There are a few basic ways that automakers go about naming their cars. The most common in modern automotive history is the alphanumeric soup. Think BMW 760i or Lexus NX 450h. The alphanumeric formula has become popular as an automaker can't use a name that means one thing in one language and something obscene in another.

Some automakers are resisting the alphanumeric soup and going with evocative and well-researched names. Think Lincoln Nautilus or Navigator. Some get more esoteric, like Lamborghini naming most of its cars after fighting bulls. Over the decades, there's been another category - naming cars after a real person. These are the most interesting to us, and we'll start with the inspiration for this list.

1. Lotus Elise

In 1995, Lotus revealed one of its most agile and popular sports cars yet. When Lotus pulled the covers off the car, sitting inside was little Elisa Artioli, granddaughter of Lotus's then chairman, Romano Artioli. As a mature adult now, Elisa is one of the few people in the world that drives the car named after them, and she's proud of it. She has owned a silver model since she was four years old and loves to drive it now. Elisa was also given Lotus Elise number 35,124 - the last one off the production line when the car was retired in 2022. Elisa has a fun and entertaining web presence using the name I Am Lotus Elise.

2. Ferrari Enzo

In 2002, Ferrari began building its most technologically advanced car and named it after its founder. Enzo Ferrari started his automotive career as a test driver, then became a race car driver and won Grand Prix races for Alfa Romeo. He formed a race car company, Scuderia Ferrari, as the racing division of Alfa Romeo, then Ferrari as we know it. Enzo Ferrari died in 1988, aged 90, so he didn't see the insane F1-derived car with its V12 engine and active aerodynamics. It was also the first Ferrari road car to come with carbon ceramic brake discs.

3. McLaren Senna

Ayrton Senna is one of the all-time great racing drivers, and in his ten-year career, he won 41 Grand Prix races and claimed three championship titles. His career was cut short by his death in a crash during the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. During his Formula 1 career, he drove for four teams, one of them being McLaren, and it's an audacious move to name a car after a legend like Senna. The British automaker set out to build its purest driving car while incorporating as much race car technology as possible. As a result, its 4.0-liter V8 developing 789 horsepower and 590 lb-ft of torque mixed with a razor-sharp chassis and a ton of downforce is a fitting tribute to the great racer. The final Senna produced is a tribute to Senna's win at the Mexican Grand Prix in 1989.

4. Mini John Cooper Works Hardtop

John Cooper Works (JCW)-badged Minis are the performance models of the lineup. They're named after the son of a mechanic that went on to change the face of the highest levels of racing and lent his name to early performance Minis. Formula 1 and Indy cars have adjustable suspension and their engines in the back because John Cooper's F1 car did it first. He was an engineer and racing legend, remembered now mainly for the original Mini Cooper. Cooper was friends with the classic Mini's designer, Alex Issigonis, and collaborated to build a Mini Cooper with a race-tuned engine, a closer-ratio transmission, and front disc brakes. The result was an extraordinary homologation car for rallying that became beloved by drivers. It performed well in road racing and even won the British Saloon Car Championship, now known as the British Touring Car Championship.

When BMW bought Mini, and before Cooper's death, BMW licensed his name for its high-performance variants. The current JCW Works Hardtop has a 2.0-liter engine making 228 horsepower with 236 lb-ft of torque and uses technology like adaptive suspension to make it a nimble, as well as quick, little car.

5. Bugatti Veyron, Chiron, And Divo

Bugatti has an amazing racing history, and its modern cars are named after key players from way back in the day. Pierre Veyron was a French race car driver Bugatti hired in 1932 as a test driver and development engineer. He became a works driver, most notably winning 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Bugatti Type 57S Tank with Jean-Pierre Wimille in 1939.

The follow-up to the incredible W16-powered Veyron was the Chiron. Bugatti named it after Louis Chiron, who achieved the greatest number of podium finishes in Bugatti race cars. The Bugatti Divo is, essentially, a version of the Chiron that sacrifices outright speed for cornering ability and is named after Albert Divo, who raced for Bugatti in the 1920s and whose victories included two wins at the Targa Florio road race.

We're still waiting for Bugatti to name a car after Helle Nice, a French model, dancer, and driver that raced on the Bugatti team competitively. She never made a proper comeback after a crash that nearly killed her, and she died penniless under an assumed name due to Louis Chiron's unfounded accusations of her being a Nazi sympathizer during World War II.

6. Alfa Romeo Giulia

The origin of Alfa Romeo's Giulia name isn't clear, but it's most likely named after the actress Giulia Anna "Giulietta" Masina, the wife of the legendary film director Federico Fellini. Her name isn't too familiar to Americans, but Charlie Chaplin once described her as "the actress who moved him most" and starred in two films that won foreign-language movie Oscars. Much as we love the other reason put forward by lore for the Alfa Romeo Giulia name, it's likely the real origin. The other story goes that seven Alfa Romeo executives were partying with Grand Prix driver Jean-Pierre Wimille in 1950's Paris when a Russian prince joked, "You are eight Romeos, without even one Giulietta?"

7. Koenigsegg Jesko

When Christian von Koenigsegg was just 22, he started the supercar company that bears his family name. His father, Jesko, was a huge help in building the company, so Christian decided to honor him by naming a car after his father for his 80th birthday. To keep it as a surprise, Christian had his PR team draw up a fake press release as his dad pressed him for details on the car. While it should never detract from Elisa Artioli's pride for her name being used for the Lotus Elise, Jesko von Koenigsegg has the Top Trumps winner named after him. The Koenigsegg Jesko is an engineering masterpiece - it's 5.0-liter V8 engine can produce around 1,600 horsepower. It costs $2,800,000 and can hit 278 mph, while the Jesko Absolute is theoretically capable of 330 mph.