A naming contest for Nova Scotia's four new helicopters has been revealed through a freedom of information request. The most popular suggestion was the conventional name "Spirit" series chosen from four categories: beaches, birds, landmarks, or trees, with over 10,000 submissions collected. However, some respondents showed creativity with humorous and eccentric suggestions, including "Choppy McChopface" and its variants, which were inspired by a similar British contest in 2016. The names finally chosen for the helicopters are Spirit of the Osprey, Spirit of the Falcon, Spirit of the Hawk, and Spirit of the Eagle.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-03,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
'Choppy McChopface' among favourite suggested helicopter names, documents show
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documents → suggest → names
Freedom of information request reveals complete list of proposed names
Name suggestions for Nova Scotia's four new helicopters ranged from imitative to imaginative, according to the full list of recommendations obtained exclusively by CBC News.
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suggestions → reveal → News
That suggested naming format mimicked the winner of a British vessel naming contest in 2016, when U.K. officials stepped in to reverse the outcome, asserting "Boaty McBoatface" was too informal.
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McBoatface → suggest → outcome
Nova Scotia government list curators seemed to lean toward conventional names as well.
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curators → seem → names
After the list of nearly 10,000 suggestions in the naming competition was collected, the provincial government asked the public to vote for one of four groups of names, based on local beaches, birds, landmarks or trees.
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government → collect → beaches
In July, the fleet of helicopters was unveiled with the names Spirit of the Osprey, Spirit of the Falcon, Spirit of the Hawk and Spirit of the Eagle.
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fleet → unveil → Eagle
After some online outcry about the final result, CBC News filed freedom of information requests seeking documents related to the naming process.
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News → file → process
The province released hundreds of pages of emails and internal documents.
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province → release → emails
The government's list shows "Osprey" as the top suggestion.
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list → show → suggestion
But the list also reveals the recurring push for "Choppy McChopface" and similar suggestions such as "Chopper McChoppyface," "Choppy Mc Flys A Lot" and others with slightly different spellings.
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Mc → reveal → spellings
While those names owe their origin to the British contest a decade ago, Nova Scotians also showed creativity with other ideas.
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Scotians → owe → ideas
Notable locals suggested
There were repeated suggestions to name the helicopters after iconic Nova Scotians such as Anne Murray, Douglas McCurdy, Maud Lewis and Viola Desmond.
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locals → suggest → Murray
More than one person proposed naming the helicopters after Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston, including a pitch to name one the "Houston Herc," an alliterative reference to the Hercules military transport aircraft.
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person → propose → aircraft
Some ideas combined notable names with avian wordplay, such as "Jacob Shaffelbird" and "Owlexander Graham Bell."
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ideas → combine → Shaffelbird
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Scotia → cheer → efforts
Contestants also submitted the names of Nova Scotian athletes Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, Ellie Black and Blayre Turnbull, as well as characters from the TV series Trailer Park Boys: Ricky, Julian, Bubbles and Mr. Lahey.
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Contestants → submit → series
"The trailer park boys transcends the global audience," one person wrote.
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person → transcend → audience
"This show is a phenomenal that has fans all over the world.
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that → have → world
They are one of the few things that I can say I'm proud of about this province."
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I → say → province
Another entry proposed "Air Nova," offering the rationale: "Because it's a helicopter in Nova Scotia.
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it → propose → Scotia
So Air Nova makes sense."
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Nova → make → sense
Some suggestions showed a range of humour and eccentricity, while others indicated a disdain for the process itself.
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others → show → process
One contestant suggested "Heloblue 55284," explaining that it combined the word "helicopter," the blue of the Nova Scotia tartan, and the total land mass of the province in square kilometres.
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it → suggest → kilometres
Another proposal, "4 blade delivering water," reflected the helicopters' firefighting capabilities, while "BlackRocks Down" seems to combine references to the black rocks at Peggys Cove and the movie about two American Black Hawk helicopters shot down by Somalian forces in 1993.
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BlackRocks → deliver → 1993
Some entries read more like customer service complaints.
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entries → read → complaints
One person wrote: "Stop naming things off of people it's an asinine practice."
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it → write → people
Another lengthy submission included: "How bout you survey nova scotiams on thi gs that really matter.
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that → include → gs
Like the stupid pickerel and bass cull, or your plans do destroy our outdoors with mining and fracking.
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plans → destroy → mining
One commenter summarized the process succinctly.
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commenter → summarize → process
"If you ask the internet to name your thing, you will get exactly the stupid name you deserve."
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you → ask → name
