ChevroletSilverado

Chevrolet Silverado: Who, what, where is it named after?

Constantly second in sales behind the Ford F-150 pickup, the Chevrolet Silverado is a fixture in many parts of the USA, but what does its name mean?


Chevrolet first began using the Silverado name for a high-spec versions of its C/K full-size pickup truck. For the 1999 model year (which began in 1998), Chevy began using the Silverado name for all its full-size pickups.

It’s believed that the Silverado is named after the town of Silverado, California or, possibly, the nearby Silverado canyon.

The town’s name is a bit of a Spanglish portmanteau, mixing the English word silver, which was once mined in the area, with the Spanish place name El Dorado, which refers to the mythical city of gold.

Check out photos from Silverado, California below.

Credit: Orange County Archives via Flickr