5 things you need to know about: panda names

If you love pandas and baby names, then today is your big day. The San Diego Zoo is unveiling the five possible names for the newest panda baby (pictured). What are they? What do they mean? Where do you vote? Read on and find out:

And the final five are . . . Fu Sheng, which means “blissful San Diego”; Xiao Long, or “little dragon”; Xiong Wei, or “extraordinary bear”; Yong Xiang, or “eternally blessed”; and Yun Zi, or “son of cloud.” All the names are in Pinyin, which is the system for translating Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet. Want to learn how to pronounce the names? Go to mandarintools.com/worddict.html, select Pinyin and type in each word separately.

What names did they beat out? Out of the 6,331 names submitted, the most popular English name for the baby boy was Bob — obviously not a real serious contender. Other non-starters were Ron Burgundy and Zoo Zoo. Names like Marshall, Pequeño, Herbie, Watermelon, Wubbzy and Pandy missed the shortlist, too.

Do the names have to be in Chinese? They didn’t have to be submitted in Chinese, but yes, the names need to be Chinese. One popular Chinese submission was Gao Yun. Gao was in honor of the new panda’s pa, Gao Gao, which means “big big,” and his ma, Bai Yun, which means “white cloud.”

Is this how the names are usually picked? This has been the drill for the two previous pandas, too. The Chinese government picked out the name for the first heart-stealer, Hua Mei, which means “China USA.” The panda team at the zoo named the second one Mei Sheng, which can mean either “born in the USA” or “beautiful life” because Chinese words often have multiple translations. The unnamed cub’s sisters are Su Lin, which means “a little bit of something cute,” and Zhen Zhen, which means “precious.” Although the public votes on the names, the Chinese government gets final approval.

OK, how do I vote? Starting today, you can vote at sandiegozoo.org/pandacam. You have until 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, so don’t dillydally, because, per Chinese custom, the cub has to be named 100 days after its birth. The name that gets the most votes will be announced Nov. 17.


