Baby Beluga Needs an Inuit Name - Oceana USA
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November 12, 2009

Baby Beluga Needs an Inuit Name

Since I missed Whale Wednesday yesterday, I’m making up for it today with an update on an adorable Canadian cetacean.

As you may or may not recall, a beluga whale was born at the Vancouver Aquarium this summer. Now she needs a name, and the aquarium is asking for submissions. Here’s the rub: the name must be from the Inuit language, Inuktitut, reflecting the beluga’s Arctic origins. So that means no “Britney” or “Bathsheba” submissions, people.

I just submitted “illaqtuq” which, I just learned, means “laugh.” Belugas have that great high-pitched twitter, after all. And it could be shortened to “Illa.” Pretty good, huh?

Grand prize is an encounter with a beluga, and you can submit until Nov. 22.