The contest was an exciting time! We received entries from dozens of individuals from all over the US and a few from Canada and England. Many were the suggestions of children or grandchildren and many were very imaginative. As interesting as the names were the reasons for selecting them. Some contestants clearly had given serious thought to this.

We took on the difficult task of winnowing down the entries to a manageable number, then sent these off to the judges to rank. The results were close, except for first place — the votes for that put it way ahead of the two names that tied for second place.

And the winners are:

First-prize winner Kelly Hermann with husband Bob and daughters Adia (right) and Edie

First place: Luna, submitted by Kelly Hermann of Maine

Second place (a tie): Stitch, submitted by Barbara Randa, and Tewwy, submitted by Jacklyn Kaup, both of Pennsylvania

Kelly’s explanation of why she chose the name undoubtedly attracted the judges’ attention. To summarize, the name was inspired by her four-year-old daughter, Adia, who raised two generations of the beautiful and enchanting luna moth over the summer. “You may think that this name, ‘Luna,’ couldn’t be more detached from an adventurous sea turtle,” Kelly said, “but sea turtle nesting cycles appear to be based on the lunar cycle. The name also has a gentle, soothing, soft feel in the mouth that is perfect for a storybook creature guiding us into an unknown adventure.”

So, [Turtle] now is Luna. In Captured by Pirates!, the final version of the story, we have renamed Sam “Adia” and also have incorporated the second place names — the starfish is now “Stitch” and the head pirate is named “Tewwy.”

For the full list of the top ten names and the explanations for them, see the Turtle Contest page on our website.

Luna the Turtle

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