Saar: More than 4 lakh name suggestions received. Nearly 50 per cent want Hyundai to reincarnate the original tallboy nameplate from the history books.

It was in August this year when Hyundai kick-started a customer-engaging initiative called Hyundai NaamKaran. The idea was to invite people from India to suggest a suitable name for the upcoming model, which is currently codenamed as the AH2. Well, more than half of September has passed and the South Korean carmaker has shared some numbers on how the christening campaign is coming along.

Hyundai says that it has received over 4 lakh suggestions. Out of the lot, 2,01,568 suggested the name Santro. Do a rough math and you’ll arrive at this conclusion – nearly 50 per cent of the people who took the time out to record their suggestion want Hyundai to reincarnate the original tallboy nameplate that established Hyundai as a force to be reckoned with in India. That really establishes the fact that a strong brand name such as the Santro can never be killed off. The manufacturer stopped producing the Santro Xing model a few years ago but that never really had an impact on how well the masses of the country connect with that nameplate.

Hyundai has also shared that the next most popular choice in names was the i5. Why? Well, the AH2 is tipped to slot below where the i10 was. What’s half of 10? 5! Hence, the i5. That, frankly ingenuitive name, is followed by other suggestions such as Splash and Saneon. The name Splash does have a certain zing to it but the Saneon is yet another example of the ingenuity of our people. If you haven’t guessed it yet, Saneon doesn’t really mean anything. But it is made from a combination of two models from Hyundai’s portfolio. ‘San’ is taken from Santro and the ‘eon’ is, well, Eon. Pretty neat, isn’t it!

The AH2, or dare we say the new Santro, will essentially replace the Eon to become Hyundai’s new entry-level model. Don’t let that put you off though because the new small car, apart from bringing the tallboy design back, will be a lot more sophisticated and safer than the Eon. You can read all about it right here.