The odd name comes from the French nickname for the Ford Model T automobile: "Pou de la Route", or "Louse of the Road", because Henry Ford's economy car was so common. Henri Mignet dreamed of creating a Model T of the air, an airplane for the common man, hence the term "Pou du Ciel". In English, the term became Flying Flea. Originally applied only to the HM.14 model, the name has now come to describe the family of aircraft of similar configuration designed by Mignet and others.