Fort Worth Zoo Names Baby Elephant Lady Bird After Public Vote

Lady Bird, the Fort Worth Zoo's new baby elephant, was born on Aug. 18, 2025.

After gathering more than 18,000 votes from the public, the Fort Worth Zoo has a name for its newest addition — a baby elephant named Lady Bird.

Nicknamed "Birdie" for short, the elephant's name is inspired by first lady Lady Bird Johnson, an advocate for environmentalism across the United States but primarily in her home state of Texas.

Johnson is perhaps best known for her support of wildflowers and native plants like bluebonnets — which makes Birdie's name even more appropriate, because her mom's name is Bluebonnet.

Birdie is almost two months old, so she's gone quite a while without a name. Good things take time, of course.

The Asian elephant calf was born on Aug. 18 weighing 250 pounds and standing 36 inches (or exactly 3 feet) tall. Her mom, Bluebonnet, was the first elephant calf born in the Fort Worth Zoo and has lived there since her birth in 1998. Birdie's dad, Romeo, also fathered a four-year-old calf named Brazos (all elephants born at the zoo are given Texas-themed names). Birdie is Bluebonnet's third calf, but her first daughter.

Birdie's put on weight in the nearly two months since her birth — the zoo shared that she now weighs 320 pounds "and is showing great signs of confidence and curiosity."

Other baby elephant names in the vote included two other Texas flower-themed names: Yellow Rose and Black-eyed Susan.