What's In a Name?

Nobody asked me but . . .

A viewer of this blog read the road test I recently posted on the Toyota Yaris and wondered where the name came from.

Well, Mr. Matt Migliore of Islip, NY, here is the answer.

The following is the official verbiage from Toyota on the origin of the Yaris name:

The name, Yaris, stems from a goddess in Greek mythology, named Charis, who was a symbol of beauty and elegance. We chose it as a name that properly symbolizes Yaris' beauty and the appeal of its styling. Charis is the name of a goddess, so we took the "aris," which links with Paris, the art and culture capital of the world, and added "ya" in front, a German expression of agreement, thus creating a new word, Yaris. We believe this name is a worthy representation of Toyota's next generation of global cars.

Having received this explanation, I decided to open the window of knowledge still further by asking Toyota about the derivation of the name Vitz.

As those of you who read the Yaris blog should remember (You do don't you?), the Yaris traces its lineage back to the Toyota Echo.

And while the Echo did not find a welcoming home in America, it’s spawn has successfully spread around the world to more than 150 countries (including here in the form of the Scion xA and xB) where it has become the third-best selling vehicle in global sales for Toyota behind the Corolla and Camry, under the Yaris, Platz and Vitz nameplates.

I suppose I have to take full blame for the response I received beause I preferenced my question by suggesting to my Toyota contact that "If you come back and tell me that Vitz is derived from Zits and the V comes from changing the C in Clearisil to a V, I'm outta here."

Because the answer I received was: "Vitz is coined from WITZ, which is a Dutch word meaning wittiness."

Opening the window of knowledge? I think you can tell from my paned expression that I just slammed that window shut on my fingers!

And please don't suggest that I am all thumbs.