Just Made Partner? 70 Names for Your Celebration Car

Years of billable hours, late-night deal closings, and weekend doc review, and now it's official: you're a partner. Whether you celebrated with a sports car, a luxury sedan, or the truck you always wanted, it deserves a name worthy of the promotion.

These celebration car names work for law firms, accounting firms, banks, and funds alike. They start with partnership puns, say goodbye to the associate years, and finish with insider picks for bankers, private equity, accountants, and anyone starting a firm of their own. We've translated the inside jokes, so you'll have an answer ready at the partner dinner.

Partnership puns

• Name Partner: your name is on the door, and now on the car.
• Equity Partner: the real kind, with a real stake.
• Made Partner
• Partner Track: it was a long track. Now you get a fast car.
• Up or Out: the big-firm rule: make partner, or move on. You went up.
• The Buy-In: many new partners pay a capital contribution to join. At least this one has leather seats.
• Capital Account: each partner's stake, on the firm's books.
• Points: many firms split profits by partnership points or units.
• Origination Credit: the credit for bringing in the client, and for bringing home the car.
• Book of Business
• Lockstep: the classic seniority-based pay model, for a car that stays in its lane.
• The Draw: a partner's regular payout, and the car's main attraction.
• Profit Share
• Income Partner: a partner title with a salary instead of a stake. The equity comes next.
• Senior Partner
• Managing Partner: for the car that runs the household.
• The Partnership: for a couple's shared car.

Farewell to the associate years

• Summer Associate: where it all started, with free lunches.
• Class Year: law firms rank associates by graduation year. Yours finally paid off.
• Doc Review Survivor: every lawyer knows.
• Billable Hours Paid Off
• No More Face Time: no more staying late just to be seen.
• All-Nighter
• Redline: a marked-up draft, and the top of the tachometer.
• Track Changes: years of it in Word. Now on a real track.
• Sign-Off: the final approval. Now it's yours to give.
• Closing Dinner: the dinner after the deal signs, and the car you drive to it.
• The Deal Toy: bankers and deal lawyers get Lucite "deal toys" to commemorate big transactions. This one has four wheels.
• Lucite Tombstone: the classic deal-toy shape, for a car with a sense of humor.
• Bonus Season
• Comp Day: the day compensation is announced. Clearly it went well.
• Letterhead: you're on it now.
• Window Seat
• The Handshake: every deal ends with one. So did the car purchase.
• Signing Bonus

For investment bankers

• Managing Director: the top rung at an investment bank.
• The Bullpen: the open desks where junior bankers start out. You've left it.
• Pitch Book: the deck behind every deal.
• The Roadshow: the tour where bankers pitch an IPO to investors. This time, you're driving.
• Bookrunner: the lead bank running a stock or bond offering.
• Greenshoe: the option that lets underwriters sell extra shares in a hot IPO, named for the Green Shoe Manufacturing Company, the first to use it.
• League Tables: the rankings of banks by deals done.
• Deal Flow
• Fairness Opinion: a bank's letter saying a deal price is fair. You negotiated this one yourself.
• Bulge Bracket: Wall Street slang for the biggest banks. Perfect for a big SUV.

Private equity and hedge fund names

• The Promote: the sponsor's share of the profits in private equity and real estate deals. Well earned.
• Carry: carried interest, and the trunk space.
• Two and Twenty: the classic hedge fund fee structure, for a car with premium pricing.
• Hurdle Rate: for a car that clears every obstacle.
• Dry Powder: a fund's cash that isn't invested yet. Saved up for exactly this.
• Final Close: when a fund stops taking new money. Deal done.
• The Whale: for a big client, or a big truck.
• Top Quartile

For accountants who made partner

• Signing Partner: the partner who signs the audit opinion.
• Engagement Partner: the partner in charge of the audit.
• New Admit: what the big accounting firms call a newly admitted partner.
• Big Four: the four largest accounting firms. Also, a car with four doors.
• Partner Review
• After Busy Season: for the car you finally have time to drive.

For the partner starting their own firm

• The Shingle: lawyers "hang out a shingle" when they open their own practice.
• Founding Partner
• Name on the Door
• Boutique: for a small, elegant car.
• Spin-Out

Short and classy

• Laurels
• Summit
• Ascent
• Milestone
• The Promotion
• Cornerstone

A word on vanity plates

A name that fits on a license plate is a bonus. Rules for vanity plates vary by state: most limit the number of characters and restrict certain words, and many let you check availability online. Look up your state's motor vehicle agency before you get attached to a plate.

Celebrating with more than a car? See our boat names for lawyers and boat names for bankers and accountants, or give the new puppy a law degree with our lawyer dog names. Shopping for something with character? Browse our classic car names and electric car names.