When zoos and aquariums hold contests to name a baby animal, it generally leads to a flood of cute ideas. When a company holds one, looking to drum up publicity for a new product, it can quickly become not so cute.

Mountain Dew tried this recently, asking people to name a new green apple-­infused flavor, and it went so horribly wrong – “Diabeetus” was on top at one point – that the firm tweeted that it had “lost to the Internet.”

Now a North Shore Episcopal parish is holding a naming contest for something far more solemn than a ­baby penguin or a soft drink: Its members are looking for a name for their church, and they have opened the contest to anyone with an idea.

The New Church of the North Shore – that’s the working title – is the result of a merger of Calvary Episcopal Church in Danvers and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Peabody.

Rather than play the hyphenation game, the new church has decided that when the two congregations worship together for the first time on Nov. 4, it should be under an entirely new name.

“It’s exciting, and people are coming up with wonderful, creative names,” said Fran Weil, chairwoman of the naming subcommittee. “We’ve seen some traditional names, like saints, but also names that are more contemporary and use words like ‘faith’ and ‘unity.’ We want everyone to have an open mind about what they can submit.”

Online entries must be submitted by noon Sept. 23 at http://goo.gl/ORZNy.