Where did the name 'Jeep' come from?

When Willys-Overland, Inc. applied for registration of the trademark ‘Jeep’ in February 1943, the name had already been trademarked for seven years.

Registration of the ‘Jeep’ name was granted in August 1936, by the US Patent & Trademark Office, to King Features Syndicate Inc. King’s ‘Eugene the Jeep’ was a cartoon character created by Elzie C. Segar for the Popeye comics. The Jeep lived in the fourth dimension, had the powers of clairvoyance, transubstantiation, could solve all sorts of problems and do almost anything.

No one really knows how, or why, the now-legendary military vehicle became known as a ‘Jeep’. Some say it was from ‘GP’, but many ‘experts’ dispute this as the name’s origin.

A prototype of the B17 Flying Fortress, tested at Wright Field in 1937, was named Jeep.

The Haliburton Oil Well Company of Oklahoma built a truck called Jeep in 1938.

In 1940, Minneapolis-Moline Implement Company named their artillery prime mover a Jeep.

The first newspaper to use the word ‘jeep’, in relation to the Willys/Ford vehicle was the Washington Daily News on March 16, 1941. Following the paper’s mention, the use of ‘jeep’ rapidly became commonplace.

After lodging their trademark application in February 1943, Willys-Overland must have had a battle to get the name registered. A Commission Trial Examiner, J. Earl Cox, heard submissions from Willys-Overland, Minneapolis-Moliner, and American Bantam. All of whom claimed prior ‘ownership’ and stated they wished to use the Jeep name on post-war motor vehicles and/or farm implements.

The US trademark wasn’t granted to Willys-Overland until June 1950.

In Australia, trademark records show that Willys-Overland applied for registration of the Jeep name on March 11, 1943. Amazingly, the name was registered on the same day. Maybe this was normal practice where there was no previous recorded usage of the name in the country.

What is even more amazing is that, right in the middle of the largest war in history, a company would see the need to apply for registration of a nickname, with a view to using it commercially once the war was (possibly) over.

Today, Eugene the Jeep, and the other users of the Jeep name, have faded into history. However, the machinations Willys-Overland endured to get hold of the name are well remembered by the current owners, DaimlerChrysler. Their ‘ownership’ - of what many still regard as a generic name- is highlighted by the ® registered trademark symbol following the Jeep name wherever it is used on a product or in advertising. Few other major companies follow this practice. When did you last see the ® symbol following the words Land Rover or Toyota?