What's In A Name?

[BOBS DAD]

Why are so many dogs named Sadie???

I asked today's DOTD... but she didn't know. I mean, do a lot of dogs just look like a "Sadie"? My brother had a dog named Sadie. I see and hear a lot of people call their dogs, "Here Sadie". Some are named Sadie here on PT. Do you think Sadie is the most popular dog name? Or is it Ginger or maybe Max???

Sadie reminds me of a tough old pioneer lady. Strong but pretty - in her own right. Took her family across the Sierra and settled in CA. I found a site which listed the top 6000 dog names in the U.S. (voted by their users). It says Rocky, Lily and Amber are the top three. Rocky - maybe... but Lily and Amber??? I went to school with them!!! And some of the names in the top 50 - I don't know about. Max, Princess, Duke - OK, but Hermione, Jasmine and Mackenzie??? Really? Can you just hear someone calling "Hermione, Come here Hermione"? How do you even say that anyway "Her-mee-own", "Her-my-own-ee"...

Now what happened to the good ol' days, when men were men and women were women and you know - dogs were dogs... and you could tell who was being called "just by their name". If I heard someone call, "Rex, come here... your dinner is ready" - I knew it was a dog. "Sally, time to come home" and a pretty young lady would leave the crowd. But what could you expect if someone called out, "Mackenzie"??? Apparently, anyone or everyone might have to leave?

What ever happened to King, Rex or Molly. When I was a kid, everybody had a dog named Molly. And you could tell people's social status and position by their dog and it's name. Middle class, blue collar people had Colllies, Beagles, Labs and Mutts. They gave them names like Blackie (creative for a dark,almost all black dog), Peppy (aka hyper), Molly (traditional) and Shaggy (reserved for dogs with hair longer than an inch). Rich people had Poodles, Chihuahuas and Pugs... then a came along a group of really girly yappers that nobody recognized and had names that were hard to pronounce - Pomeranians, Pekingeses and Shih Tzus. They had names like Fifi, Fufu and Princess. Poor People had lots of hounds (mixes), bulldogs and a variety of mongrels. All with plain names like Jack, Max and Blue. Then there were the hoods - "Gangstars" today. They had the greatest dogs. Doberman Pinschers, Rottweilers, German Shephards, and Boxers and any mixture of the before mentioned. They had "junkyard dog" reputations and were proud of them. They spent a lot of money on their dogs appearances getting their ears pinned, tails docked and collars with big garish metal spikes or rhinestones. They had names like King, Prince, Rex and Killer. They always had their dogs off leash and you would walk a mile out of your way to get home and avoid them.

Those were the days!!! Now I am sooo confused!!!

[Karen]

Hermoine is a main charater in the Harry Potter series - the smart girl who is one of Harry's best friends. Her name is pronounced HerMOYnee.

Sadie, of course, rhymes with Lady, and is a good name to call out - two syllables, ends in eeee. So a simple choice for a dog name, and I don' know any human girls named Sadie, so that's better than some names.

[shihtzulover850]

I named my dog snuggles. Two of my cousins have dogs named snow and snowball. I have another cousin with a great dane named audrey I like that one.

[BC_MoM]

hehe.. My two have classical names.. Mickey and Molly. Those are the kind of names I love. I don't like and would NEVER name a dog names like Bullet, Snooker, Buttons, Mojo, etc..

[IRescue452]

I named mine Autumn, which is close to Amber. I guess its all a preference for people. Obviously you prefer traditional names. I hate them, no Princess/Prince, Max, Rex, Tobey, Sadie, Missy, or Molly here.
I also really dislike names that are for the animal's colour. Stripe, Blackie, Spot, Midnight- these to me are the least creative names. I must admit Autumn could stand for her colour, but I picked the name before I even had the dog because I liked the name first.
I don't mind dogs having human names or visa versa, its all in the demographics whether or not the area you live in uses the name more for dogs or people.
I like random names. I've got pets names Requiem, Epitaph, Morty, Depot, Tony, Gull, Angel, Mrs. Nesbet, Brillo, Caddis, Aphid, Othello, Sonny, and Autumn. Nothing really matches, I don't really have "cute" little sets of names.

[Samantha Puppy]

Actually, Hermione is pronounced "her-MY-uh-nee".

I like human names for animals. My baby girl is Samantha.

[Glacier]

I don't get to name most of my dogs. They all tend to arrive here with names and usually they know them so I don't change them.

Most mushers give their litters theme names. My Sundin comes from a litter all named after Toronto Maple Leaf players. Pingo's litter was all named after Yukon geological features. Paxil's litter is all named after anti-depressants! Sleet are all some form of weather.

Stuart likes First Nations names--Muskwa and Heyoka are dogs he named. I named Earle after my other obsession, Steve Earle!

