A 3D-printed mammoth skeleton on display in National Museum Cardiff has been named Tom Bones following an extensive public vote.

The old rock and roller was installed in the museum’s great hall in March this year. It is a replica of a mammoth skeleton that was found in Condover, Shropshire, in 1986 and is believed to be one of the last of its kind before the species became extinct.

It’s not unusual for museums to launch competitions to rename iconic objects or buildings.

In 2022, Perth Museum beat The Sparkling Museum of Perth and the Victoria Drummond Museum in a public poll to rename the institution. And once there was a time, in 2018, when Bolton Museum named a titanic herbivore's skeleton Jango following a competition with local children.

The new name has been a long time coming. National Museum Cardiff ran a competition over the summer holidays to find a moniker for the mammoth skeleton, with more than 1,400 suggestions such as Bendigeidfran, Sir Tusk-A-lot and Mammoth McMammoth Face.

In October the museum revealed a shortlist of three names and said that the winner would be chosen one day soon:

  • Morus
  • Macsen
  • Tom Bones 

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More than 18,000 people visited the museum in the final week to cast their votes, despite the fact that it’s cold outside (editor’s note: the museum did tell visitors “you can leave your hat on” to avoid chills and fever).

Tom Bones is, of course, a reference to the Welsh singer Tom Jones, known for hits such as Delilah and Sex Bomb, as well as covering She’s a Lady and Burnin' Down the House. At this moment, he is promoting his most recent album Surrounded By Time.

Posting on Instagram, Jones said: “It’s not everyday [sic] you have an ancient woolly mammoth named after you!”

Mared Maggs, head of National Museum Cardiff, said: “We are delighted to finally be able to give our newest resident a name. It was hard whittling the entries down to three, but I’m delighted our campaign managed to capture public imagination and the name was ultimately chosen by our visitors. 

“A heartfelt thank you to everyone who submitted suggestions and visited the museum during half term to cast their votes.”