The A-Z of cars named after animals: Ant to Zebra via... Golf?

Wait, what? No, the Golf is not, as common tradition holds, named after a type of wind. It is a rough translation of the German word for the gulf stream, but the suggestion actually came from Volkswagen's then head of purchasing, Hans-Joachim Zimmermann. He was a keen rider, and his favourite horse was named... Golf. Which has just usurped Snickers in a ranking of the most surprising things that you probably didn't know were named after a horse.

H: Lancia Hyena Zagato

Fierce little things, hyenas. A fitting name, then, for a neat coupé based on a rallying legend. That's clearly what Paul Koot thought when he dreamed up this sleek machine based on the Delta Integrale. Zagato developed the Hyena, but Fiat wouldn't officially back it, forcing Koot to buy HF Integrales to convert. A planned production run of 600 ended with just 24 made.

I: Chevrolet Impala

Who knew that so many car firms like naming models after breeds of antelope? This long-running US-market saloon was produced in various forms from 1957 until 2020. The name was first used for a 1956 show car, which featured an impala-based logo. The choice was because impala are graceful, apparently.

J: Proton Jumbuck

Jumbuck? It's an Australian slang term for sheep, which you'd know if you'd studied the lyrics to Waltzing Matilda in depth. Anyway, since Australians love a 'ute', it's a fitting choice for the name of a front-drive coupé-style van. It was even offered in the UK, where it attracted some loyal fans. In its native Malaysia, Proton chose to name it Arena, which is far duller.

K: Reliant Kitten

The three-wheeled Robin is clearly the most famous Reliant named after a living thing, but the Kitten is a neat oddity; a small, cheap car of which just over 4000 were sold between 1975 and 1982. It was based on the Robin but had four wheels and an 850cc engine, and the name came from a contest held for Reliant employees. It was built in Bangalore in CKD kit form, rebranded as the Sipani Dolphin. Early inspiration for BYD, perhaps?

L: Nissan Leopard

The Leopard was a performance-tinged luxury car sold in Japan between 1980 and 1999. Amazingly, a furry spotted steering wheel cover was never offered as a factory option. A missed opportunity.

M: De Tomaso Mangusta

It's Italian for mongoose, before you ask. Why name a car mongoose? Out of spite, obvs. Alejandro de Tomaso was angered when an agreement with Carroll Shelby to build a new Can-Am racer fell apart. Shelby went on to team up with Ford for the GT40, and the steel chassis developed for the project was used for the 1967 Mangusta. And the name? Well, mongooses (mongeese?) might look cute, but they're vicious carnivores – and they eat cobras.

N: Jeep Gladiator Nighthawk

When completing an A-Z like this, you expect Q and X to be hard. But N? There aren't many animals starting with N, but car firms have so far missed the opportunity to name models the Natterjack, Newt or Naked Mole Rat. Instead, we'll have to settle for a special-edition trim package for Jeep's US-market pick-up.

O: GVT Ox

Oxen are valued working animals that can lug sizeable loads at a steady pace. A fitting name, then, chosen by charity Global Vehicle Trust for its Ox delivery vehicle. Designed by Gordon Murray, it featured Ford Transit mechanicals with bodywork that can be assembled flatpack-style, and it was intended for use in Africa. The project morphed into the firm Ox Delivers, which operates a fleet of trucks – now with an electric powertrain – for a haulage-as-a-service business in Rwanda.

P: Fiat Panda

Technically, the Panda shouldn't be on this list because – shock horror – Fiat's city car isn't actually named after the bamboo-loving bear. It was provisionally named the Rustica, before Fiat switched it to a more evocative title inspired by Empanda, the Roman goddess of travellers. The title rankled the World Wildlife Fund (now the World Wide Fund For Nature), whose logo features a panda, although a chunky charitable donation by Fiat smoothed things over.

Q: Chevrolet Corvette ZRX1 Quail Silver Limited Edition

This is as tenuous as Elon Musk's grip on reality, but until a firm decides to call a car the Quokka (there must be a crossover crying out for the badge) it's all we've got. This was a special-edition Corvette named after The Quail car show, part of Monterey Car Week and a nod to The Quail Lodge resort, itself named after the migratory bird.

R: Plymouth Road Runner

The roadrunner is a real bird, but you're already thinking of the long-time foil of Wile E Coyote – and yes, Plymouth's appropriately cartoonish 1968 muscle car is named after the cartoon character. At the time Plymouth paid Warner Bros $50,000 to use the character's name and likeness for a logo – and bunged in $10,000 for a licensed Road Runner's 'meep meep' exclamation for the car's horn. Surely the best $10,000 any car firm has ever spent.

S: Triumph Stag

For a period, Triumph Motors assigned each of its projects a four-letter codename, such as Zest (TR4) and Bomb (Spitfire). Several of them used animal names: Zebu (a South Asian humped cow) was the codename for the 2000, while Zobo (a cross-breed Tibetan pack animal) begat the Herald. Perhaps wisely, Stag was the only Triumph project name that actually found its way onto the production version.

T: Sunbeam Tiger

Another V8 sports car that Carroll Shelby helped develop, the Tiger was codenamed Thunderbolt during its development, but before its launch in 1964 it was renamed in honour of the Sunbeam that set a land speed record in 1925. That V12-powered record-chaser, built by Henry Segrave, was originally known as the Ladybird before it was renamed as something a bit more aggressive-sounding.

U: Lamborghini Urraco

Lamborghini names most of its cars after fighting bulls, which is very helpful because we could choose Urus or Urraco here. We'll go with Urraco because (a) the name, translating as 'little bull', is more fun and (b) you'd rather see a picture of an Urraco than an Urus, right?