Even inanimate objects deserve a name. That's why the Michigan Department of Transportation named each and every one of its roughly 330 snowplows this year.

Some are named after movie characters or songs, while others are clever puns. Many Michiganders will likely be able to connect to "I'd Rather Be at the Beach" as they shovel their driveways in 5-degree weather.

MDOT employees sifted through more than 15,400 possible plow monikers, all submitted by the public, to select the 330 winners, according to Nick Schirripa, one of the project organizers.

Although the names won't be painted onto the plows themselves, they will appear on the MiDrive website, where residents can check the name and location of each plow in real time. The website only lists the names of the 299 currently active plows — the rest are backup plows in reserve.

"It is a lot of fun," Schirripa said. "But one of the biggest drivers internally for me was that this is a great way to humanize a group of folks in our agency who really don't get enough attention, and who really go unnoticed, and are often taken for granted. And that's our snowplow drivers, our maintenance workers, who I believe, and a lot of us believe, are absolute rock stars, they are superheroes."

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If you didn't get a chance to submit a name this year, Schirripa said it's possible they'll ask for more submissions in a couple of years once this inventory of plows rotates out.

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Dave Boucher contributed to this report. Contact Emma Stein: estein@freepress.com and follow her on Twitter @_emmastein.