It’s time to stop deliberating over a new Milwaukee Flag and deal with a more serious and pressing issue: the naming of a new baby giraffe at the Milwaukee County Zoo. We’ve been here before. In 2015, the Zoo sought public input on how to name a knobby-kneed little guy born with the approximate dimensions of a high school senior — 5 feet, 9 inches and 157 pounds. Ultimately, the city’s giraffe constituency settled on the name Tafari, meaning “he who inspires awe.”
Tafari’s dad, Bahatika, has sired another calf, a female a wee bit smaller than her half-brother. The Zoo has offered up the following names:
Abena – Born on a Tuesday
Kibibi – Little lady
Makena – The happy one
Shani – Marvelous
Zola – To love
So voting is a process of multiple choice. Most of the above are of African or Swahili origin, although, according to babynamespedia.com, Shani overlaps in several languages, including “marvelous” in Swahili, “old and wise or river” in Celtic, and something related to Yahweh in Hebrew.
(photos by Milwaukee County Zoo)
