Akka was named after a character in The Wonderful Adventures of Nils, by the Nobel Prize-winning Swedish author Selma Lagerlof. In this book, a little boy named Nils shrinks to the size of a mouse, climbs on the back of a barnyard goose, and joins a flock of geese migrating over Sweden. The flock of geese are led by Akka, who is "the oldest, strongest and wisest of all the geese." Nils, Akka and the geese travel together for a full year of escapades with their animal friends. When Nils returns to human size, Akka asks him to remember always to save places for all the wild creatures.