Ladybug Name Generator

Draw a name for a spot of color

Imagine a ladybug rounding the stem of a garden plant. The first thing you see might be the shine on its back. A few steps later you can see the spots. Try Polished Penny for the glint and Rose Dot for a small insect seen on the same plant more than once. Roll again if the names you draw all sound like descriptions of the same marking.

Write a label a child could actually use

Make a thumbnail drawing of the insect on the edge of a leaf. Under it, write a line a child might say while pointing out the ladybug. Little Pal might sound natural in a greeting. Jasper Gleam can be a name someone invents after looking through a magnifying glass and noticing how light catches the wing cases. Read each line without looking at the sketch. If a listener cannot tell what the person saw, add one detail about the color or the place where the insect stopped.

Keep the same name when it moves

Draw the ladybug on a leaf from above and on a flower bud from the side. A seven-spotted ladybug shows a different portion of its pattern in the two views. Set the same name under both. To connect the scenes, bring back a detail that can still be seen, such as a dark spot near the front or the rounded line of the back. If the shape changes in the moment it takes flight, let the next landing give the reader another look at it.

Save the name alongside the sketch

If you are naming two ladybugs, test the names in a line where one climbs and the other disappears beneath a leaf. Give each a different beginning sound if it is hard to follow who moved. Keep a note beside the first sketch of the plant and the feature that inspired the name. You can use that note later to bring the same ladybug into a different part of the garden, even if the flower in its first picture is out of sight.