 Many explanations of the origin of the word "jeep" have proven difficult to verify.The most widely held theory is that the military designation "GP" (for "Government Purposes" or "General Purpose") was slurred into the word "Jeep" in the same way that the contemporary "HMMWV" (for "High-Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle") has become known as the Humvee.Joe Frazer, Willys-Overland President from 1939 to 1944, claimed to have coined the word "jeep" by slurring the initials G.P.