Volume 2, No. 3. February 8, 2002
Naming rights
Among the capital improvements the
Rowlett, Texas, City Council approved for the second season of its Wet Zone
Waterpark, which will give the park North Texas' first bowl slide, was funds
for a mascot. Waterpark Manager Heath Olinger had already chosen a hippopotamus
for the character—Wet Zone's kiddie pool has a Superior Foam floatable
hippo, and the animal adorned one of the park's signs, "So we just ran with
it," Olinger said—and with the money budgeted he immediately ordered a
custom costume from International Mascot.
Though he had a design for his character, he didn't have a name. "How do you
come up with a good name for a mascot?" he asked. He found answers in a number
of places. He surfed the Internet, finding the site www.babynames.com
helpful. He also consulted on-line translator programs. "You can type in a name
and it will translate into African or Hawaiian or whatever," he said. These
methods helped him build a list that included Haru and Heaka. He also came up
with Happy the Hippo, but crossed it off because the name was already used for
a Beanie Baby.
Obviously, alliteration was a key factor in his choices: the name needed to
start with an H. "It just sounded better, and would be easier for the kids to
say," Olinger said. "I was going to go with Heath, but I didn't think they would
like that." The "they" in question were other Rowlett City staff who voted on
Heath the Manager's list of names. The final choice: Haley the Hippo. How did
Olinger come up with Haley? "I was sitting at home one day and Haley popped
into my mind," he said. Nothing against the Internet, of course, but Haley was
obviously a natural choice.