Until the 31st of October this year, the Expo Milano 2015 is being in Italy. A global showcase for more than 120 participating nations, the purpose of the expo is to spotlight technological answers to concrete problems facing the planet today.

This theme of this year’s expo is “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life”. In honor of this  agricultural theme, the Expo organizers commissioned the creation of a special mascot to greet the more than 20 million people expected to attend this year’s event Named “Foody”. The animated mascot is described on the official Expo website as “honest, wise, respectful” and a fan of “healthy, tasty food.”

Teaming up with Foody are a smorgasbord of other edible vegetable characters, all adorned with fanciful food names. For example, Julienne Zucchini, Max Maize, and Rodolfo Fig. Click here to see the entire collection of veggie ambassadors.

In recent years, many corporations have run public naming competitions to launch their new products. A media attention grabber, these naming events can be an excellent strategy for increasing public awareness in a corporation’s services… if it works out positively.

As the British Columbia Ferries discovered, this strategy is not without risk. In a recent campaign, the company asked the public to come up with names for three new vessels. While the response via social media was large, many of the suggestions received were not exactly what you would call sea-worthy. Some of the more salty suggestions included: Spirit of the WalletSucker, Queen of the Overpriced, and Incompetence Afloat; the Coastal Calamity.

Undaunted by the online heckling, the BC Ferries Company staunchly defended the competition. As the company’s Vice President of Customer Services explained in an official press release: This contest provided “an exciting opportunity for customers to name a ferry that will be in service for decades to come.” The competition, the VP explained, offered an historic opportunity for people to “leave a lasting legacy in coastal communities in British Columbia.” After reviewing the 7,100 name suggestions received, the BC Ferry team selected the following winning names: Salish Orca, Salish Eagle, and Salish Raven. In a statement released by the company, these three maritime monikers were chosen to “honour the Coast Salish people” and reflect the “culture of British Columbia”.

For a complete list of the names which already adorn the vessels of the BC Ferries fleet, click here.

For more information on the contest, click here or read the companies new releases here and here.

BoingBoing summarizes this article in The Independent about a new, violent baby naming trend in the US.

What do Jessica Simpson, Jennifer Lopez, Janet Jackson, Janice Dickenson, Julianne Moore, all have in common?

No, it is not just that their first names all begin with the letter “J”. What connects these five women, other than their fame and fortune, is the fact that all of them have (or at one time had) a Birkin Bag.

Considered by many to be of the world’s most expensive handbags on the market today, the Hermès creation was named after singer-actress Jane Birkin in the mid 1980’s. Now, some three decades later, Birkin has told reporters of the Agence France-Presse (AFP), that she has requested that Hermès “debaptise the Birkin Croco until better practice in line with international norms can be put in place.” Despite this reported request, a recent look at the Hermès website revealed that the handbag is still listed under the actresses’ surname. It remains to be seen whether the company will one day adhere to Ms. Birkin’s request and/or alter international leather production practices which PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) denounced as “appalling” and “gruesome” in a recent video report.

For more information see this article and this article.

Boing Boing reports that “the Reykjavík City Council has approved a citizen-led effort to rename a street Svarthöfði, translated as Blackhead, which is the Icelandic name for Darth Vader.”

Click here for more information.