What Was Your Dog's Original Name?

Molli's original name was Bella. I got her from my friend... she was angry I changed Molli's name. :rolleyes: I thought it was an ok name... but I like Molli better, and it suits her more.

Sam's name was creek. I thought that was a weird name. It's because he had a white strip going down his back and they said it looked like a creek. He doesn't even have that stripe any more.

Sylvia and Harley didn't have names so those are their original names.

We didn't name Morty. The foster Mom did and we liked it and he already answered to it.

Jimmy was being called Brownie by my friend's Grandpa and people in the neighborhood. No one owned him and he didn't answer to it so we changed it.

We have a sort of tradition here.
All our lives both my husband and I aquired dogs either from shelters or were passed off by people we knew who didn't want them. Except Shadow, who followed Dean home as a puppy, and Barney somehow ended up in my dad's pickup truck.

But now that we're together, and all of our dogs come from rescues, we've adopted a rule for naming them. It's a tradition that began with Tok, the first rescue. The rule is, they keep their origional name until adoption is final (most of ours were fosters who we decided to keep), when we know they're here to stay and we have some idea of their personality. Then, in Tok's honor, all the names should start with the letter "T" and should be from one of the various native Alaskan languages. It's a big deal here, as if they earn their new name, and we spend a lot of time and sometimes money researching names.

Tok was once a Marble. He was rescued out of Chena Hot Springs, Alaska. He is named for Tok, Alaska, which is where the Tok river meets another river. The name is Athabascan most likely meaning "Peaceful meeting". Tok was so pleasent and sweet, that Peaceful just fit, and the kooky little name worked very well.

Tikaani was originally Hunter. For a prissy little gal like herself that name was all wrong. She's a sneaky little devil, sly, and quick. She's too smart for her own good, and sometimes a bit jumpy. The sound of the name fit her personality, and the meaning fit her sleek body and energy level. It's an Athabascan word for a female wolf.

Teekan was originally Gage. Gage wasn't bad really, but a new life here without his new name just didn't seem right. He was a foster up until very recently when we lost Tok. We decided he'd done so well here and Tikaani was so sad over Tok, that we should make it official. He's a big clumsy puppy of 105 lbs, with a very distinct mask. He's young and silly but shy. The name just seemed to click, and the translation works well too. It's Athabascan for a male wolf.

Taku was the only other rescue to be named under this rule of ours so far. But what his original name was no one knows. His was picked up by AC and delivered to the GWRescue, very sick and in pain. No one ever tried to claim him, and he was flown to us to be fostered. Because of his very rare pedigree (apparently arctic wolf), his name was easy to pick out. In sound and meaning, the Inuit word Taku means northern bound. It's also a river in Alaska, but since you'd expect to find such an animal only in the most northern territory, it seemed perfect. He's now in a sanctuary, and still keeps this name. He made the most progress with us of any of our rescues, even though he was only a foster. We're proud of him, so I still brag. He's now the ambassador at the sanctuary, the one animal visitors can meet face to face. We're going to visit him again this summer, so I'm very excited.


Eventually, sooner than later, we'll run out of native "T" words to fit these guys. Until then the rule stands. New life, new name, after Tok; all t's of a native language.

Babys name used to be Roxy before she came to me..

Oscars was Male #4.. (Breeder)

Tikeya was nameless. (Breeder)

Cody was gotten as a wee puppy, so that was his only name. Logan was "Rocky" named by her original owners. I had told our PT Logan that my next dog would be named after her (my personal tribute to her)so that's how she was named. She responded to it instantly and it fits her.

perky was who knows what with her multiple previous owners
the shelter called her biscuit, we absolutly hated that name and went through pebbles, and roxy before we settled on Perky.

Happys name was Happy lol
Blairs name was Blair

Misty?, actually I have no idea what the breeder called her, I only heard a few of the names they called the pups, I did not hear Mistys.

Ripley's first 2 owners and the shelter called him Roscoe, we change it because when he heard that name he ran full speed in the opposite direction.

We got Star at 5 weeks old, we named her Blue Moon Star.
My RB Rosie was originally Elsa at the shelter. Pretty, but I liked Rosie better and it fit her personality.
Sherman was Sherman from the breeder, and he's such a Sherman. It's perfect for him. The breeder named him Destiny's Raise the Bar and they called him BarBoy till they settled on Sherman for a call name.
Speedo (remember him?) was first named Cloud. I called him Prince for a while, then my husband picked Speedo. It fit his outgoing personality. Not sure if his new family renamed him.

Thank you Gina for sending me the link to this thread!! :) (I posted Zoee in the cat thread :eek:)

Zoee's name at the breeders was Bonnee. We changed it to Zoee and kept with the double E theme she had for the litter without even realizing it. :D

We have lots of new PTer's. So let's hear from you!! :)

Dukes name was Barry White! Hubby immediately changed it to Duke, after the Bloodhound from The Beverly Hillbillies. It definitely Suits him!:D

Spankys name was originally Tar Tar ! :eek: That's what the lady had been calling her until I got her.

Chopper's originally name was Miracle at the breeders. He was premature and they were unsure if he would survive as he was only 56 days duration and weighed 1.5 ounces.

I've never renamed any of mine because they didn't have former names because we either got them as pups or bred them ourselves.

The only one I can say anything about is our old Mist who I was going to call Holly but changed my mind and called her Mist which was much better in my opinion. I love that name. I was only 13 at the time. Holly certainly wouldn't appeal to me now for a Border Collie.

Rita's breeder was orignially going to keep her, but since we wanted her, we got to name her. Her original name was Lizzie. :)

I don't think Sadie's breeder had a name for her, I was too young to remember.

Lucy's original name was Shanie (ick) she had this name for the first 15 weeks of her life. She didn't know her name yet so it was ok to change it. She was a crazy and silly so I decided to call her Lucy it suites her very well.

Maggie came with the name Maggie I didn't like it that much but she responded to it well so it stayed Maggie. Now I couldn't imagine her being named anything else.

Gracie came with the name 247b-12 or something like that from the shelter lol. My friend helped me come up with her name on the phone and said how about Grace, I like two syllable so I named her Gracie.

Zoe (R.I.P) well I have no idea of what her name was but when we found her I went on some doggie name websites and named her the one that she responded the best to. Keep in mind that I was only 11 or 12 years old at the time. lol

Happy-Happy

Misty-unknown

Electra-Electra

Rusty-Cujo

Perky-Biscuit

Ripley-Roscoe

Blair-Blair