We need your help choosing the names for our upcoming “Y” and “Z”releases! This is a fun way to leave your mark on the Open edX community, and the process is simple:
How it works:
Propose a tree name for either the “Y” release or the “Z” release in the comments below. Please add a distinct comment for every recommendation so individual names can be voted on.
Add a short description or motivation for your suggestion if you’d like! (Optional but encouraged)
Vote for your favorite suggestions by liking the comments . You can vote for as many suggestions as you like!
Rules:
Tree names only!
Submit your “Y” and “Z” name ideas as separate comments to make voting easier.
Voting is open until 18 August.
The names with the most votes will be the official names for the “Y” and “Z” releases.
There have been references to “zebrawood” going back to 2021 if not earlier, so I’d assume that’s a strong frontrunner for “Z”. It’s a cool name and has beautiful, stripy wood.
This palm tree is native to the South of Brazil and Uruguay which makes it an ideal name following the contributions by our friends from the Southern Cone.
My suggestion is Yellowwood: It completes the -wood lineage, it’s an actual tree (South Africa’s national tree, Podocarpus latifolius, plus the American Cladrastis) and it’s unambiguous to spell
How about Ylang for the Y release? It comes from Ylang-ylang (Cananga odorata), a tropical tree also cultivated in India and popularly known as the Perfume Tree. It’s short, easy to pronounce and has a nice connection to Asia.
The Himalayan Yew (Taxus wallichiana) is a long-lived evergreen tree found across the Himalayas, including India.
It is valued for its resilience and ecological importance, and its natural compounds have contributed to the development of important cancer medicines.
Its longevity, resilience, and contribution to human well-being make Yew a meaningful name for an Open edX release.
Zapote (or sapote) comes from the Aztec word tzapotl, which means a soft, sweet fruit. It is a general name used for several different tropical fruit trees native to Mexico, Central America, and South America.
For “Y”, I suggest "Yggdrasil." It is the World Tree of Norse mythology—a symbol of connection, growth, resilience, and the pursuit of wisdom. Just as Yggdrasil connects many worlds through a shared living structure, Open edX connects a global community of learners, educators, institutions, and contributors through a shared open platform. It represents a project that continues to grow, adapt, and bring people together around knowledge.
For Z, I nominate the Ziziphus genus. Like the Open edX community, Ziziphus is truly global. Native across Africa, Asia, Australia, and parts of the Americas, and cultivated around the world for thousands of years, it thrives in diverse environments and serves communities across continents (like the Open edX platform). The wood is used to build things (and yes, it has thorns—much like Open edX can have a few sharp edges), it produces nourishing fruit (jujube) like a thriving Open edX instance, and it plays an important ecological role by preventing erosion and supporting pollinators (great parallel for the Open edX platform’s role in the educational ecosystem).
How it works:
for either the “Y” release or the “Z” release in the comments below. Please add a distinct comment for every recommendation so individual names can be voted on.
. You can vote for as many suggestions as you like!
Rules:
.
