Scott Hauman has the only license plate in Michigan that reads “Namer.” He suspects it’s what got him the job as Ford’s global head of nomenclature.
Hauman leads a craft that he says is less a title than a discipline, and one surrounded by a strange kind of mythology. Wherever he goes, the same line echoes through the hallways: naming is a sport.
“It’s the most subjective territory there is,” Hauman said. “Everyone has an opinion.”
People often ask him whether naming a vehicle is like naming a baby, where you only get one shot. The goal is simple: to find names that customers can understand, remember and connect with. The process can be anything but simple.
“With a kid, you don’t need 30, 40 people inside the company to sign off, plus 2,000 consumers in private research panels, before anyone even hears the name out loud,” he said.
Parents might name one or two children a year. Hauman’s team is on pace to name at least nearly 100 features, services, and vehicles in 2026 alone. Some are intended to be simple so that people can easily understand.
Others are more creative, like the Bronco Desert Rising series, named from the vibrant pink, coral, and berry hues that light up Utah’s desert landscapes at sunrise and sunset.
Inside the naming team, the approval process is tricky and arduous. Getting a name approved, Hauman said, is like passing a bill in Washington. A name has to clear the House, then the Senate. Even then, the president can veto it. A veto at Ford can send the team back to square one.
“Some days I feel more like a county prosecutor, building a case and taking it to the judge,” Hauman said. “Sometimes we win. Sometimes we don’t.”
For any single product, feature, or service, the team develops many candidate names, far more than will ever be used. That’s deliberate. Having plenty of options helps protect what’s in development and keeps the real name under wraps until Ford is ready to share it.
Then comes a moment that can gut a namer, one Hauman says parents never have to deal with: when the lawyers come back with the trademark verdict.
And that’s only if a name gets that far. A name can also be nixed for an unfortunate alternate meaning, or because it doesn’t translate cleanly across a continent like Europe.
“You learn to expect the door slamming shut,” Hauman said. “What you don’t expect is how it still stings, every time.”
When a name survives every gate, every veto and every red light, it doesn’t mean everyone loves it. After all, what in this world has a 100% approval rating?
“It never gets that easy,” Hauman said. “Everybody still has an opinion.”
But after all the research, debate, dead ends and second chances, one name is left standing. And for a namer, that’s the whole point: finding the word that finally fits.
Karl Henkel is a member of the Ford Communications team.
