Playing the name game

There are good reasons caravan names range from the evocative to the extreme

What’s your caravan called?

If you’re one of the very large group of Jayco camper owners, it’s probably a Swift, Eagle, Penguin, Finch, Lark or other name better associated with a feathered creature.

If you own an Elite caravan, it might have a water-themed name – Hume (dam), Murray or Goulburn (river). But if it’s an off-road Bushtracker, it probably doesn’t have any official name, apart from a reference to its body length…

Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of caravan names, where just about anything goes as long as it’s not offensive or too crude (see attached photo).

Strolling through a local caravan show – or the new and used vans for sale on CaravanCampingSales – reveals a fascinating and often confusing array of names, from the familiar to the outright bizarre.

We know some RV manufacturers go to great lengths to choose an approriate name, while others appear to adopt a ‘near enough’ or ‘she’ll be right' attitude -- often ending up with something that tickles their fancy but is entirely unrelated to caravanning…

With new caravan brands popping up almost every week, part of the problem is just about every travel-related name is already taken.

It's the reason why many seem to give up and just use one already out there – Kakadu Campers, Cub Campers Kakadu and Complete Campsite Kakadu just one example that comes to mind…

FAMILY AFFAIR

Whereas Jayco likes birds, Bailey Australia looked much higher and further afield for inspiration for its latest Australian-built models (Comet, Nebula and Astro).

Everyone loves a cuddly or cute native animal so it's no surprise buyers are queuing up to buy Bilby, Gecko, Glider and Wallaby vans from New Age.

A more recent trend as vans have become more off-road oriented is the blokey or macho theme, particularly with a military bent.

On the Move has the Ballistic, Crossfire and Family Grenade – the latter perhaps alluding to the potentially explosive mix of squeezing parents and kids into a hot tin box over the summer holidays!

Kokoda has the patriotic, armed forces theme down pat, with its General, Frontline, Defender, Battalion, Veteran, Little Digger, Platoon and 2-Up models. About the only thing missing from the line-up is the Slouch Hat pop-top!

Melbourne custom builder Van Cruiser has gone for good 'ol ‘burger and fries’ appeal with classic American auto names like Thunderbird, Interceptor, Grand Torino, not to mention Graceland and Outlaw.

Crusader has just unleashed the Week-end Warrior, Elite has the Dirty Harry, while you’ll always be able to enjoy a coldie with the Traymate slide-on camper from Mate Campers by your side.

As the story goes, for many years family-owned A’van has relied on the arrival of grand-children – Rhys, Erin, Owen, Angus, Jensen, Frances, Ray, Maddison -- to help identify new models. That’s nice, but having been on a few family caravan holidays over the years, we can identify more with the Sunseeker Wild Child.

Probably the most popular theme though, is iconic Australian destinations and landmarks. Hence we have the Kedron TopEnder, Trakmaster Gibson and Kimberley, Winnebago Mossman and Avida Eyre.

Surprisingly, unlike the car industry there are few RV manufacturers playing the numbers game, unless you count Coronet (FS2 6150), Zone RV (Z-20.6) and Patriot Campers (X1 and TH560).

SPELLING IT OUT

Rather than referring to nature or the great outdoors, why not throw some subliminal messaging at prospective buyers?

Hence we find budget camper brand Leisure Matters; Paradise Motorhome's Freetime, and the Idyllic Hyway Drifter… how's the serenity?

However, you might expect more than the standard 12 months warranty from a company that calls itself Robust Campers, or some actual evidence of the lightweight, space-age material in a Titanium Condamine caravan.

Other names do a better job of describing the product, like the four TV-equipped Universal Hollywood – enough for any movie star; the go-anywhere Scrubmaster truck, and the Swagman Australian Dream… though it might turn into a nightmare trying to get this 36ft rig into a caravan park!

Then there are the tongue twisters: the UK-built Elddis Avenger Supercyclone and its local equivalent Argonaut Edinburgh Diplomat.

But sometimes it's clear that manufacturers need to be a bit more careful when choosing a name, like Britain’s short-lived Eterniti which apart from failing to use a spell-checker, fell well short of the ever-lasting tag…

Playing the name game

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