Thanks for the tremendous response we’ve received to help us name our Zebra mascot! We’ve received hundreds of names. And not just the names, but great thinking behind the names. Names like Zebby and Ziggy and Zoe and Zavier and Zeal – did you know the word for a herd of zebras is zeal? Or also Dazzle, which has also been suggested. And the combination of the two: Zazzle. And Stripe and Spot and Libra the Zebra. The list goes on and on.
We have to be careful of trademark violations. For example, there was a Stripe the Zebra in the 2005 movie, Racing Stripes, about a zebra who wants to be a race horse. I missed it, but they may still be protecting their character’s name!
Our next step is to select a subset of all the names and put them out for a vote! But a cautionary tale! Have you heard of Boaty Mcboatface? In 2016 the British government wanted to name a polar research ship and they put it out to the internet. They had dignified names like Shackleton (the artic explorer), Endeavour, and Falcon. But the craziness of the internet took over and the winner was Boaty McBoatface. We don’t want that to happen to our mascot! That would be like losing a bet and having to give your child a terrible name! (No, I don’t believe that is how I got my name.) So we will limit the choices. We don’t want a Zebra McZebface chosen!
What happened with Boaty McBoatface? Though it won, they selected RRS Sir David Attenborough as the name of the ship, but they did use the name Boaty McBoatface for the autosub carried on the Attenborough. After that debacle, similar internet naming contests came up with Horsey McHorseface, Trainy McTrainface, Ferry McFerryface, Mega McMegaface, Floaty McFloatface, Parsey McParseface, Electro McElectroface, Gritty McGritface, and Skatey McSkateface. All this courtesy of Wikipedia.
So stay tuned for our naming election!
