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Jeep is an automobile marque (and registered trademark) of Chrysler. It is the oldest sport utility vehicle (SUV) brand, with Land Rover coming in a close second.

The word "jeep," uncapitalized, may be used as a generic term for any vehicle of this shape and function: see genericized trademark.
There are many explanations of the origin of the word "jeep," which have proven difficult to verify. Probably the most popular notion holds that the vehicle bore the designation "GP" (for "Gov. Purposes" or "General Pourpose"), which was phonetically slurred into the word jeep. However, R. Lee Ermey, on his series Mail Call, disputes this, saying that the vehicle was designed for, was never referred to as "GP," and that the name may have been derived from referring to the vehicle as GP (G, and P to designate). "GP" does appear in connection with the vehicle in the mode TM 9-803 manual, which describes the vehicle as a machine and the vehicle is designated a "GP" in TM 9-2800, Standard Motor Vehicles, September 1, 1949, but whether the average jeep-driving GI would have been familiar with either of these manuals is open to debate.

This account may confuse the jeep with the nickname of another series of vehicles with the GP designation. The Electro-Motive Division of General Motors, a maker of railroad locomotives, introduced its "General Purpose" line in 1949, using the GP tag. These locomotives are commonly referred to as Geeps, pronounced the same way as "Jeep."