NEOPIA CENTRAL - I am simply amazed at the friendliness and the knowledge of
the Neopian populace. After the article "NeoPet
Species Names" has been published last week, I received such a large
volume of Neomails from helpful Neopians sharing more information on the origin
of NeoPet species names and also corrections on the typos I made in the previous
article, much to my embarrassment. So, after sitting on a pile of over a hundred
Neomails (which by the way, isn't a very comfortable seating arrangement at
all), here is "NeoPet Species Names: Revisited".
Gelert… A Dog and a Town
As it turns out, the NeoPet "Gelert" is named after a dog called "Gelert" in
a legend. Gelert the Legendary Dog has been a courageous and heroic dog, though
he died a melodramatic death. He fought off a wolf that was attempting to kill
his master's baby, but was mistakenly thought to have been the murderer of the
baby and killed. NeoPet Gelerts everywhere should be proud to have been named
in memory of such a brave dog. Many thanks to Faeriefury for contributing this
information.
Jubjub
As coolgirl568 most helpfully presented, the NeoPet species Jubjub most likely
comes from the poem "The Jabberwocky". There's a line in the poem "Beware the
Jubjub Bird, and shun, the frumious Bandersnatch!" Considering part of the poem
by Lewis Carroll is inscribed on the Gallery of Evil, it is conceivable that
the "Jubjub bird" served to gave inspiration to the NeoPet Jubjub. Jubjub also
somewhat resembles the popular candy Jujube, both in the spelling of the two
words and in the shape of the two.
Usul
Thanks to theentity, a possible origin of the NeoPet Usul, or perhaps just a
big coincidence, was uncovered. Usul is the name given to a character in yet
another famous trilogy of books. In those books, "Usul" is named after a squirrel-like
and mouse-like creature that lives in desert plants. Though the NeoPet Usul
are tree dwelling creatures, they are known to hibernate in Furrns, which somewhat
resemble desert plants.
Uni
Unis may have been named after unicorns, but it should be noted, as pointed
out by lje87, that the word "uni" actually do have real meanings. It basically
means "one" and is a prefix for many words in the English language.
Flotsam and Jetsam Revisited…
As many avid fans of that famous trilogy (which the author cannot name due to
restrictions) have been pointing out to me, Flotsam and Jetsam are actually
the title of a chapter in the famous trilogy. Many apologies to those avid fans.
Just for a good laugh, it may be noted that unfortunately, amid those avid
fans were rabid fans. In particular, there has been a rabid fan that actually
threatened to pitchfork the author of the article over her mistake. He has been
most kindly reminded that pitchforks aren't made big enough to go all the way
Middle Earth to the comfort of Lindy's home. Thanks to psycadelicpig1952 who
first corrected this error.
The Latin Lupe
According to nsyncz_angel, The scientific name for wolf, which is "Canis Lupus",
may have very well given rise to the NeoPet species name "Lupe". The Lupe has
distinctly wolf-like features, after all.
The Confusing Mynci
Many Neomails has been sent about the origin of the word Mynci. Some say that
it is a Danish word; others say it is Dutch or Latin and one person insists
that it's Japanese. But finally, ulyyf clears this cloud of uncertainty. Mynci
is verified as the Welsh word for monkey, to whom the NeoPet Mynci shares a
great likeliness. Wales also happens to be where one of the founders of NeoPets
came from.
The Amusing Nimmo
This is a very far stretch, though a rather amusing one. As kev51pika67 notices,
"Nimmo" curiously sound like "minnow", except that it's reversed. It's more
likely that it is a coincidence, because minnows and Nimmos have very little
in common other than the fact that they both spend time in the water.
Other NeoPets, Now Covered
A couple of NeoPets has also been left out in the past article. Many other NeoPet
names are plays upon words, such as Scorchio (scorch), Krawk (crocodile), Tonu
(rhino) and Tuskaninny (tusk).
Many thanks to all those nice Neopians who took the time to share with Lindy
the origins and connections of NeoPet Specie names. NeoPet specie names are
proving to be most interesting topic as more and more mysteries about the origins
of those names come to surface. Share some of those name origins with your NeoFriends
that don't read The Neopian Times(how could they!). It's guaranteed that they
will be very impressed.
*While many, many people wrote to tell me about certain NeoPet specie names,
due to the limit of space, only the first person to reply giving Lindy permission
to include the information in the article is credited. Thanks to all those who
wrote. | 
