The Strange, Wonderful World Of Airplane Names

Many of the best known small aircraft were dreamt up 70 or more years ago, back when the decisions made by even the biggest aviation companies were, with few exceptions, handled in house. This included bestowing names on the new planes they built. Forget Madison Avenue---these planes, and many others, got their nicknames not as part of a larger branding strategy but often as an afterthought: "That thing flies great. What do you want to call it?" was the process. With military aircraft of the day, it was bigger business, with larger price tags and a well-off customer who usually went by the nickname Uncle Sam.

Names of those planes were often attempts to frame the need for the plane, like the Peacemaker bomber. Remember, famous military aircraft almost universally started life as part of a bid to get the government's business. Today, the naming of high-end aircraft is a more sophisticated process. There are, of course, notable exceptions to the rule. Joby Aviation, makers of an emerging autonomous aircraft, doesn't even have a designation for the craft, never mind a nickname. And the most popular single, the Cirrus SR22, never got a nickname, though different models get different distinguishing tags signifying special equipment options and trim packages, as automobiles often do.

Since the get-go, there have been funny, clever, complicated or downright subversive nicknames given to planes. And the name game has always included the practice of repurposing common aviation terms, sometimes oddly spelled or jammed together, whether creatively or awkwardly. And there's nothing stopping buyers and flyers from coming up with their own nicknames for the planes they fly. The Boeing B-52 is commonly known as the Buff, though we can't explain in these pages why that is so, and Beechcraft's great-flying, if a little slow, B-23s, called by the factory the Musketeer, got its pejorative nickname not by the Don Drapers of the world but by the people who flew them, or at least walked by them on the way to their Skylanes or Bonanzas.

Nickname of first plane capable of flight: Flyer

Nickname of first successful seaplane: Hydravion

Three planes with unofficial nickname of "Aluminum Overcast:" Convair B-36; Lockheed C-5 Galaxy; Douglas C-124 Globemaster

Nickname of EAA's Boeing B-17: Aluminum Overcast

Nickname of Boeing B-17: Flying Fortress

Official nickname of Convair B-36: Peacemaker

B-36 Purpose: Heavy bomber (including nukes)

Nickname for Curtiss XP-55 Ascender pusher configuration fighter: Take a guess

Nickname of Piper J-3: Cub

Inspiration for nickname: Tiger Kitten Engine

Logo for Cub: A bear (granted, a really cute baby bear)

"Piper J3C-65 Cub" by Vliegend Museum Seppe - CC BY-SA 2.0/Flickr

First post-J Piper designation: Simply "P." P-1 through P-5

First successful Piper designated "PA" for "Piper Aircraft" model: PA-11 Cub Special---more than 1,500 built

5 Piper PA models before that: PA-6 Sky Sedan; PA-7 Skycoupe; PA-8 Skycycle; unnamed PA-9 and PA-10

Total number of these 5 built: 5

P or PA designations used by Piper: 1-48 and 60 (Aerostar)

Numbers skipped: 13; 49-59

Official nickname of Hughes H-4: Hercules

Widely used nickname: Spruce Goose

Primary wood used: Plywood

Mooney M20 nickname as of 1976 (M20J): 201

Reason: Capable of 201 mph with 200-hp engine

Other similar Mooney nicknames: Mooney 231, 252

Super-popular Cessna two-seater: C-150/C-152

Official nickname: Commuter

Near-universal use for C-150/152: Trainer

Cessna 162: Skycatcher

Cessna 160: An abandoned, cheap 172 replacement circa 1962, none produced

Composite Cessna adopted from Columbia Aircraft: T240

Nicknames: Cessna 350, 400, Corvalis, TTx

Designation of original Learjet: Model 23

Reason for designation: Certified under FAR Part 23

Follow-up model: Learjet Model 24

Certification category: FAR Part 25

Original Cessna Citation: C500

First name: FanJet 500

Sarcastic nicknames: Slowtation; Nearjet

World's fastest civil production jet today: Cessna Citation X+

Pronunciation of "X:" "Ten," as in the Roman numeral X

Mispronunciation of "X" throughout early 2000s cable TV pieces on airplanes: "ecks," like the letter X

Adapted from "Concorde" by Chad Kainz - CC BY 2.0/Flickr

Original nickname of Aerospatiale/BAC supersonic airliner: The Concord, yes, with the "The"

Meaning of "Concord:" Harmony, cooperation, agreement

Eventual nickname: Concorde (with an "e")

Reason: French participants insisted on the French spelling

Reaction in the UK: Public outrage

Explanation to calm the public: The added "e" stood for "England"

Original name of Gulfstream G-280 super mid-sized bizjet: Gulfstream G-250

Reason for change: Turns out "250" in Chinese slang means "imbecile"

Online airplane name generator: fantasynamegenerators.com/airplane-names.php

Our favorite randomly chosen name: Freedom Storm

Our least favorite: Vengeful Woodpecker (on second thought!)

Want more crazy, fun, or frightening facts about all things aviation? Check out our Plane Facts Archive.

Isabel GoyerWriter

A commercial pilot, editor-in-Chief Isabel Goyer has been flying for more than 40 years, with hundreds of different aircraft in her logbook and thousands of hours. An award-winning aviation writer, photographer and editor, Ms. Goyer led teams at Sport Pilot, Air Progress and Flying before coming to Plane & Pilot in 2015.