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It's official: you can call us Red Deerians

Calgarians, Edmontonians — and Red Deerians.We now have an official name to call ourselves after the City of Red Deer conducted a poll recently.

Calgarians, Edmontonians — and Red Deerians.

We now have an official name to call ourselves after the City of Red Deer conducted a poll recently.

A total of 539 people responded to the survey surrounding a common name for residents of Red Deer. And Red Deerians was the clear winner, achieving 44 per cent of the popular vote, or 236 votes.

Red Deerite took 179 votes, pulling in 33 per cent of the vote. Less favourites were — under the category “others” (18 per cent), Red Deeronian (four per cent) and Red Deerigan (one per cent). Among the “others” category was a classroom submission of Red Deerio.

Communications officer Tara Shand called it a close race.

“We got pretty good feedback,” said Shand on Wednesday. “There were people who were pretty passionate about what they wanted to be called.”

Shand said the city plans to refer to residents in Red Deer as Red Deerians where appropriate, including in its Inside Out publication it distributes to households.

People are still encouraged to go by any name they feel best suits them.

The debate surrounding a common name is about creating a sense of community, Shand added.

“We want to be on a first-name basis with our citizens, and this helps us do that,” she said.

The poll ran from May 22 to July 1.

The poll can be found online at www.reddeer.ca

ltester@www.reddeeradvocate.com