What's in a name?

[NewMexiKen]

What's in a name?

Those of you who have been following events this breeding season could not help but notice that there is a controversy over what to name the new female eagle in the Pembroke Pines nest. The local eagle watchers on this FORUM picked "Glory" early on, and "Pride and Glory" seemed a dignified and patriotic combination of names for the new couple. However, one reader on Facebook protested, saying it was too early to name the female, so the two of us agreed that the best way to settle on a name was to conduct an independent poll after we confirmed that the pair had bonded and either laid eggs or returned together next breeding season. I stopped calling her "Glory" and instead coined the temporary name "Newfie" for "New Female."

The proposed method for the naming poll was to collect a bunch of "candidate" names from both Facebook and FORUM subscribers and follow this with an "election" on a website which would be open to all and not require registration. This is what we did for two breeding seasons when the local Middle School science students who were studying the eagles' behavior wanted to have a contest. This worked very well and attracted votes from more than half of the states, Canada and several foreign countries.

However, on the evening of February 13 the Facebook participant, without any notice, suddenly conducted a 36 hour "poll" which garnered 26 "votes" and on the night of February 15th came up with the name "Jewel." Interestingly, the most popular name the Facebook participants chose was "Glory," which received 5 votes. "Liberty" came in second with 3 votes and three more names were tied for third place with 2 votes apiece: Joy, Honor and Lovely. "Jewel," the winning name, received only one vote! (Hey, this is Florida-- what did you expect?). Other names that were suggested included: Grace, Precious, Purity, Life, Justine, Betsy, Pala, Libby, Hope, Pandora and Minerva.

Of course this caused concers from FORUM participants who regard this as having been an undemocratic procedure and a violation of trust. Even the Great State of Florida faced this dilemma in the contested results of a presidential election, and the Supreme Court had to intervene. I doubt the Court will come to our rescue, so I suggest we end the confusion by conducting a "re-run" of the poll. Given the lobbying power of Facebook, their "candidate" will probably win, but this will certainly solve the dilemma as to what to call the poor bird.

Personally, I do not feel strongly about naming wild creatures as they are not pets or "little people," and I stayed out of the process and did not take sides. Of course, names help us to know the individual eagles and surely promote an interest in their welfare. Knowledge translates into understanding and contributes to protection and conservation of any species.

However, even the cattle in a herd might look alike but each bears a colored name tag with a number. That's why I started the naming process by numbering the first of the 13 known eaglets produced over the seven seasons that we have been observing them: PP01, PP02 (etc.), but then I personalized the names by changing them to P Piney 1, P Piney 2 (etc.). The parents' names (Pride and Joy) were also adopted without any formal naming process, and certainly without controversy. When the students got involved, they changed P Piney 2 and 3's names to Hope and Justice. The students added  Lucky, Chance and Courage for the triplets hatched out during the 2009-2010 season. I resumed the process by continuing the original scheme: P Piney 7 through 11, following which Honor and Glory were adopted by eagle watchers without any fanfare during Pride and Joy's last breeding season. Note that Joy's last eaglet (hatched on or about January 13, 2014) was named "Glory." Is it appropriate to remember Joy by naming her successor after her final baby?

So you see, this bruhaha is not about what the name should be, but how the name should be selected. I certainly do not claim naming rights. Can an eagle just go on living with two names? No problem with me. In fact, several of my maternal uncles were named after their Newfoundland ("Newfie") ancestors but I did not even know their real names when I was a little kid. I loved them just the same after I heard my grandmother address my "Uncle Googs" as Wilbur, my "Uncle Mart" as Hubert, and my "Uncle Dutch" as Uriah. I also have several friends and relatives named "Lisa,"  but I can easily tell one from the others.

Don't do anything yet--- please read the following and give me suggestions for changes or improvement of the process:

Before we go ahead with any voting, I would like feedback from you, our loyal readers about whether, with your support and understanding, in a spirit of fun and cooperation, we should go ahead with an independent poll.

I would first request your "nomination" of a name for "Newfie." You may add a reason why you favor the preferred name. You may add posts in support of a name already entered, but a name will not be accepted for consideration unless its nomination is "seconded" by at least one other person.

The only exception will be the name "Jewel" which will be included in the ballot for obvious reasons.

Should we allow names already used for the parents and offspring of the Pembroke Pines Eagles to be repeated, i.e., Joy, Hope, Justice, Lucky, Chance, Courage and Honor?

Or, do you wish only "Glory" to remain in the running as a testament to Joy's 13th eaglet?

