Cover photo of MN 55 apple: University of Minnesota

By Cora Hyun Jung/Murphy News Service

University of Minnesota apple researchers want to give a unique name to the U’s newest apple variety and it wants you to help.

A survey went out to the U community today asking students, faculty, staff and the general public to, well, pick, up to three names from among a list of 19 monikers in the running for what is now simply called MN 55.

Possible names include:

• Starstruck
• Fanfare
• Zinga
• Cool Burst
• Doozie
• Rebel
• Bolero
• Sparkler
• Jitterbug
• Zippity
• First Kiss
• Spotlight
• Dash
• Sassy
• Calypso
• Caliente
• Hurrah
• Cider Spark
• Encore.

“We always have a list of names,” James Luby, plant breeder, professor and director of fruit-breeding programs at the U’s Department of Horticultural Sciences said. “We try to find names that hopefully say something good about the variety, and suggestive about its characteristics.”

Luby was a member of the team that came up with the name of the U’s most popular apple variety to date, the popular Honeycrisp.

“In this case, it (Honeycrisp) was very crisp and had nice sweet-tart flavor,” Luby said. “So we combined the words honey and crisp. It is easy to say, even for people from other countries.”

The new apple variety — MN 55 — is crisp like a Honeycrisp, but has a little bit more of a tart flavor, Luby said. The new apple, which will likely be on the market by 2018, also reportedly ripens earlier than the Honeycrisp, lengthening the sales season.

Luby said it’s difficult thing to name an apple — actually worse than naming a child.

“It has to be a unique name,” Luby said. “It’s OK to have three people with the same name in a class, but not in the supermarket.”

Reporter Cora Hyun Jung is studying journalism at the University of Minnesota.

QUESTIONS? If you want to know more about the U’s apple-naming survey, you can contact Anne Hall at [email protected].