Weekend Mini Challenge: Nomenclature

Welcome to the Weekend Mini Challenge with Kim from Writing in North Norfolk.

A couple of Saturdays ago I visited the Natural History Museum in London. Saturdays are always very busy, especially in the dinosaur section, so we wandered into the Darwin Centre, where we found the Cocoon, a huge space dedicated to the collecting and naming of new species. Having studied linguistics at university and being a retired English teacher, as well as a writer, I was drawn to this section (apologies for the photograph).

Some of the names given to flora and fauna are little poems on their own, such as Everlasting friendship and Robin-run-the-hedge, as found on this display. I have found some fantastic names given to insects, such as Blue moon butterfly, Dewdrop spider, Tumbling flower and Whirligig beetles. A velvet spider has been named after Lou Reed and scientists have called a prehistoric crocodile Lemmysuchus obtusidens, after Motörhead frontman Lemmy.

I was intrigued by the ways scientists choose names for their discoveries and thought it would make a nice prompt. So today I would like you to write a new poem about how you named something or someone: a child, a pet, a plant - whatever it is you have given a name, tell us about how it came about.

Join in by clicking on Mister Linky and filling in your name and url – not forgetting to tick the small ‘data’ box. And please remember to read and comment on other toads’ poems.