A Hobart City Council pool slide naming campaign has been deleted from Facebook after it appeared to have been hijacked by social media fans of Harambe memes.

The Doone Kennedy Hobart Aquatic Centre (DKHAC) ran a Facebook competition to name the water slide.

The centre ran a competition to name the new children's water slide. ( Supplied: Hobart Aquatic Centre )

One entry to call the slide "Harambe" — after the gorilla shot dead at the Cincinatti Zoo when a boy entered the enclosure earlier this year — won the contest with 280 likes.

The pool announced it would honour the winning name, noting that although the name Harambe was associated with a sad event, it should be considered in regards to its meaning in Swahili.

"'Harambe means working together, helping each other, caring and sharing in Swahili, and this is very much what we promote at the DKHAC," the pool's post said.

However, the posts were deleted soon after the winning name was announced.

Loading

A screenshot of the post was shared to social media site Reddit, with commenters speculating it had been deleted because "someone's embarrassed".

The comments also referred to the meme phenomenon that arose after the gorilla's death, which involved the Harambe being photoshopped into images with celebrities, and used in racist and ironic posts.

General Manager of the City of Hobart Nick Heath said the meaning of the name was important.

"We were keen to promote a new piece of children's play equipment in our leisure pool and for the public to feel some ownership of it, so we ran a naming competition," he said.

"We honoured the winning entry because the meaning behind the name aligned with the centre's commitment to community participation in aquatic and wellness activities.

"The competition was run in good faith, so it is unfortunate that what was intended to celebrate a popular new addition to the pool was hijacked by some."

The council is yet to say if the name will stay or go.