The Brooklyn Public Library wants your help in naming its new eagle.
Don’t worry, this isn’t a real bird of prey. It’s a 6-foot-tall statue of an eagle cast in copper, which now calls the grand lobby of the BPL Central Library home.
Anyone who has spent time on the internet knows that when a public poll asks for name suggestions, there’s always sure to be a few hilarious results.
Take “Boaty McBoatface,” for instance, which was the name the public suggested for a ship owned by Britain’s Natural Environment Research Council, or the time Greenpeace held a competition to name a tagged whale and the winning name was “Mr. Splashy Pants.”
But the Brooklyn Public Library decided to trust the public anyway.
The naming contest officially started on Monday, Oct. 9 and all submissions must be in by 5 p.m. on Oct. 19.
Why does the Brooklyn Public Library have an eagle statue?
The 6-foot statue hasn’t always nested in the Brooklyn Public Library. It’s actually a recent addition, which is why the library is issuing a call for name suggestions.
The copper eagle statue originally came from the headquarters of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper. The newspaper operated from 1841 to 1955, according to the New York Public Library, and the newspaper records have been at the Brooklyn Public Library since 1957. (The newspaper was briefly revived from 1960 to 1963, and a new Brooklyn Eagle launched in 1996, though it has no reported business relation to the original.)
Since the newspaper’s shuttering in 1955, the eagle statue has roosted in multiple places. Its original home was 30 Henry Street in downtown Brooklyn, and then the statue was in the care of the Brooklyn Historical Society from the late ‘50s to the early ‘90s, though for 20 years of that time period, it was housed at the Brooklyn Museum.
The Brooklyn Historical Society loaned the statue to the Brooklyn Public Library in 1997, and the society has made the eagle statue a permanent gift to the library this year.
“With the complete archives of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle long a significant part of our Brooklyn Collection, we are delighted to provide the paper’s mascot a permanent home in the Central Library lobby,” said Linda E. Johnson, President and CEO of Brooklyn Public Library, in a statement. “We are grateful to the Brooklyn Historical Society for their generous gift of the watchful and majestic eagle and for their partnership throughout the year on special initiatives like Culture Pass.”
After opening on Monday, the contest has already received nearly 100 submissions, a spokesperson said. Add yours at bklynlibrary.org/name-bpl-historic-eagle. You can learn more about the eagle at a special exhibit outside of the Brooklyn Collection, on the second floor of the Central Library.
