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Thursday, November 30, 2006
Name suggestions came from far, wide
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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The names came from intowners and out-of-staters, from grandmothers and young fathers. They came in e-mails from Commerce, from California and from China.
Some suggested monikers for Zoo Atlanta’s baby giant panda were melodious reminders of the cub’s local connections — Mei Lan (Atlanta Beauty), for example. Others had a celestial bent — Ming Xing (Bright Star) and Ming Yue (Bright Moon), among others.
Still others underscored the fact that Southern folk can embrace a visitor from China as quickly as they’ll hug a cousin from China Grove. How else to explain “Hai Yall” or “Scarlett O’Beara”?
The name entries came, literally, in the thousands, said Dennis Kelly, president and CEO of Zoo Atlanta.
Now, the zoo has 10 names from which people can choose by voting online at ajc.com. The voting began at 12:01 a.m. Friday and runs through Dec. 10. The winner will be announced in a ceremony Dec. 15.
“We’d be happy with any of the names” selected for the cub, Kelly said.
The female cub, born Sept. 6 to Lun Lun and Yang Yang, will be 100 days old when her name is announced. Her naming will highlight a Chinese tradition in which parents gave a child an official name after he or she had reached 100 days old — and stood a good chance of surviving past infancy. Now, China has adopted that custom in choosing names for its national icon, pandas.
The 100-day ceremony also is an optimistic look to the future, said Jinping Yu, a conservation biologist at Zoo Atlanta. “One hundred days symbolizes 100 years that we wish for a child to live,” he said. “It is a wish for good luck.”
The unnamed panda at Zoo Atlanta has known nothing but good fortune since she emerged, hairless as a boiled egg and not much bigger, nearly three months ago. She’s grown steadily, and the staff that keeps constant track of her development has ticked off milestones in her growth. She should be walking soon.
“She’s doing great,” Kelly said.
The selection process was equal parts democracy and common sense. Anyone with access to a computer could submit a name, but only sensible entries had a chance. “This name,” Jinping noted, “will stay for the rest of her life.”
Eight names were nominated by American outlets; two came from China.
Four Atlanta TV stations, as well as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, solicited online suggestions. People from all over the country and other nations logged on with names that ranged from goofy (“Bling-Bling”) to genteel (“Beautiful Peach”)
(The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s choice came from online entries made via the panda blog at ajc.com. The AJC’s marketing department reviewed the suggestions and chose one as the newspaper’s official entry.)
The restaurant chain Panda Express, a sponsor, submitted a sixth name.
Zoo Atlanta’s employees and volunteers also were invited to submit names for two finalists. On Nov. 16, behind closed doors, they winnowed their list to two.
Jinping, a Chinese national, translated the eight entries into Mandarin Chinese before they made the final cut. “Beautiful Peach”, for example, became “may-tao.” Another Chinese national, a member of the zoo’s board of directors, also reviewed the submissions.
In China, residents of Chengdu, capital of the Sichuan province of China — birthplace of Lun Lun and Yang Yang — submitted thousands of names. Two emerged from those.
The 10 finalists, Kelly said, passed cultural standards. None is offensive to Eastern or Western tastes. All the names were approved by Zoo Atlanta and Chinese officials, which could have rejected any of them.
Four refer to Atlanta, or the peach that is synonymous with Georgia. Another is a reference to the Yangtze River, China’s largest river. Two more are reminders that the cub is a real head-turner.
“We have one of the cutest and most favored animals on the planet,” Kelly said.
That’s no news to Georgia Supreme Court Justice Leah Sears, a confirmed panda-watcher. Sears viewed the names online Thursday morning and made her ruling: Mei Li, she thinks, is best. It means “beautiful.”
The name, said Sears, simultaneously evokes images of the Far East and the Deep South — a Chinese name, sure, but it has a certain drawl, too.
“She’s a southern American and a Chinese,” Sears said. Her name, the justice said, “reflects her heritage.”
A woman of her convictions, the judge plans to vote early — often, too.
