BABY meerkats at Cotswold Wildlife Park have been given names by three Oxford Mail readers.

Moppy.com, Pumpkin and Carfax came face-to-face with the winners of our competition to name the three, which have all been adopted by the Oxford Mail.

Grace Davies, Emily Ward and Michelle Sewell met the meerkats at the park, near Burford, on Thursday and received a certificate and goody bag – including a soft meerkat toy.

The names were chosen by our readers in a public vote.

Three year-old Grace, from Kidlington, came up with the most popular name, Moppy.com, after combining her own nickname, Moppy, with the catchphrase ‘compare the meerkat.com’ from the television advert for online insurance price comparison site comparethemarket.com, which stars a meerkat named Aleksander Orlov.

Last month we reported visitors to the park were heading straight to the meerkat enclosure because of the popularity of the commercials.

Pumpkin was suggested by Emily, aged four, from Carterton.

She said: “I chose it because it is a cute name for a boy or girl – and because it's Halloween.”

Ms Sewell, 22, of Abingdon, chose Carfax because “Meerkats stand proud like Carfax Tower, and like to be the centre of attention.”

Grace’s grandmother, Fiona Burns, said: “Grace had a wonderful day. She was so happy to meet the meerkats.”

Emily’s mum Tammy Ward said: “Emily was really happy to meet Pumpkin. She had a lovely time.”

The Oxford Mail adopted four meerkats at the park to support conservation and breeding programmes. We named one Osney, after Osney Mead, in Oxford, the home of our head office.

Cotswold Wildlife Park spokesman Debbie Ryan said: “It was a fantastic day. All three of the winners were charming around the meerkats, who were on top form.