The University of Florida’s mascot, the gator, is named Albert. The University of Texas’s longhorn mascot is named Bevo. Even Manhattan Area Technical College’s mascot (a bison) has a name — she’s Brandi, thank you very much. So it was weird that Johns Hopkins’s blue jay mascot went for nearly a century without a name.
The university decided to amend that by taking a survey of alumni, students, faculty, and staff members. After soliciting a list of names back in October, the Hopkins community had six contenders to choose between: Gilman (Gil, for short); Milton; Bruiser (an homage to the school’s colors, black and blue); J. Hugh (get it?); and Jay.
After 2,000 votes, the clear winner was Jay. Okay, sure, it’s the dullest among all the choices, but at least the poor blue jay has a name at long last.
