Name game!
Nicole Scherzinger
– a road gritter
Oldham Council in Greater Manchester ran a competition for kids to name their new vehicle to spread salt on roads. And one 10-year-old girl called Eve came up with the perfect moniker – Nicole Saltslinger.
Angelina
Jolie – a spider
She’s already got a reputation as a maneater so it’s no surprise
Ange has a spider named after her. A university professor called a new type of trapdoor spider Aptostichus angelinajolieae after the Hollywood actress, saying it was in recognition of the work she does to help refugees around the world.
Sir David Attenborough
– a boat
TV legend Sir David had the great honour of having a polar research ship named after him. But he only got the gig after the most popular entry in a competition to name it – Boaty McBoatface – didn’t get taken up by the
vessel’s owners.
Beyoncé – a horse fly
Australian researchers named a rare type of the insect, described as having a “glamorous golden rear end” after the singer because it was “the all-time diva of flies”. The bootylicious bug is called Scaptia beyonceae.
Arsene Wenger
– an asteroid
Football fans may not have thought he was out of this world by the end of his tenure at Arsenal, but back in 1998 an asteroid was discovered by proud Gooner Ian P Griffin. He decided to name it in honour of the boss – 33179 Arsenewenger.
Roy Chubby Brown
– the town in The League Of Gentlemen
Steve Pemberton and Co decided to name the town in their darkly comic TV series after the standup’s real name – Royston Vasey – as they found it funny. Chubby even made a cameo in the show, playing the mayor.
Ozzy Osbourne – a frog
In 2009, scientists discovered a new type of tree frog that produces shrill bat-like sounds. They christened it Dendropsophus ozzyi, named after the Black Sabbath singer who bit the head off a bat in 1982.
Mick Jagger – a fossil
Jokes about his age aside, the Rolling Stones frontman’s over-sized lips earned him the honour of having a fossil of a prehistoric swamp creature named after him. It was named Jaggermeryx naida (Jagger’s water nymph).
Arnold Schwarzenegger
– a beetle
The actor gave the Agra schwarzeneggeri beetle its name. Arnie was selected as its “markedly developed (bicep-like) middle femora” reminded scientists of his
muscular physique.
Lady Gaga – a fern
Scientists at Duke University in North Carolina named a group of ferns after the star, real name Stefani Germanotta. The 19 species have the group name “Gaga” and one of them has the full name Gaga germanotta.