Have you ever thought about why we label the offspring of animals with certain names? No? Well, maybe it’s time you did. “With a knowledge of the name,” Henry David Thoreau wrote, “comes a distincter recognition and knowledge of the thing.” Sounds reasonable. So let’s see if the philosopher of Walden Pond knew what he was talking about.

We’ve got puggles and pups, kits and kittens, cygnets and squabs, bunnies and joeys and nymphs. Just how did those terms and dozens of others come to describe the progeny of certain species, many of whom you can see at Lincoln Park Zoo?

In some cases it helps to take a scientific approach in sorting through the etymological dust. The word “offspring” itself, for example, comes from the Middle English offspring, which comes from the Old English of meaning off, and springan meaning to rise.

The offspring of fish, such as the hundreds of cichlids at Regenstein African Journey, are known as fry, which is probably a merging of the Old Norse word frjo, meaning seed, and the Anglo-French frei, meaning to rub or to spawn. The offspring of a deer, such as the white-lipped deer at the Antelope & Zebra Area, especially one less than a year old, is a fawn, from the Old French faon or feon, meaning young animal. A young alpaca, though it resembles a small hairy horse, is not a foal but a cria, Spanish for offspring. (You can also visit alpacas at Antelope & Zebra.)

Then there’s a young dove or pigeon, called a squab, which is believed to be of Scandinavian origin, akin – as etymologists are fond of saying – to the Swedish dialectal squabb, meaning fat flesh. And how about the baby rabbit, known affectionately as a bunny, like those at the Farm-in-the-Zoo Presented by John Deere. Follow closely here, please. Bunny comes from the dialectal bun, meaning tail of a rabbit, and is descended from the Middle English bunne, probably the offspring of the Old French bugne, or boil, which itself is of Celtic origin.

A more obvious flight pattern to follow is that of the cygnet, from the Middle English cignet, from Anglo-Norman, and a diminutive of the Old French cygne. Meaning? You guessed it, swan. Somewhere along the etymological byway cygnet became the term for a young swan. Check out the two adult trumpeter swans at the Hope B. McCormick Swan Pond.

Just why the offspring of certain species have come to be called a particular name is anyone ’s – including the etymologist’s – guess. The offspring of echidna, two of which live at the Regenstein Small Mammal-Reptile House but are currently off-exhibit, are called puggles. It seems someone tagged them with that nickname because they resemble a kid’s soft-toy character.

Little roaches, such as the Madagascar hissing cockroaches at Regenstein African Journey? They’re nymphs, naturally. Nevermind the fact that in Greek and Roman mythology nymphs were minor deities represented as beautiful maidens. Kangaroos (coming soon to Lincoln Park Zoo), koalas, wallabys and wombats? They’re joeys, mate. (The best guess is that joey was borrowed from the Australian native name joé). A young goat? Now we’re talking kid stuff, but don’t ask why.

And then there’s the challenge of telling all those pups and kits and kittens apart. Let’s dispense with the science first. From the Middle English we get popi, meaning small pet dog, which perhaps is from the Anglo-Norman poppe, meaning doll, which pays homage to the Vulgar Latin puppa, an offshoot of the Latin pupa, meaning little girl or doll. Kitten comes from the Middle English kitoun, probably from Old North French caton, a diminutive of cat, from Late Latin cattus.

So who’s a pup? Among others, and as unlikely as it seems, sharks, armadillos and beavers (the latter coming in summer to the new Pritzker Family Children’s Zoo); and not surprisingly, coyotes and African wild dogs, who reside at Regenstein African Journey. Young meerkats like those at Regenstein African Journey are kits, which sounds short for kitten. Big cats, like cheetahs, leopards and lions are, of course, kittens, right? Well, no. They’re cubs. As are bears. Go figure.