Do you agree that the poll will include eligible names already "nominated" by at least two Facebook participants: Liberty and Lovely? If anyone supports the other names (Grace, Precious, Purity, Life, Justine, Betsy, Pala, Libby, Pandora or Minerva) a single vote to "second" that name will result in its nomination to the list of finalists.

I propose that the name receiving a plurality of the votes (over 50% of votes cast) be designates as the winning choice, with a runoff if necessary to pit the top three names against each other. The voting period could be about 10 days to allow sufficient publicity and encourage maximum participation. One vote would be allowed from each IP address to discourage duplicate votes (although some few might get away with using the computer at work or the library).

[tomsease]

Hi Ken, I agree with what you and several of the others have said that it is really unimportant  what we humans call the Eagles or who gives them their name.  I'm just very happy and grateful  to benefit from your knowledge about the Eagles and I enjoy all the great observations and pictures posted by everyone involved (especially now that I live in Vero Beach and I don't  get to see them as much as when I lived down the street from the nest).  I wonder if it would be possible to get the kids from the school involved again and let them settle all the controversy  once and for all either by picking one of the names we already have or by coming up with one of their own.

Tom Sease

Sent from Samsung tablet.

-------- Original message --------
From: "NewMexiKen [via Bald Eagles of Broward County, Florida]" <[hidden email]>
Date:02/25/2015 12:05 PM (GMT-05:00)
To: tomsease <[hidden email]>
Subject: What's in a name?

What's in a name?

Those of you who have been following events this breeding season could not help but notice that there is a controversy over what to name the new female eagle in the Pembroke Pines nest. The local eagle watchers on this FORUM picked "Glory" early on, and "Pride and Glory" seemed a dignified and patriotic combination of names for the new couple. However, one reader on Facebook protested, saying it was too early to name the female, so the two of us agreed that the best way to settle on a name was to conduct an independent poll after we confirmed that the pair had bonded and either laid eggs or returned together next breeding season. I stopped calling her "Glory" and instead coined the temporary name "Newfie" for "New Female."

The proposed method for the naming poll was to collect a bunch of "candidate" names from both Facebook and FORUM subscribers and follow this with an "election" on a website which would be open to all and not require registration. This is what we did for two breeding seasons when the local Middle School science students who were studying the eagles' behavior wanted to have a contest. This worked very well and attracted votes from more than half of the states, Canada and several foreign countries.

However, on the evening of February 13 the Facebook participant, without any notice, suddenly conducted a 36 hour "poll" which garnered 26 "votes" and on the night of February 15th came up with the name "Jewel." Interestingly, the most popular name the Facebook participants chose was "Glory," which received 5 votes. "Liberty" came in second with 3 votes and three more names were tied for third place with 2 votes apiece: Joy, Honor and Lovely. "Jewel," the winning name, received only one vote! (Hey, this is Florida-- what did you expect?). Other names that were suggested included: Grace, Precious, Purity, Life, Justine, Betsy, Pala, Libby, Hope, Pandora and Minerva.

Of course this caused concers from FORUM participants who regard this as having been an undemocratic procedure and a violation of trust. Even the Great State of Florida faced this dilemma in the contested results of a presidential election, and the Supreme Court had to intervene. I doubt the Court will come to our rescue, so I suggest we end the confusion by conducting a "re-run" of the poll. Given the lobbying power of Facebook, their "candidate" will probably win, but this will certainly solve the dilemma as to what to call the poor bird.

Personally, I do not feel strongly about naming wild creatures as they are not pets or "little people," and I stayed out of the process and did not take sides. Of course, names help us to know the individual eagles and surely promote an interest in their welfare. Knowledge translates into understanding and contributes to protection and conservation of any species.

However, even the cattle in a herd might look alike but each bears a colored name tag with a number. That's why I started the naming process by numbering the first of the 13 known eaglets produced over the seven seasons that we have been observing them: PP01, PP02 (etc.), but then I personalized the names by changing them to P Piney 1, P Piney 2 (etc.). The parents' names (Pride and Joy) were also adopted without any formal naming process, and certainly without controversy. When the students got involved, they changed P Piney 2 and 3's names to Hope and Justice. The students added  Lucky, Chance and Courage for the triplets hatched out during the 2009-2010 season. I resumed the process by continuing the original scheme: P Piney 7 through 11, following which Honor and Glory were adopted by eagle watchers without any fanfare during Pride and Joy's last breeding season. Note that Joy's last eaglet (hatched on or about January 13, 2014) was named "Glory." Is it appropriate to remember Joy by naming her successor after her final baby?

