Nile Hippo Expert
Well-Known Member
I think the Capital of Texas Zoo in Cedar Creek, Texas has the worst name because 1) Austin is the capital city of Texas AND has a zoo in the main city and 2) the name just sounds so ugly when you look at it.
Worst zoo names
- Thread starter Nile Hippo Expert
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The zoo itself is only 30 minutes out of Austin, so is essentially within the cities proximity. The actual Austin zoo your referring too is also a 20 minute drive from the city too.
Since the Austin Zoo already took the title of 'Austin', the 'Capital of Texas' is an ingenious name imo. It still references the city which they'd want to still associate themselves with, but I do agree it isn't a name that rolls off the tongue.
I don't think any zoo can have a better name than BestZoo in the Netherlands.
The opposite would be all the zoos in Germany and Austria whose names start with "Bad", for example, Tierpark Bad Brückenau, Tierpark Bad Kösen, Tierpark Bad Liebenstein, etc. This is a false cognate though, "bad" means "bath" in German, indicating those towns have spas and are certified by the German government to call themselves bad.
Why the frequent use of “Bad” in German place names (and does it mean something different than “bath”)?
In the UK, there's the (probably intentionally) childish-sounding Jimmy's Farm & Wildlife Park and Hoo Zoo and Dinosaur World. Also there's Folly Farm Zoo, although in this case "folly" probably means "decorative tower," not "foolishness."
In Indonesia: Batu Secret Zoo's a bizarre name.
The opposite would be all the zoos in Germany and Austria whose names start with "Bad", for example, Tierpark Bad Brückenau, Tierpark Bad Kösen, Tierpark Bad Liebenstein, etc. This is a false cognate though, "bad" means "bath" in German, indicating those towns have spas and are certified by the German government to call themselves bad.
Why the frequent use of “Bad” in German place names (and does it mean something different than “bath”)?
In the UK, there's the (probably intentionally) childish-sounding Jimmy's Farm & Wildlife Park and Hoo Zoo and Dinosaur World. Also there's Folly Farm Zoo, although in this case "folly" probably means "decorative tower," not "foolishness."
In Indonesia: Batu Secret Zoo's a bizarre name.
Right? What are they hiding? Besides rare taxa off-show I guess...
Wanderer
Well-Known Member
I don't like when French zoos have an English name. That name is doomed to be pronounced with a thick French accent 99% of the time so why did it have to be in English in the first place?
At the same time, I love the weird use of English in names like the Batu Secret Zoo or Hakkeijima Sea Paradise. I think French zoos should take notes. If you're going to pick an English name you should make it as bizarre as possible.
At the same time, I love the weird use of English in names like the Batu Secret Zoo or Hakkeijima Sea Paradise. I think French zoos should take notes. If you're going to pick an English name you should make it as bizarre as possible.
Mossman Joe
Well-Known Member
Supposedly, the zoo was made to look quite different from other Indonesian zoos, having a modern and somewhat abstract entrance, so you wouldn't expect a zoo to be in a building like that, hence the "Secret" part of its name.
Not the best reason to name the zoo in my opinion, but it is what they gave
Don't really know of any truly bad zoo names, just some uncreative ones. Such as the French bird park "bird park" (Parc des Oiseaux)
The previous name for Hobart Zoo and Aquarium, ‘ZooDoo Zoo, was probably the worst.
Honourable mention for any of the literally shameful attempts to hide a zoo’s identity by changing ‘Zoo’ names to thinks like Biopark, Durrell Wildlife, EcoPark etc. Thankfully most such monstrosities have since been reversed.
Honourable mention for any of the literally shameful attempts to hide a zoo’s identity by changing ‘Zoo’ names to thinks like Biopark, Durrell Wildlife, EcoPark etc. Thankfully most such monstrosities have since been reversed.
Horsepower for Kids & Animal Sanctuary in Tampa, Florida.
From my understanding, Biopark was an attempt to reword any long name by simply putting "Bio" as a general term for safeguarding biological beings, so in substance to avoid long names such as "Zoological and Botanical garden and Aquarium, Vivarium, Terrarium" etc etc, so just a broad term for anything bio-related and to highlight the intricacy of the relationship between all living beings: it however did not take foot and it's mainly being used by Zoos to cover their insecurities with the local community, see the Rome's Zoo, and has never been used by Botanical Gardens to my knowledge because they don't have to wash their past.
Wanderer
Well-Known Member
I like it actually, it's straight to the point.
Thinking of bird parks, a couple such facilities in Japan have adopted the name "Vogelpark", apparently from German (Matsue Vogelpark comes to mind). I have no idea where that comes from.
I was going Too mention ZooDoo but Yoo beat me Too it
Not really a terrible name, but the second I see any facility have the word 'sanctuary' in it's name, I immediately lower my expectations for it, and I've yet to be wrong about it!! In my experience at least, anything called a 'sanctuary' will almost invariably have poorer exhibit quality and a more generic collection of species.
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