the most accessible commodity anywhere

‘Alla’
Honda Accord 1990
This was another favorite that continued where the 86’ model had left off. It was a heavy amongst the Hausas of northern Nigeria who were obsessed with it. This is how it came to be nicknamed ‘Alla’ because its supposedly said that when a Hausa man boasted about his Honda, he would go; ‘Na my Honda, Allah!’

‘Bulldog’
Honda Accord 1995
This ride gained its nickname because of the way its back was shaped and the way it sat on the ground – like a bulldog.

‘Baby boy’
Honda Accord 1998
The circumstances surrounding this car’s nickname is quite funny. The car sort of became popular after it was spotted in John Singleton’s film titled ‘Baby boy’ which starred Tyrese Gibson in the lead role. Tyrese is seen cruising this Honda with cute alloys in many scenes in the movie.

‘End of Discussion’
Honda Accord 2003
It was the tagline of its Ad that made this car popular as well as its Iv-Tec engine. The Ad simply said – ‘The New Honda Accord. End of Discussion.’ People loved this ride and it caught on like wildfire. However, the nickname ‘Iv-Tech’ later took over the former.

'Anaconda/Evil Spirit'
Honda Accord 2009
When this Honda came out last year, people were alarmed because it had one heck of a scary look when you first came across it, and it was BIG compared to its past models. It got its nickname from the look of its healamps which look as menacing as the notorious Anaconda snake of the amazon jungle. The evil look of the headlamps also gained it a second nickname of ‘Evil Spirit’.

'Orobo'
Toyota Camry 1992
This Toyota Camry probably marked the beginning of the ‘fattening up’ of the Camry range. Its longness and rotundness earned it the nickname ‘Orobo’ which is a Yoruba/pidgin lingo for ‘
Fatso’.
'Millenium'
Toyota Camry 1998
Suddenly Toyota must have thought it was time to slim down and introduced a slimmer model that became popular in Nigeria till today. The problem is, it didn’t have any distinctive nickname. The only name I ever gathered it was called was ‘Millenium’ because it came out in the year 2000; when we entered the millennium.

'Big for nothing'
Toyota Camry 2004
The name probably came as a disdain registered by Nigerians at Toyota’s sudden decision to ‘fatten’ up the Camry again. This time it was so big and bogus that it was nobody seemed to see any use for its bigness.

'Muscle'
Toyota Camry 2007
This car turned out to be a correction over the ‘Big for nothing’ because now all the bigness was put to good use; the car had curves that accentuated its beauty and gave it a distinct look; curves people referred to as ‘muscles’. Nigerians couldn’t resist calling this beauty the ‘Toyota Muscle’.

'Beast'
Mercedes Benz 600 1995
This car was a huge monster that came out before most asian cars got into the bigness parade. It was never regarded as a regular car and was seen to eat up space. It was so massive and ugly it became rare and Nigerians just called it ‘the beast’.

'V Boot/ V Nyansh'
Mercedes Benz 300 1990
This ride caught Naija by storm. Nigerians fell head over heels in love with it. It was majestic and a beaut in its time. The design at that time was unique and its nickname, ‘V boot’, was derived from the unique shape of its boot which was later made sexy with the pidgin term ‘V Nyansh’.

COJA
BMW 325i 2001
Not all Beamers got nicknamed in their time, and not all their nicknames stayed as long as other cars. But for this model of BMW, the story is different. It was nicknamed ‘COJA’ after it was purchased for ministers and delegates at the COJA games in Abuja in 2003. The car was the official car of the event and became popular as a result back them. Today, the name has however faded.

What other names were given to cars you know?
Let the fun begin!

Excellent post, could have been only better if you had included pics under each name.

Lol

Honda accord2003
Honda accord2009
Toyota camry1992
Toyota camry1998

Toyota camry 2004

Toyota camry 2007

Mercedes Benz 600 1995

Mercedes Benz 300 1990

BMW 325i 2001

what did they call peugeout 504 again? Pan or sumthing like dat right?

funniest names for me;
big for nothing(that car was really BFN) & v nyash(like really??)

honda bullet...i wonda wu is d person coming up with dese name

Honda judgement day

OP did you make up all these stories on the fly??

This got me cracking mehn , , ,

The 1997 - 99 Camry is nicknamed Tinylight while 2000 and 2001 models were tagged Drop light or Big light.

It is important to differentiate between the different models as Honda and Toyota mostly have the tendency to have different variations of the same model per year per geography.

Siena: Interesting thread!

Which model of Honda Accord was called "Bullet"?

Some other random names:

Tiger Face (Audi 80),
Flat Boot (Mercedes-Benz).
Pencil Light (Toyota Camry).
Big Light / Envelope (Toyota Camry).
Discussion Continues (Honda Accord).
Padded (Mercedes-Benz).
Grasshopper (Mercedes-Benz).
Tortoise Car (Volkswagen Beetle).
Hummer Bus (Toyota Hiace).
Jeep (Any SUV).

I don't know the various model years of these vehicles.

Honda Bullet is the European spec of the 1995 Honda accord and Honda addidas (which you didn't mention) is the European spec of the 2000 Honda accord.
The popular ones we see eg Baby boy, EOD, DC, evil spirit are American specs of the Honda accord.
The toyota pencil light/ tiny light is toyota camry 1997-1999 while the big light/envelope/ fish light is toyota camry 2000-2001.
The discussion continues (DC) is the next generation after the eod. It's the Honda accord 2006-2007.
The Audi 80 aka tiger face is the 1993 audi. Sienna, I hope you understand what I wrote. I need a link where I can discuss audi cars with you. Please post it here.

