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The Whale Naming Process
Humpback Whales are individually identified by their dorsal fins and by the underside of their flukes (tails). Every Humpback has a unique pattern much like people have unique fingerprints. In order to keep track of who's who and to better understand the lives of these animals, researchers began naming individuals based on the markings that the whales have on their tails. This whole process began back in 1975 when Salt became the first Humpback Whale to get an official name. She was named Salt because she has white along the edge of her dorsal fin and she was most often seen with another Humpback who had the normal dark coloration on her dorsal fin. Because these two whales had been seen together so often, they were dubbed Salt and Pepper.

Fin Whales are also individually identified and sometimes named, but not for the same markings as Humpbacks. Fin Whales hardly raise their flukes out of the water to dive and even if they did it wouldn't help much because their fluke patterns are almost identical. Researchers had to come up with a different method of identifying Fin Whales.  They noticed that each Fin Whale has a different dorsal fin based on the overall size and shape. Fin Whales also have a V shaped pattern on their backs just behind the blowholes which is known as a "chevron pattern". This pattern along with the dorsal fin are used to tell one Fin Whale from the next. Any obvious scarring also helps to know who's who.

Whale Naming Guidelines For Humpbacks

Before new Humpback Whales are named they're assigned a number. The first two digits in this number represent the year that the whale was first seen and the following number place the whales in order of their sighting. For example, the first new whale that was sighted in the 2008 season was given a number of 0801 (08 = 2008 season + 01 = first new whale), the second new whale would be numbered 0802, the third new whale would be numbered 0803, and so on.  During the off season naturalists hold a whale naming conference where names and ideas are suggested. When all is said and done, these numbered whales are given new names which will stick with them for the rest of their lives.  There are a few rules which are followed when coming up with names for whales. The names can not be gender specific because most of the time when new whales are recorded there's no way to tell for sure if it's a male or a female unless it‘s accompanied by a calf (which would make the new whale a female). The names can not be after a person because again, there's no way to know for sure if it's a male or female (unless it’s with a calf) just by looking at it. The name can not be one that's already been chosen for another whale. It would be extremely difficult keeping track of who's who having two or more whales with the same name.

Newly Named Whales From 2008

Ballet On the upper left fluke is a figure  which looks like a ballet dancer. Cartwheel The lower left fluke  looks like a  person doing a cartwheel. Flicker The white vertical line on the right  fluke looks like a candle. Literal The lines on the right fluke look  like a " sign used in programming. Smidgen There's a tiny bit - smidgen - of  the left fluke which is missing. Ten There's a big X on the left fluke. X is the roman numeral for 10.   Trough There's a big dip on the right fluke which looks like a trough. Waffle The black marks on the right fluke looks like a waffle ice cream cone.