One of the legacies of being president is having things named in your honor, and Joe Biden is no exception – but he had a head start.
Several namesakes were stamped with the Joseph R. Biden Jr. moniker all the way back when he was a U.S. senator and more recently, vice president.
And here’s a bit of name trivia: The initial “R” stands for “Robinette,” which was the maiden name of Joseph Biden Sr.’s mother, Mary Elizabeth.
More unusual than “Robinette,” though, are some of the places and things that have been named after our 46th president, former vice president and longtime U.S. senator.
President Joe Biden speaks to the media after voting in the 2024 presidential election, in New Castle on Oct. 28, 2024.
While a street or a building may be commonplace, our Joe has been heralded with everything from an ice cream flavor to a miniature planet.
Wikipedia actually has a page devoted to the topic, “List of things named after Joe Biden.”
Let’s start with the far reaches of the solar system and work our way to Delaware.
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From outer space to an opera and an ice cream flavor
In 2012, a newly discovered dwarf planet was named 2012 VP113. According to a report on Sci.News, it was beyond the previously known edge of our solar system. Because the name included “VP,” the astronomers who discovered it gave it the nickname “Biden” because Biden was vice president at the time.
Back on Earth, in Massachusetts, a chamber opera that debuted in 2009 was partly inspired by Biden, “Say it Ain’t So, Joe,” by Curtis K. Hughes, who was a professor of composition at Boston Conservatory at the time. The production was described by guerillaopera.org as “a light tragedy” and “an electrifying musical experience that explores the public personas of Sarah Palin and Joe Biden through the lens of the public broadcast of the 2008 Vice Presidential debate.”
On to upstate New York in 2017: Before Biden spoke at the Cornell University Senior Convocation, the university’s dairy named a chocolate chip vanilla ice cream “Big Red, White and Biden” in his honor after researching his favorite flavor. According to a PBS News report, a cone with his namesake treat was presented to him onstage at the conclusion of his address and he described it as “really good.”
Former Vice President Joe Biden enjoys Cornell Dairy’s Big Red, White and Biden ice cream after speaking at the Cornell University Senior Convocation in 2017.
Heading west to Montana, a fossil of a sea creature that had been discovered in 1988 was identified years later by paleontologists Christopher D. Whalen and Neil H. Landman of the American Museum of Natural History. They named it “Syllipsimopodi bideni” in honor of Biden because when they wrote their research paper, he had recently been inaugurated as president. The 328-million-year-old fossil, with traits of both an octopus and a squid, was identified as the first and only known vampyropod to possess 10 functional appendages, according to a Smithsonian Magazine report.
In Biden’s hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, drivers are familiar with tributes to the president. North Washington Avenue was renamed Joe Biden Way in 2020. A year later, Spruce Street was changed to Biden Street, and the Central Scranton Expressway was renamed President Biden Expressway.
Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden poses for a photograph with a supporter during a campaign stop at the Scranton Cultural Center on October 23, 2019 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Biden has been a frontrunner for the candidacy but Elizabeth Warren has been gaining in recent polls.
In Washington, D.C., the University of Pennsylvania established the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in 2017, after Biden had served as vice president for eight years.
What’s named after Joe Biden in Delaware?
And finally, in Delaware, one of the first places named in honor of Biden was recently reopened.
The Biden Environmental Center at Cape Henlopen State Park was named in 1998 after then-Sen. Biden for his efforts to turn the former U.S. Navy Reserve training facility and surrounding land into part of the state park for educational programs, training, retreats and other events.
Built in the early 1960s, the building recently received a $15 million makeover, with renovations to modernize it and bring it up to the standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
At the rededication ceremony Dec. 13, the special guest was the president’s daughter, Ashley Biden.
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In 2011, the Amtrak and SEPTA Regional Railroad Station in Wilmington was renamed the Joseph R. Biden Jr. Railroad Station when he was a senator because he was a champion of rail travel, famously using the railroad to commute to work each day from Delaware to Washington.
Former Vice President Joe Biden walks through the Wilmington train station on Thursday, April 25, 2019.
In 2017, the pool in Brown-Burton-Winchester Park was renamed the Joseph R. Biden Jr. Aquatic Center, formerly Prices Run Pool. Biden was a lifeguard there in 1962 and said the experience helped shape his perspective on race relations, according to a Delaware Online story.
Also in 2017, Biden collaborated with his alma mater to establish the Biden Institute at the University of Delaware. The university’s “UDaily” website said, “Biden will serve as the founding chair of … a new research and policy center focused on developing public policy solutions on issues ranging from economic reform and environmental sustainability to civil rights, criminal justice, women’s rights and more. The institute will also convene thought leaders on the most important issues of the day.”
The university renamed its entire public policy school the Joseph R. Biden Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration one year later.
In 2018, the state Legislature renamed the Delaware Welcome Center on I-95 to the Biden Welcome Center after Joe Biden and his family for their service to Delaware and the nation.
Former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during a ceremony renaming the Delaware Welcome Center to the Biden Welcome Center in 2018.
That’s the list, hopefully, of the most notable things named after Joe Biden, but what else will be named after Delaware’s most famous resident?
Of course, there will a presidential library, but mums the word so far on where it will be built.
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Our research didn’t uncover any other plans, at least by the deadline for this report, after calls and emails made to certain schools and institutions in the state with a Biden connection.
Most responses echoed the statement of 8th District Sen. David Sokola, the president pro tem of the Delaware Senate, who said, “Of course, at some point, we’ll be considering meaningful ways to honor President Biden in the First State, but those discussions might be a little premature at this point in time.”
Sokola said Biden “has worked hard to lift up working people across our state and country, and the best way we know to honor him – and to deliver on what Delawareans want – is to roll up our sleeves and get to work on a robust agenda that lowers costs for working families, improves health care outcomes, better compensates our educators, and charts a course of prosperity for all.”
But, hey, the least we could do is get started on that ice cream flavor here in Delaware to top the one at Cornell University.
Reach reporter Ben Mace at rmace@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: What’s named for Joe Biden? A dwarf planet, ice cream, opera and more