The Merlion is a mythical Half Lion-Half Fish creature created in the mid 1960s. The name comes from the merging of the words
"mermaid" and
"lion", hence Merlion.
The mermaid refers to the fact that Singapore was once a fishing village,
Temasek which meands "sea town" in Jvanese. The head of the lion comes from Singapores original name of
Singapura which means "lion city" in Sanskrit.
The Merlion has been trademarked by the city of Singapore sine July 1966 and approval is required to use the image. But, that does not stop the use. There are other uses that can be found outside of Singapore. Some of these are:
- A Merlion is on the Crest of the 8th Marine Regiment of the United States Marine Corps.
- The Merlion Restaurant in Gainsville, Florida service Singapore food has a statue.
- The Merlion Restaurant in Cupertino, California sports threee statues.
- The Merlion Restaurant in Chapel Hill, North Carolina serves Singapore food, but not sure if there are any statues.
- The Merlion can also be seen in the popular video game Animal Crossing for the Nintendo Gamecube as a decoration.
Since its introduction in 1966, the Merlion has worked its was into the hearts of Singapore and all that visit. Every gift shop will have several sizes of the creature for you to bring home.
Information from Wikipedia