Why is the Canadian one-dollar coin called the loonie?

The loonie is the colloquial name for the Canadian one-dollar coin, introduced on June 30, 1987 to replace the one-dollar bank note. The name comes from the common loon (Gavia immer) depicted on the reverse, designed by Manitoba wildlife artist Robert-Ralph Carmichael. The original master die was lost in transit between the Royal Canadian Mint in Ottawa and the production facility in Winnipeg, requiring the loon to replace the originally planned voyageur design at the last moment.

The loonie is struck from aureate, a brass-coloured alloy of copper and nickel that gives the coin its distinctive gold colour. It is 11-sided rather than circular, weighs 6.27 grams, and measures 26.5 millimetres across. The non-circular shape lets visually impaired Canadians distinguish the coin by touch from other denominations.

The coin generated immediate cultural traction. The Bank of Canada removed the one-dollar bank note from circulation by 1989. The nickname loonie became a commercial brand in its own right, used for the Canadian dollar in financial media, the LOONIE Index of foreign-exchange parity, and the Toronto-based Hockey Hall of Fame's Lucky Loonie tradition begun in Salt Lake City 2002 (when Canadian icemaker Trent Evans buried a loonie under centre ice and Canada won both Olympic hockey golds).

The Royal Canadian Mint has issued more than 50 commemorative loonie designs, including coins for the 1992 125th anniversary of Confederation, the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, the 2017 sesquicentennial, the 2018 fiftieth anniversary of the Trudeau government, and the 2019 fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall riots with the rainbow Equality coin. Two-dollar coins (toonies) followed in 1996, completing the modern Canadian circulating coin set.