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Friday, December 15, 2006
Atlanta’s panda gets ‘beautiful’ name
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta, America, the world: Meet Mei Lan.
That’s the name officially given Friday morning to the Giant Panda cub born at Zoo Atlanta.
Translated from Mandarin Chinese, it means “Atlanta beauty.” It is pronounced “May-lan,” and will be the animal’s name for life.
It bested nine other entries in an online poll that drew more than 53,000 votes.
“We’re very excited with the name,” said Dennis Kelly, president/CEO of Zoo Atlanta. “It’s a perfect fit for the animal. It brings out both the best in Chinese culture and the culture of the south.”
The winning name drew 22 percent of the vote. “Mei Lan was the clear winner,” Kelly said. “There’s no runoff required here.”
Xiao Tao (“little peach”) took second place in the voting, with 19 percent of the vote. Mei Tao (“beautiful peach”) finished third, getting 13 percent.
With Chinese dignitaries, state and local officials and hundreds of panda fans watching, the zoo announced her name in a ceremony held, per Chinese custom, 100 days after her Sept. 6 birth. It was a traditional and festive affair, highlighted by dancing girls, cheering people and red banners.
Voters got to choose from among 10 names for the cub, whose parents Lun Lun and Yang Yang are here on a ten-year loan. The finalists came from Atlanta media organizations, the zoo, China and the restaurant chain Panda Express, a zoo sponsor. Mei-Lan was submitted by WSB-TV.
They ranged from names that hinted at the cub’s American roots — Cheng Ya (“Pretty Atlanta Girl From Chengdu”), for example. Others, such as Chang Jiang (“Yangtze River”), were reminders that the cub’s native land is China.
Some of the more than 53,000 votes cast came from across town, others from across continents. Voters included a marketing director in a palm-dotted suburb of Fort Lauderdale and a snowed-in student in Chicago. Teachers exhorted their students to study the names and choose wisely — for some youngsters, it was their introduction to democracy.
At Atlanta’s Neighborhood Charter School, less than a half-mile from the zoo, a first-grade class decorated their door with panda drawings. Kids visiting the zoo clamored for stuffed pandas toys or lapel pins featuring the serene likeness of a panda mother and her cub.
The naming, said Susan Elliott, the zoo’s director of public relations, was such a big deal that only a handful of zoo employees knew the name in advance. They had to sign a promise not to blab. Mei Lan is the only panda born outside China this year. Only four zoos in America have pandas.
Next to Beyonce’s phone number, “This is probably the one of the biggest secrets in Atlanta this year,” she said Thursday.
Now the secret is out. Soon, Mei Lan will be, too.
Zoo officials expect the cub, which has been taking her first tentative steps, to make an appearance outside with her mom any day now.
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