Back then when we started we held the Mercedes Flat boot with high regard now u shouldn't be seen balling in that car. Dolci u forgot the highly problematic Mercedes Concord

I see

Please the hausas didn't call that accord 'alla' they called it 'halla'

Dolcilicious: Cars are amazing technological feats that litter our roads round the world today. Every passing year witnesses the debut of a new model or some incredible modification on an existing model. But I’m not here to examine car models or talk about which is the newest innovation.
I’m here to talk about the funny names Nigerians give these cars!
It’s amazing how some cars that have become popular end up getting nicknames which are usually as a result of situations surrounding them or their looks.
I took some time to gather as much as I could on the famous car models that were notorious for one thing or the other way back then and presently today.

The Honda series are usually very notorious for getting names.

‘Pure Water’
Honda Accord 1986
This dude became the people’s favorite among regular sedans in Nigeria. Each time someone thought of buying a car, this Honda was not far off from the consideration list. It became so common that Nigerians nicknamed it ‘Pure Water’ because sachet water was the most accessible commodity anywhere

‘Alla’
Honda Accord 1990
This was another favorite that continued where the 86’ model had left off. It was a heavy amongst the Hausas of northern Nigeria who were obsessed with it. This is how it came to be nicknamed ‘Alla’ because its supposedly said that when a Hausa man boasted about his Honda, he would go; ‘Na my Honda, Allah!’

‘Bulldog’
Honda Accord 1995
This ride gained its nickname because of the way its back was shaped and the way it sat on the ground – like a bulldog.

‘Baby boy’
Honda Accord 1998
The circumstances surrounding this car’s nickname is quite funny. The car sort of became popular after it was spotted in John Singleton’s film titled ‘Baby boy’ which starred Tyrese Gibson in the lead role. Tyrese is seen cruising this Honda with cute alloys in many scenes in the movie.

‘End of Discussion’
Honda Accord 2003
It was the tagline of its Ad that made this car popular as well as its Iv-Tec engine. The Ad simply said – ‘The New Honda Accord. End of Discussion.’ People loved this ride and it caught on like wildfire. However, the nickname ‘Iv-Tech’ later took over the former.

'Anaconda/Evil Spirit'
Honda Accord 2009
When this Honda came out last year, people were alarmed because it had one heck of a scary look when you first came across it, and it was BIG compared to its past models. It got its nickname from the look of its healamps which look as menacing as the notorious Anaconda snake of the amazon jungle. The evil look of the headlamps also gained it a second nickname of ‘Evil Spirit’.

'Orobo'
Toyota Camry 1992
This Toyota Camry probably marked the beginning of the ‘fattening up’ of the Camry range. Its longness and rotundness earned it the nickname ‘Orobo’ which is a Yoruba/pidgin lingo for ‘
Fatso’.
'Millenium'
Toyota Camry 1998
Suddenly Toyota must have thought it was time to slim down and introduced a slimmer model that became popular in Nigeria till today. The problem is, it didn’t have any distinctive nickname. The only name I ever gathered it was called was ‘Millenium’ because it came out in the year 2000; when we entered the millennium.

'Big for nothing'
Toyota Camry 2004
The name probably came as a disdain registered by Nigerians at Toyota’s sudden decision to ‘fatten’ up the Camry again. This time it was so big and bogus that it was nobody seemed to see any use for its bigness.

'Muscle'
Toyota Camry 2007
This car turned out to be a correction over the ‘Big for nothing’ because now all the bigness was put to good use; the car had curves that accentuated its beauty and gave it a distinct look; curves people referred to as ‘muscles’. Nigerians couldn’t resist calling this beauty the ‘Toyota Muscle’.

'Beast'
Mercedes Benz 600 1995
This car was a huge monster that came out before most asian cars got into the bigness parade. It was never regarded as a regular car and was seen to eat up space. It was so massive and ugly it became rare and Nigerians just called it ‘the beast’.

'V Boot/ V Nyansh'
Mercedes Benz 300 1990
This ride caught Naija by storm. Nigerians fell head over heels in love with it. It was majestic and a beaut in its time. The design at that time was unique and its nickname, ‘V boot’, was derived from the unique shape of its boot which was later made sexy with the pidgin term ‘V Nyansh’.

COJA
BMW 325i 2001
Not all Beamers got nicknamed in their time, and not all their nicknames stayed as long as other cars. But for this model of BMW, the story is different. It was nicknamed ‘COJA’ after it was purchased for ministers and delegates at the COJA games in Abuja in 2003. The car was the official car of the event and became popular as a result back them. Today, the name has however faded.

What other names were given to cars you know?
Let the fun begin!

2008 honda crosstour - cockroach - when u look at its side view it really looks like a cockroach... Peugeot 406 - fox

1). Okwu oto ekene Eze
2) Anya azu

king406: Please the hausas didn't call that accord 'alla' they called it 'halla'

But arent they d same pronounciation?

ketoprofen: 1). Okwu oto ekene Eze
2) Anya azu

Eng meaning pls

Excellent post, could have been only better if you had included pics under each name.

My thought as well, for better identification.

Na true

This thread has been on the way since 2014. Nice job Op.

How bout BMW - be my wife