New York’s Bronx Zoo was the first to launch the Name-a-Roach campaign in 2011 and since then the programme has grown in popularity and variations have been taken up by other wildlife facilities. In 2023, Bronx Zoo reported that 3,246 people named roaches as part of the Valentine’s Day programme.

The experience allows people to get revenge on an ex or vent their feelings in an unusual manner, with most of the cockroaches meeting an unfortunate end as they are fed to other animals.

All the donations go to the Wildlife Conservation Society, which aims to protect biodiversity all over the world. As part of the donation, the loved one, or rather unloved one, will receive a digital certificate informing them a cockroach has been named after them.

However, the naming is not limited to exes, with people encouraged to name a critter after in-laws, bosses and nosey neighbours, as well as friends or loved ones.

The Name-a-Roach campaign has proved so successful that many wildlife facilities have adopted their own naming programmes over the years, such as Brookfield Zoo in Chicago and San Antonio Zoological Society in Texas. The Lehigh Valley Zoo in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania added its own twist to the trend, by allowing people to name a fish after their ex and then watch a video link capturing the moment their ex is devoured by an African Penguin.

The movement has now spread worldwide as Toronto Zoo Wildlife Conservancy in Canada and Dartmoor Zoo in Plymouth, England took part this year as well.