His name is Gandali!
Published on 02 March 2020
Over 200 people showed up to our naming event at Rockhampton Zoo on Saturday, where Holly and Alon's baby was named Gandali.
We received more than 750 nominations and our panel had the hard and wonderful task of narrowing down to a shortlist of six names:
♥ ARCHER – This was a popular nomination, inspired by the Archer Brothers and Mount Archer.
♥ CHIKONDI – A Zambian name meaning ‘love’.
♥ GANDALI – A Darumbal word meaning ‘star’, which links to his place of birth on Darumbal land.
♥ OAKLY – A combination inspired by both parents. The ‘Oak’ is drawn from Alon’s name, which is Hebrew for Oak Tree, and ‘-ly’ from ‘Holly’.
♥ OBI – A name emanating from Nigeria which means ‘heart’ or ‘one who charms’.
♥ ROCCO – We received 170 nominations for variations of Rocco and Rocky - a permanent link to his place of birth, Rockhampton.
On Saturday Holly was presented with a choice of treats in six different coloured papier-mâché balls. There were envelopes matching those colours with a name randomly placed in each, and the colour that Holly chose revealed the name of the little bub!
We live streamed the event - watch it here.