Deuce arrived here named Bandit, but I already had a Bandit. Calling him Two just didn't work so he became Deuce!

When I was a kid, my Mom had a little terrier named Babes! My Dad always refused to call her if there was anyone around....picture a very tall man wandering around calling "Come here Babes!"...ROFL!!

[Kfamr]

It's all in personal preference.

I generally don't hear, or don't recall ever hearing, someone calling their kid.."HERE SADIE, COME HERE SADIE, HERE GIRL!" and am usually able to distinguish as to wether or not someone's calling their dog or a human.

My mom had a Saint Benard growing up named Barney. Dad had a Doxie named Peppy. NEVER would I name a dog either of those, nothing wrong with em... just not my personal preference!


I notice a lot of owners with more unique/different dog names rarely actually call their dog by their full name. Mine for example... Simba is Sim, Kiara is Ki or Kiki, and Nala is Horse. Nala's name doesn't fit in this, but I generally like names that can be shortened to a nickname. When recalling my dogs or telling them do to a command I usually use their full name.

A few names I'd like to use in the future...
Mufasa & Sarabi.

Mu (moo) & Bibi (beebee) for short.

[joanofark]

I didn’t have a lot of say when we got Duke, so I don't know where his name came from. Hobo, was picked by me. We just though it was cute (). And Ace's name is a Nickname for one of my dad's favorite Ultimate Fighters . But we usually we like to keep names that are short. Only one or two syllables.

So I guess you could say be don't have human names. And they're just plain ol’ ones like Jack, Max and Blue.

Future names for me might be Aslan (For a male cat). Lmbo, get it? From the Narnia series??

[BOBS DAD]

I didn’t have a lot of say when we got Duke, so I don't know where his name came from. Hobo, was picked by me. We just though it was cute (). And Ace's name is a Nickname for one of my dad's favorite Ultimate Fighters . But we usually we like to keep names that are short. Only one or two syllables.

So I guess you could say be don't have human names. And they're just plain ol’ ones like Jack, Max and Blue.

Future names for me might be Aslan (For a male cat). Lmbo, get it? From the Narnia series??

YES... I like those! (Not that I "don't" like all of the pets, their humans and their names here). Yer critters would have fit right in to my ol' neighborhood!!!

[ParNone]

Great post Bob's Dad!

Whenever I hear the name Sadie, I think of Barbra Streisand and Funny Girl... "Sadie, Sadie Married Lady"... 20 or 30 yrs ago, Barb had a poodle named Sadie, who adorned the cover of one of her Albums. So maybe Barb started the trend.

I like to ponder people's choices in names and breeds and what it says about them too. I notice a lot of people like to name their dogs "people names". But I figure having a dog is the perfect chance to be creative and not worry that the other dogs will tease them about their name.

Wouldn't you know though that when I named Maddie, Madison, after the mermaid in Splash, thinking I'd picked something unique, it turns out that now, every other lil' girl seems to be named Madison.

I don't think I have to worry so much about running into a slew of kids named Murph, Oz or Gulliver, but they're gaining in popularity amongst pet names, especially Murph. Although his full name is McMurphy, which is still somewhat unique. Because of Wizard of Oz and Ozzy Osbourne, I guess Oz never really had much of a chance at being unique. But you'd think I'd have had a shot with Gulliver. But dang if I haven't run into 3 or 4 puppies named Gulliver in the last 2 weeks. Ah well, I guess you just gotta name'em what sounds good to you and not worry about the rest.

Anywho, I loved reading your post. Very well written.

Par...

[Uabassoon]

According to listings on Dogster these are the top ten female dog names.

Lucy
Molly
Daisy
Maggie
Bella
Chloe
Sadie
Bailey
Zoe
Lola

Here are the top 10 male dog names.
Max
Buddy
Jake
Bailey
Charlie
Rocky
Toby
Jack
Buster
Oscar

[Uabassoon]

I like to give my pets names that aren't very common. I know that it doesn't really matter, but I think I feel like there name is special if I give them something that isn't very common. Or maybe I'm just bitter because I have a very common name!

[BOBS DAD]

I like to ponder people's choices in names and breeds and what it says about them too. I notice a lot of people like to name their dogs "people names". But I figure having a dog is the perfect chance to be creative and not worry that the other dogs will tease them about their name.

THAT... is a very funny line!!!

[Cincy'sMom]

Why Sadie?

Well, for us, before we ever went to meet our baby girl, we had narrowed it down to two names, Sadie, after my husband's neighbor's dog growing up, and Panada, becuase she was black and white. After meeting her, Sadie fit so much better (even before I knew it meant princess!). IT wasn't until a year or so later I relaized every black lab mix was named Sadie!!

Cincy is our most unusaly name of the three, but she was named for the UNiveristy of Cincinnati, where my husband and I met.

Spot, well you just don't get much more classic then that!!