Just over a week ago, the city of Denton erected a huge, friendly-looking purple monster on a sign on the Square welcoming folks to the Halloween Capital of Texas.
The sign was a hit right away, but it was the city’s request of locals that got a little out of hand in a very Denton way: They asked for suggestions to name the monster.
The internet did its thing, and after first trying to deny its popularity on social media — the monster was formally introduced as Onion.
"He has become very rapidly important to the city of Denton," Kayla Herrod, the city's deputy director of marketing and communications, said Friday morning.
With the city’s first post calling for name ideas, hundreds of comments flooded Facebook and Instagram right away with pretty good suggestions, but one started to take the lead. It wasn’t the Purple People Eater or Denny Denton like one might expect, though — it was Onion.
"On Instagram, especially — and I have no clue who started it — it just started coming out of everyone. They kept saying Onion," Herrod said.
"'I agree with Onion,' 'I love Onion,' 'he is Onion,'" she said the comments just flooded in with a laugh.
Not yet paying much mind to Onion, the city started a poll on social media with four names to vote on — Mini Maul, Eugene, Dennis and Chewy. Locals quickly realized that Onion, although one of the most commented suggestions, wasn’t included.
"We didn't think they were that serious — like, we know Denton, we know Denton has a good sense of humor, but we were still like 'Really? Onion?'"
Onion, indeed.
Herrod said people actually weren't participating in the poll at all, and instead wrote in votes for Onion through direct messages and comments.
By Thursday, Herrod said their team gave in. "OK, they were serious."
"It's harmless, it's fun — let's just put our hat in hand and, you know what, we heard you, meet Onion."
Although the city made Onion the monster’s official name, Herrod said that because it was just fun, the city wants the purple monster to be whoever residents want him to be.
"If he's NotNed to you, then that's great with us," she said.
Designed by local artist and Denton employee David Baker, city staff and volunteers, the not-so-scary Onion peeks out from behind the brick wall in front of the former Denton Mini Mall space, ready to take a bite out of the sign itself.
The sign was printed on a CNC machine in the Parks and Recreation Department, then hand painted and installed. Like most 31 Days of Halloween décor, Herrod said, it was created in-house by city staff.
It’s not the first time the internet internet-ed its way into a silly name for inanimate objects. In 2016, Boaty McBoatface took the win for the name of a $2 million polar research ship. All the way back in 2007, an endangered whale was named Mr. Splashy Pants after an online vote.
In Denton, though, there's Onion. Or whatever name you feel fits the purple beast best.
Even still, "due to the popularity, we can see Onion as the next bit of Denton local lore, for sure," Herrod said.