Rare white cobra in San Diego zoo has a Hindi name

A white monocled cobra that briefly became a national celebrity after it roamed a Southern California neighborhood for several days in September now has a new name.

The San Diego Zoo tells the Los Angeles Times that the cobra will be called Adhira, which in Hindi means ‘lightning’.
Adhira came in first in an online poll to find a name for the venomous cobra that was captured in Thousand Oaks and, after a period of quarantine, joined the zoo's Reptile House.

Adhira received 4,612 votes, besting Sapheda (white), Krima (cream), Cini (Sugar), Moti (pearl) and Sundara (beautiful). Selected by the cobra's keepers, the names were meant to reflect the Southeast Asia region where cobras are native. The Times says the snake went on exhibit on December 23.