Hey all,
My dog died a year ago and my family has decided it’s time to have a new puppy (not that I’m there to enjoy it, argh)…so with 6 daughters in the family you can imagine that the naming battle has begun!
We are most likely getting this one:
but nothing is 100% certain (Mom and 1 sister are going to see it tomorrow).
But the naming battle has got me thinking, how did you all name your dogs?
I just looked at him and his name floated out of the ether.
[QUOTE=LexInVA;6667008]
I just looked at him and his name floated out of the ether.[/QUOTE]
Pretty much this. I looked at him and thought “That dog’s name is Arlo.” And lo, it was. All of mine have pretty much worked that way. It’s so nice of the ether to tell us what it knows. 
I am in the habit of naming my critters after names of places/towns. I either get out a map and poke around trying on different names or I name them after a place that is special to me. Mom used to name her horses either after names of towns in WY (where she’s from) or after characters in Westerns.
I grew up going to Cheyenne Frontier Days and always hoped some day I’d be competing there…so I have a Cheyenne (horse). My dog is named after a town I used to jog to when I lived in Italy (Giais).
Our newest addition, a standard poodle, was named by my husband. Poodle is named Roger. LOL <—and that’s why. It makes us laugh. He is totally a Roger btw. We had other names that we tried on him including Jackson (after Jackson Hole, WY) and Molson (fave beer), but Roger stuck.
Good luck!
Welllll… I’ll just give a few examples:
Noodles-our piebald mini dachshund. I couldn’t name her Pasta, so Noodles it was/is. 
George-as in George the Basset. Named after my late father because not only did he love dogs, he and George the Basset share the same fondness for frequent naps.
Statia-DH’s poodle mix. We lived on St. Eustatius (“Statia”) in the Caribbean, poodle is the color of beach sand, ergo her name.
Oscar-terrier mix. His pound name was Elvis and that didn’t work for us. “Oscar” came out of the air, where he is usually “boinging”.
All pound dogs get re-named…they lose their “prison” names once we adopt them.
Oh, and the barn cats? Ummm, Black Kitty, Little Black Kitty, Little Gray Kitty, Big Gray Kitty. Took a lot of thought for those.
My dog was a rescue who was a mess when we got him. His name was Bartok but we were calling him Buddy until we found a better name. My friend looked at him and said that he was now “Living the life of Riley” - so Reilly it is. And it fits him perfectly.
His AKC registered name is Life of Reilly
We foster dogs and have had a few of our own…
We had a Cessna, because her ears were so big she looked like she could fly. Currently we have a Taner’liq (which is little bear in inuit), although hes not that fuzzy, but it just stuck.
Our dog was a rescue - and the shelter called her Widget. We threw around a few other names, but, in the end, she just looked like a Widget…so it stuck
Murphy only responded to Murphy out of the top 10 names we narrowed it down to and Dexter was really curious and intelligent so I named him after Dexter’s Laboratory. At the end of the day Murphy was Murph 100% of the time and Dexter is Dex 75% of the time. I try to pick names where I won’t hate the inevitable nickname that arises.
Oscar got voted on at a party. I got Andrew already named, but his previous owner had named him after the dog in “Mary Poppins”. (True story - our vet loved Andrew the dog and named his firstborn son after him!)
Simon also came to us with a name he knew. Lance was originally named Max by the rescue, but DH had never had a dog he got to name, so we changed it. He is named after Lance Armstrong and no, after 6 years we are not changing the dog’s name!
For one dog, i had just been scuba certified right before I adopted him so it seemed like a cute name. Of course the dog hates water. Sigh.
MrB’s dog is named after a baseball player he likes.
Our first dog together was a foster at first… She has two names, Fifer and Piper, because he and i still can’t agree on it!
Sierra was a foster at first as well, and i thought the name was soft and gentle like her. It was between that and Sienna but i kept calling her Sierra. Her name had been Lucky… and as a dog who spent her first two years chained to a tree then dumped at animal control, i just couldn’t grasp that name choice!
Copper was an owner surrender with that name and it fit him well (red tri aussie). He knew the name and i liked it fine enough.
Lulu, poodley thing, was another dog that started out as a foster… (sensing a pattern here) i wanted to give her a froufy name just as a silly thing, since it’d “only be a temporary foster name”… yeah. And it is a ridiculous name, but i love it for her. Plus you can say it’s short for lucifer, or Loser. Or a spin off a Disney villain, Luella Deville. Or Screw Loose. Hehe. Her name from the owner who surrendered her was Rexy, and i just don’t care for it for her. All I can think of is sexy rexy and that’s not right.
Naming foster dogs is part of the fun! I’ve named about 170 and it’s usually fairly easy. I’m one who does not like human names for pets (“Katie peed on the carpet again” Is just weird to me), so that influences it. Usually I follow an impression or particular sound i like for that dog. We have a weim foster right now who is huge, dark silver/blue colored, and very handsome. I was thinking of mountain names, or something stone like. Mount Rushmore came to mind, so he’s Rushmore.
I also have a list going if I draw a blank!
[QUOTE=LexInVA;6667008]
I just looked at him and his name floated out of the ether.[/QUOTE]
Kinda the same for my dog…her name is Sadie (I know, I know…common as can be) but her personality fits what I think a Sadie should be. I didn’t labor over picking her name at all.
