Rename the Australian dollar the dollarydoo and the value of our struggling currency will instantly surge. That's the logic behind a petition to rename our currency after a Simpsons reference that has gained almost 50,000 signatures.

Your first response to this news was probably either "Hell yeah!" or "If this campaign is successful, I'm moving to Canada." Well, good luck, because firstly: Canada's dollar is nicknamed the loonie, which is on par with dollarydoo for absurdity.

And secondly: by historical standards, "dollarydoo" is not so bad. It's way less dumb that what Australia's currency might have been called.

RELATED:The surprising reason to be proud of Australia's banknotes

A major project in the early 1960s was the introduction of decimal currency in Australia, ditching the old pound that had been around since Federation. The big question was what to name this new currency.

A competition was launched to hear suggestions from the public — and soon proved why you should never ask for the public's suggestions on anything, ever. Their ludicrously Australian ideas included the oz, koala, emu, boomer, both kanga and roo, digger, zac (short for Anzac), kwid, dinkum and the ming (the nickname of then-Prime Minister Robert Menzies).

Imagine living in the dystopian true blue parallel universe where a pricey beer costs more than 10 kwid or where a decent coffee will relieve you of four dinkums. Shudder.

Frustrated with these crappy suggestions, the government announced the new currency would be called the royal. ("That'll cost ya 10 royals, mate!") Menzies was a proud monarchist, and then-Treasurer Harold Holt explained the name would "emphasise our link with the crown" and was "a dignified word with a pleasing sound".

It's true "royal" is a nice-sounding name for a currency. But it was a flagrant attempt to suck up to the English monarchy not to be outdone until Tony Abbott knighted Prince Philip, and the Australian public did not buy it.



Proposed design of the one royal note (Museum of Australian Currency Notes)

Just three months after announcing the Aussie royal, the government decided our currency would be the plain and simple dollar — which, by the way, derives from thaler, the name given to the coins minted from a silver mine in Joachimsthal, located in what is now the Czech Republic. FYI.