Stan is a Tyrannosaurus rex. He's been dead for quite a few millennia, like most (if not all) of his kind. His birth name wasn't Stan, but if he ever really had a name, his walnut-sized brain probably quickly forgot it in favor of "Kill! Eat! Kill!" The name Stan was given to him by the paleontologist who discovered his fossilized remains. This paleontologist's name was, surprisingly enough, Stan. The reason I know of this beautiful story is that the Fisher Science Center at Simon's Rock College contains a copy of Stan's skull in the lobby, thanks to the efforts of one enthusiastic and perhaps over-zealous student who attended a couple years ago. (That guy was a freak, but pretty cool once you got to know him.) For those of you who are interested in how the story of Stan ended, a small hole in the back of Stan's skull suggests that he met a tragic end when another dinosaur bit him in the head.