Back ميرليون Arabic Merlion Azerbaijani Merlion BAN Merlion Czech Merlion German Merlión Spanish مرلاین Persian Merlion French מרליון HE Merlion Hungarian
 The Merlion Park viewed with the Singapore skyline in the background | |
| Country | Singapore |
|---|---|
| Region | Singapore |
| Merlion | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese name | |||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 魚尾獅 | ||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 鱼尾狮 | ||||||
| |||||||
| Malay name | |||||||
| Malay | Singa-Laut | ||||||
| Tamil name | |||||||
| Tamil | மெர்லயன் | ||||||
The Merlion (/ˈmɜːrˌlaɪən/) is the official mascot of Singapore. It is depicted as a mythical creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish. Being of prominent symbolic nature to Singapore and Singaporeans in general, it is widely used to represent both the city state and its people in sports teams, advertising, branding, tourism and as a national personification.[1]
The Merlion was first used in Singapore as the logo for the tourism board. Its name combines "mer", meaning the sea, and "lion". The fish body represents Singapore's origin as a fishing village when it was called Temasek, which means "sea town" in Javanese. The lion head represents Singapore's original name—Singapura—meaning "lion city" or "kota singa".
The symbol was designed by Alec Fraser-Brunner, a member of the Souvenir Committee and curator of the Van Kleef Aquarium, for the logo of the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) in use from 26 March 1964 to 1997 and has been its trademarked symbol since 20 July 1966. Although the STB changed their logo in 1997, the STB Act continues to protect the Merlion symbol.[2] Approval must be received from STB before it can be used. The Merlion frequently appears on STB-approved souvenirs.
- ^ "The Monstrous Merlion: In the Original Sense". Public Art. Archived from the original on 10 September 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
- ^ "STB-owned Assets – Merlion Symbol | STB". www.stb.gov.sg. Archived from the original on 1 March 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2020.