Mei Lan

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Mei Lan, (simplified Chinese: 美兰; traditional Chinese: 美蘭; intended meaning: "Atlanta Beauty"), is a female giant panda. She was born at Zoo Atlanta in Atlanta, Georgia on September 6, 2006, after a record 35-hour labor ^[1]. She is the offspring of Lun Lun and Yang Yang who also reside at the Zoo. She was named at a naming ceremony held on 2006-12-15, following the Chinese tradition of naming panda cubs when they are about 100 days old, and received person of the year from Atlanta's The Sunday Paper on December 24, 2006. In so doing, she defeated Atlanta humans Michael Vick, Cynthia McKinney, Dallas Austin, Sonny Perdue, and Bernard Marcus.^[2]

Mei Lan, which may also transliterate as "American Orchid" or "Beautiful Orchid", was submitted by WSB-TV, the Atlanta ABC affiliate. The name was chosen from a public online poll on ajc.com after it won 22% of the votes. ^[3]

Other finalists in the panda cub naming poll^[4]
Name	Pronouciation	Meaning	Submitter
Xiao Tao, 小桃	shao-tao	“little peach”	Panda Express
Mei Tao, 美桃	may-tao	“beautiful peach”	WGCL-TV. CBS
Mei Li, 美丽/美麗	may-lee	“beautiful”	WAGA-TV. Fox
Ming Xing, 明星	ming-shing	“bright star”	WXIA-TV. NBC
Ping Bao, 平宝	ping-bao	“peacefulness & precious treasure”	AJC
Cheng Ya, 成娅/成婭	chung-ya	“pretty Atlanta girl from Chengdu”	Zoo Staff
Ming Yue, 明月	ming-yuu	“bright moon”	Zoo Staff
Chang Jiang, 长江/長江	chung-jung	“Yangtze River”	Chinese
Tai Ji,太极	tai-ji	“Tai Chi” (philosophical foundation of Taoism)	Chinese