The world’s first ever MINI census was held this year and the results are in. The guys behind the MINI World Live event that will be held at the Rockingham Motor Speedway, Northants, on July 10, 2016 in the UK now have a better grasp on what people call their cars and whether they are boys or girls. According to their results “51% of the world’s Mini population is male, 35% are female and 14% are neither – although anyone who’s ever owned a Mini knows it’s more than just a car.”

We totally agree and could go even further and say that for us car people, no matter what brand our vehicle is, it’s usually more than just a pile of metal. Going even further, the guys found that the most popular name is “Marvin” for some reason, followed by Tommy (Cooper) and Jack, although there’s a developing trend towards the names Dave, Stuart and Bob. These last three might have something to do with the recent Minions movie, to be fair.

As for the girls, the most popular names are Minnie, Mollie and Millie. Some of the more unusual names that owners have given their Minis include Pingu (because he’s white with a black roof), Tetley (because he has more holes in him than a tea bag) and Mojo Jojo (after the evil monkey in The Powerpuff Girls). Randomly, one correspondent has also named her Mini Leigh Halfpenny after the Welsh rugby international (because “he’s smallish, gorgeous and powerful”).

The survey was performed on a wide variety of owners, including the youngest responded who was a 17-year old from Auckland, New Zealand and an 80-year old from Bangor, North Wales. All in all, people from Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Malta and the USA were willing to complete the survey that now allows us to be certain that MINI is no longer considered a ‘girl car’.