Giant Panda Name Generator

Roll for the panda you want the viewer to notice

Generate a few giant panda names and sketch a panda holding a bamboo stem. Clover Paw can point to the way the stem sits in its grip. Pebble Climb can take the same character into a drawing where its paws are on a tree. Put each name beneath both pictures and see which name still feels like the same animal after the pose changes.

Choose a name from a sound or a silhouette

A scene can begin with the crack of bamboo before the panda is visible. Try Milo Bamboo in a line spoken by the person who heard it. Then put Clover Patch under a picture where the eye patches are the first shapes the viewer can make out. Read both lines without the pictures and see which detail comes back to you. Use the name that points to something the viewer can actually notice at that moment.

Give an animal in a fable a name people can shorten

Pip Sage might fit a panda with a quiet part in a story. Try the full name in the first introduction. Use a shorter version when a familiar character calls to the panda from the other side of the path. If a second panda also has a short name, say the two in one line and listen for their beginnings. Give one a different first sound if the names are difficult to distinguish without the picture.

Move the name to the next scene

Save two favorites and write a short caption for a picture where the bamboo has disappeared from view. You could show the panda turning near a trunk or give the observer only the outline of its ears. Try both names under the new picture. Choose the one that recalls something the viewer already knows about the panda and still works where it goes next. If both do, try them as short labels above the same figure and see which is easier to read.