I named a cat though after a special horse I rode as a kid…the horse was very vocal. My cat is super vocal, so I named him Benny in honor of the horse. If that helps at all.
Cute pup.
SP #1 is named Forest after the town where he was born. It just fits. He is a bit of a Forrest Gump.
SP #2 is named Phoebe. We wanted something girly for her. She is truly a happy, happy, bouncy, cheerleader-wannabe.
SP #3 is a rescue that came with the name Roxy (although her microchip papers say Lulu). She answers to Roxy, so that’s what we stayed with.
I have Irish Wolfhounds, and have followed the foxhound pack tradition, as do many IW breeders, of naming puppies with the first letter of their dam’s name. So Tulip’s puppies that I kept are Trillium, Tallulah, Taggerty, and Tallis. Valley’s puppies were Vale and Victoria (we call this one Tori). Valley’s dam was Viceroy. Jameson’s dam was Jasmine.
The local foxhound pack has some unusual names…Lawnmower, Carbomb, Yogurt. One of Yogurt’s puppies was called Yo-Yo Ma. On one hunt, he went missing, and another rider and I had to go back and look for him. We probably sounded odd riding through the woods and fields, calling “Here Yo-Yo Ma! Come on, Yo-Yo Ma! Where are you, Yo-Yo Ma”?
It does help keep track, mentally, of the pedigrees. Some letters are harder than others.
Other breeders use themes, ice cream flavors (i.e., Rocky Road), flowers, tennis players (McEnroe). Taggerty just bred a bitch whose owner has as a theme, old TV series. I want to use my system too if I get a bitch puppy from this litter. The bitch’s name is Nora. Anyone have any suggestions on female names starting with N from old TV series?
I knew one bitch whose registered name was “So and So’s Casual Affair”. Her call name was “Risky”.
[QUOTE=Houndhill;6667552]
Other breeders use themes, ice cream flavors (i.e., Rocky Road), flowers, tennis players (McEnroe). Taggerty just bred a bitch whose owner has as a theme, old TV series. I want to use my system too if I get a bitch puppy from this litter. The bitch’s name is Nora. Anyone have any suggestions on female names starting with N from old TV series?
I knew one bitch whose registered name was “So and So’s Casual Affair”. Her call name was “Risky”.[/QUOTE]
Define old.
I’m racking my brain because I like a challenge, but the only name I could come up with is Nancy…there was a character named Nancy on Roseanne.
[QUOTE=Houndhill;6667552]
Other breeders use themes, ice cream flavors (i.e., Rocky Road), flowers, tennis players (McEnroe). Taggerty just bred a bitch whose owner has as a theme, old TV series. I want to use my system too if I get a bitch puppy from this litter. The bitch’s name is Nora. Anyone have any suggestions on female names starting with N from old TV series?
I knew one bitch whose registered name was “So and So’s Casual Affair”. Her call name was “Risky”.[/QUOTE]
Natalie! From The Facts of Life.
I named my dog Zelda (red doberman) after Princess Zelda. She is the most researched, genetically tested and expensive (to buy and keep) dog I’ve ever owned, but is VERY high maitenance and princess-like so it turned out to be a bit prophetic. If I were superstitious, I would keep that in mind. Anyway, her registered name is the Legend of Zelda. I picked it because her sire, Ch. Montwood’s Abraham Lincoln had “Linc” for a call name (and Linc is the name of the boy from the game). Also because I really enjoyed playing the Legend of Zelda as a kid (I like video games, although I never play them anymore).
Finally her mom was “Crystal,” (Mac’s Crystal Vision v. Hart) and crystals play an integral roll in the Zelda games.
A little bit too much thought maybe went into that one…
Sinte’ (red doberman) is named Sinte’ because he is a rescue and already knew his name (Sinte’). It means “tail” in Lakota, btw. He is from Rapid City, SD, so it seemed fitting.
Babe (American Water Spaniel) was named after Babe Ruth. I didn’t name her, got her as an adult. Again, she knew her name.
Freckles (English Springer Spaniel) was named Freckles by my grandpa, even though she was my Christmas present. I assume he named her that based on her coat ticking.
Maggie (Am. W. S) I named myself–I was a little girl. I suppose I liked the name.
How I named my cats is better I think. Anyway, what name did you pick??
For my present dogs, Jake the doberman was originally called “Hercules” by his previous owner. I thought that was too long but didn’t want to change the sound too much. Jake sounds a bit like Herc.
Maggie the standard poodle - Maggie May was playing on the radio as I was driving home from picking her up.
Andy and Wylie the German shepherd brothers are named after to different Dufresnes - Andy Dufresne was the main character on The Shawshank Redemption and Wylie Dufresne is a TV chef. Andy and Wylie are both escape artists.
Pat the English setter was named after my grandfather’s Irish setter Pat.
Previous dogs, Grace was a doberman dumped near my farm. I had her just two weeks before my elderly dobe Simon died. She was put there by the grace of God so I wouldn’t be without a doberman.
Simon was named after a fictional intelligence officer Simon Illyan. He just looked like a spy.
Mike the German shepherd was just a Mike.
Kate the doberman/pointer cross was a red dog who reminded me of Katherine Hepburn - red headed and elegant when younger, shaky and still strong-willed when she got old.
Siddartha the Afghan hound was named after the incarnation of Buddha. This was a sighthound who would let squirrels eat from his food dish.
StG
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