So you see, this bruhaha is not about what the name should be, but how the name should be selected. I certainly do not claim naming rights. Can an eagle just go on living with two names? No problem with me. In fact, several of my maternal uncles were named after their Newfoundland ("Newfie") ancestors but I did not even know their real names when I was a little kid. I loved them just the same after I heard my grandmother address my "Uncle Googs" as Wilbur, my "Uncle Mart" as Hubert, and my "Uncle Dutch" as Uriah. I also have several friends and relatives named "Lisa,"  but I can easily tell one from the others.

Don't do anything yet--- please read the following and give me suggestions for changes or improvement of the process:

Before we go ahead with any voting, I would like feedback from you, our loyal readers about whether, with your support and understanding, in a spirit of fun and cooperation, we should go ahead with an independent poll.

I would first request your "nomination" of a name for "Newfie." You may add a reason why you favor the preferred name. You may add posts in support of a name already entered, but a name will not be accepted for consideration unless its nomination is "seconded" by at least one other person.

The only exception will be the name "Jewel" which will be included in the ballot for obvious reasons.

Should we allow names already used for the parents and offspring of the Pembroke Pines Eagles to be repeated, i.e., Joy, Hope, Justice, Lucky, Chance, Courage and Honor?

Or, do you wish only "Glory" to remain in the running as a testament to Joy's 13th eaglet?

Do you agree that the poll will include eligible names already "nominated" by at least two Facebook participants: Liberty and Lovely? If anyone supports the other names (Grace, Precious, Purity, Life, Justine, Betsy, Pala, Libby, Pandora or Minerva) a single vote to "second" that name will result in its nomination to the list of finalists.

I propose that the name receiving a plurality of the votes (over 50% of votes cast) be designates as the winning choice, with a runoff if necessary to pit the top three names against each other. The voting period could be about 10 days to allow sufficient publicity and encourage maximum participation. One vote would be allowed from each IP address to discourage duplicate votes (although some few might get away with using the computer at work or the library).

---

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[tczig]

Hi Ken, I'm with you all the way - I think your process is perfect.  I didn't really have a suggestion for a name, but, like you said, I would have liked to be invited to the process, since I have been a loyal follower of this eagles nest since 2008.  I love the patriotic names, so my vote will always be for Glory.  I don't think you can get a better name than that.

I am sure you didn't mean for there to be bad feelings on this forum.  That is SO FAR removed from what this forum is about.  It just got way out of control.  I'm just a simple birdwatcher and the most non-confrontational person there could ever be.

I don't want to speak for anybody else, but from what I read on the forum, all of us just wanted to take some small part in the naming of the new female - it was never supposed to get so out of hand like that.  Jewel is a decent name, but I would have voted for Glory and I just think that's a better name.

Thanks as always for your dedication to the eagles and this forum.  I, for one, would know nothing about these beautiful birds had it not been for your forum.

Julie

[johnnye]

Perfectly written Julie.  I too so enjoy this forum and also have learned everything I know about eagles from Ken.  I drive by the nest to and from work 5 days a week and often go by on my off days just to check on them. The pictures are so beautiful. I had suggested Mary for a name a couple months ago as in "Proud" Mary but I very much like Glory also.  I think one of the offspring was named Glory. Don't know if that matters. It really doesn't matter to me, but I have become so involved with the eagles by observing them daily that I was a little put off by the name selection process.  Whatever Ken comes up with is fine with me. Great job on Ken's part in documenting the egg laying and hatching, fledging, etc.  Keep up the good work Ken! Love the forum.

Johnnye

[KellyHeffernan Proj Perch]

I love the suggestion someone made of allowing the school children to
participate in the poll.  We have a lot of schools that would really
benefit from participating and this has such educational value for them.
They were included in the past, let's keep them included this time.

Your offer to still hold the poll is great and thanks for all of your hard
work.

Kelly Heffernan
SFAS's Project Perch
[phone]

>
>
> Perfectly written Julie.  I too so enjoy this forum and also have learned
> everything I know about eagles from Ken.  I drive by the nest to and from
> work 5 days a week and often go by on my off days just to check on them.
> The
> pictures are so beautiful. I had suggested Mary for a name a couple months
> ago as in "Proud" Mary but I very much like Glory also.  I think one of
> the
> offspring was named Glory. Don't know if that matters. It really doesn't
> matter to me, but I have become so involved with the eagles by observing
> them daily that I was a little put off by the name selection process.
> Whatever Ken comes up with is fine with me. Great job on Ken's part in
> documenting the egg laying and hatching, fledging, etc.  Keep up the good
> work Ken! Love the forum.
>
> Johnnye
>
>
>
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> To start a new topic under CURRENT 2014-2015 Observations of Pembroke
> Pines Bald Eagle Nest, email [hidden email]
> To unsubscribe from Bald Eagles of Broward County, Florida, visit
>