Name my marimo!
December 12, 2014 11:20 PM   Subscribe

For Quonsmas I was gifted a new pet: a marimo! (Marimo are balls of green algae that live in lakes and also now many aquariums and jars.) My particular marimo came with a jar, a nice wooden tag, and instructions to "Write the name of your new Marimo on the wooden tag provided."

Marimo only grow in a few places naturally: Iceland, Scotland, Japan and Estonia. I work in the anime industry so I'm really not interested in a Japanese name (this would be like a lawyer naming their dog "Objection"). Similarly I know a great deal of Scottish and Scottish-descended people with Scottish names so I'd like to avoid those. But it would be neat to name my marimo something Icelandic or Estonian.

As for gender I am not going to invade my marimo's privacy like that but I'm cool with whatever. The name has to be short enough for me to paint prettily on its tag.

Obligatory pet pictures here. (It's really hard to photograph something in water through rounded glass!)
posted by Mizu to Grab Bag (20 answers total) 11 users marked this as a favorite
 
Squish.
posted by spinifex23 at 11:25 PM on December 12, 2014 [3 favorites]


loðinn is Icelandic for furry/fluffy/woolly/hairy, according to Google, and it would look very pretty on a tag. The ð symbol is pronounced kind of like English "th".
posted by lollusc at 11:36 PM on December 12, 2014 [6 favorites]


Also, I think Google is right about that translation, because I found this Icelandic store where they use loðinn to describe this cushion, which looks very much like your marimo would if it didn't have a haircut for a while, and turned pink.
posted by lollusc at 11:39 PM on December 12, 2014 [1 favorite]


Nürf
posted by Klaxon Aoooogah at 2:12 AM on December 13, 2014


Sludge.
posted by Jubey at 2:33 AM on December 13, 2014


There are oodles of troll name generators online, thanks to WoW.

Trolls are common on the streets of Reykjavik as well Tallinn.

That green fuzzy thing in your pic could indeed be a troll.
posted by infini at 2:46 AM on December 13, 2014 [1 favorite]


Its Ikea name is obviously Blöbb.
posted by flabdablet at 3:38 AM on December 13, 2014 [9 favorites]


Well, those are the best dang pictures of an algae ball I've ever seen, especially the backlit one.

Some Estonian names:
- Eha (dusk)
- Terje (mist)
- Laine (wave)
- Maimu (little)
posted by automatic cabinet at 3:58 AM on December 13, 2014 [2 favorites]


Ha! Congrats! I have four of 'em, and they're so much fun.

I'll let you steal one of the Fuzzy Four's names if you want:

Fuzzkin
Foozball
Frizzbe
Fozzy
posted by functionequalsform at 4:38 AM on December 13, 2014


Did you get it through the Mefi quonsar? Then its name is The Green.

Or that could be translated into one of the appropriate languages.
posted by lharmon at 4:48 AM on December 13, 2014 [16 favorites]


Tog = Icelandic for the outer coat of a sheep's fleece
Hár =Icelantic for hair
Grænn = Icelandic for green, unsurprisingly.
Tjörn = Icelandic for pond (so Google Translate tells me)
posted by kariebookish at 5:11 AM on December 13, 2014


Muffy.
posted by DarlingBri at 5:59 AM on December 13, 2014


Yöda

I also like Greenzo, after a character from one of my favorite episodes of 30 Rock, but full disclosure: he's an asshole.
posted by Room 641-A at 6:12 AM on December 13, 2014 [1 favorite]


Squelchy.
posted by ostro at 6:26 AM on December 13, 2014


The Icelandic word for green is "grænt". You could name it Rupert Grænt.
posted by bleep at 6:27 AM on December 13, 2014


"I'm the Slime" from the Frank Zappa song.
posted by Bruce H. at 9:02 AM on December 13, 2014 [1 favorite]


You definitely have to name it Oscar.
posted by zennie at 9:35 AM on December 13, 2014 [3 favorites]


Squishy!!
posted by sarcasticah at 11:07 AM on December 13, 2014


Mary Moe.
posted by sexyrobot at 11:10 PM on December 13, 2014


Spudge the Green.
posted by glasseyes at 4:14 AM on December 14, 2014


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