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Get your panda poster in Friday’s AJC!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As part of our annual Christmas gifts to readers, a full-page poster of Atlanta’s favorite baby can be found in Friday’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
To purchase additional copies of the newspaper with the panda poster, call the AJC’s customer care line at 404-522-4141.
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Weekly checkup: This kid’s healthy
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
What can you say about such a healthy little creature?
She’s growing like a weed? She’s as round as a beer keg? She’s furrier than a sack of kittens? All of the above?
Well, yes. Zoo Atlanta’s baby giant panda underwent her weekly examination Thursday morning, the 10th since her birth on Sept. 6. Try as they might, her examiners could find nothing wrong with her. The kid’s healthy.
Dr. Maria Crane, the zoo’s senior veterinarian, woke the cub from a sound slumber. A fine rain fell, November’s final curtain. The cub was 85 days old.
She was docile during the 10-minute checkup, hardly twitching as Crane took note of the vitals:
Length: 23 inches. Zoo workers aren’t sure how much she’s grown since her checkup last week, when her wiggles would have made a worm envious.
Weight: 9.9 pounds. Last week, she weighed 9.1.
Teeth: Her incisors, which zoo staff discovered a week ago, have emerged nicely. Her bamboo-chewing choppers, the premolars, are about to erupt.
She’s “significantly furrier” this week. The cub looks as if she were drawn with chalk and charcoal, her markings as distinct as those on a pair of saddle oxfords.
A final finding: Her “abdominal girth” — that’s science talk for waistline — is nearly 18 inches. She’s chubby, in other words.
“It’s normal conformation for a bear,” Crane said.
That’s more science talk, of course. It means that the cub is in fine health as zoo officials prepare for her naming Dec. 15, when she is 100 days old.
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Some names didn’t make the cut
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Not every name for the new baby panda evoked images of Atlanta, or conjured visions of moons and stars. Some offbeat suggestions Zoo Atlanta received from internet bloggers:
Black-Eyed Pea
Hai Yall
Scarlett O’Beara
Bling Bling
Sonny Sonny
Shirley Shirley
Hip-Hop
Willie B
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Name that panda: Zoo announces nominees
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sorry, “Bling Bling” did not make the final cut. Nor did any of the other tongue-in-cheek names suggested for the new panda cub by internet bloggers in recent weeks.
Zoo Atlanta announced the 10 finalist names for Lun Lun’s nearly 3-month-old baby on Thursday, and all have a traditional Chinese ring to them. Their English translations emphasize tranquility, simplicity and harmony. A few reflect her Georgia birthplace.
The cub’s permanent name will be chosen through public voting on ajc.com, beginning 12:01 a.m. Friday and ending Dec. 10. The winning name will be announced Dec. 15 in a ceremony at Zoo Atlanta.
The submissions — listed here in no particular order (with pronunciation, English translation and sponsoring organization) — had to be approved by Zoo Atlanta staff and Chinese officials; China owns the panda cub and its parents, Lun Lun and Yang Yang.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s choice was selected from entries via our pandablog at ajc.com (Nov. 14-16). All suggestions were reviewed by the AJC marketing department. One name was chosen as the newspaper’s official entry.
The contenders:
Xiao Tao (shao-tao). “Little Peach.” Panda Express.
Mei Tao (may-tao). “Beautiful Peach.” WGCL-TV. CBS.
Mei Lan (may-lan). “Atlanta Beauty.” WSB-TV. ABC.
Mei Li (may-lee). “Beautiful.” WAGA-TV. Fox.
Ming Xing (ming-shing). “Bright Star.” WXIA-TV. NBC.
Ping Bao (ping-bao). “Peacefulness and Precious Treasure.” Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Cheng Ya (cheng-ya). “Pretty Atlanta Girl From Chengdu.” Zoo Atlanta.
Ming Yue (ming-yuu). “Bright Moon.” Zoo Atlanta.
Tai Ji (tai-chi). “Tai-Chi, philosophical foundation of Taoism.” Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.
Chang Jiang (chung-jung). “Yangtze River.” Chengdu.
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