Yle morning television crews, guests and viewers were in for a pleasant surprise when the programme moved to its outdoor studio on June 8. The venue had apparently been occupied by a mature city fox and her three pups, which wasted no time in endearing themselves to all.
Not long after their behind the scenes escapades were captured on camera and in still shots, viewers began to suggest names for the cheeky troika.
It wasn’t long before Yle collected more than 300 suggestions from its Aamu-tv and Uutiset (Finnish news) Facebook audiences.
Yle eliminated all but the most popular options, which are presented below for readers to vote on. The poll will remain open until June 22, after which the winning choices will be revealed.
Blast from the past
Many of the names are throwbacks to the long-gone past, as reflected in submissions such as Aamu, Aura, Arvi, Vieno, Kaino and Sulo, which were more common in the early 1900s.
Some of those old-fashioned monikers such as Sulo however, appear to have been making a comeback in the last decade. According to records of the population register service, between 2010 and 2015 more than 800 boys were called Sulo, showing a steady increase in popularity since 1979. Before that, the name was a clear favourite between 1900 and 1919, when nearly 7,000 Finnish men and 78 women answered to Sulo.
The combination Metku, Ketku and Retku may be loosely translated in English as Tricky, Punk and Hobo. Mukkelis, Makkelis and Mokkelis meanwhile, are nonsense names and can be rendered as Flip, Flop and Fidget.
The names Kasper, Jesper and Joonatan reference the three central characters of a children’s book by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren.
The foxes themselves have offered no comment on the name suggestions or the public poll.
