Help Name the Monterey Bay Aquarium Penguin Chicks

Monty, for Monterey? Poppy, in honor of our state flower? Take a look at the adorable picks.

PORE OVER THE BOOKS, study the web sites, return to the same books you just finished poring over for yet another reread, quiz friends, poll neighbors, and look deep inside your intuition, and you still may have way too many ideas regarding a new pet's potential name. You want it to be perfect, to fit the critter well, to meld well with your own name, and the names of the people in your household, and you hope the nicknames that naturally spin off from the main handle will be equally as charming. Those people who live with guinea pigs and parakeets and all manner of furry cuddlebugs know this difficult name-picking process well, but imagine having to name an animal that many people will see over many years. It has all of the aforementioned challenges, yes, but it is more public, a name spoken by more people, and a moniker that is apt to be repeated, over and over, as those visitors call upon the animal's habitat. The Monterey Bay Aquarium is facing just this delightful challenge, and staffers have turned to the public to help choose a pair of names for two...

COO-WORTHY PENGUIN CHICKS: There's a girl and a boy, and a few options have been suggested by the Cannery Row aquarium, including Monty (short for Monterey), Poppy (a floral tribute to our beloved state flower), and Bixby (after Bixby Bridge, the world-famous Big Sur span that isn't all that far from Monterey). Mull over the well-thought-out choices, penguin people, and then make your selections. And if you can't get enough of the MBA bird-lebrities, further your penguin-based affections by downloading the aquarium's free monthly wallpaper: It just so happens that March's cute wallpaper depicts a pair of adult African penguins.

UPDATE: And the names are... Monty and Poppy! 

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