What Was Your Dog's Original Name?

[BC_MoM]

Mickey's name from his owners was Drew.
The rescue called him Bandit.
Now we call him Mickey.

Molly had no name with her owners, whoever they are.
The pound called her Marlie.
Now we call her Molly.

[sammy101]

Lucy had no name when we adopted her
The rescue we got Kodie from named him Bronco,then we re-named him Kodie because we didnt like Bronco that much

[Alysser]

DREW!?? LOL! Sorry, that doesn't fit him at all IMO

[lute]

Beanie was Rusty at the shelter.

Gracie was Wolfie until we found out she had no grace.

Jake was Male 2 at his breeder. i don't know if that qualifies as a name, but that's what they called him.

[poofy]

My sweet SAmmmyj was Rascal..which dont fit him at all..
and I name Yollie at 4 weeks..

[Jessika]

Charlie's original name was Mikey! UGH! I'm so glad I changed it!

[.sarah]

Charlie's original name was Mikey! UGH! I'm so glad I changed it!

I thought he was Batman

[pitc9]

Sierra was named by the rescue I adopted her from, her name was Kierra (something like that) it was pronounced with a rolling "R"
Buddy was named Barry at the shelter I adopted him from.

[gemini9961]

We got Sadie and Maggie as pups so those are their original names. Grant was named Grant at the shelter and we kept it. I tried to change it but hubby didn't like my names for him, they were too girly. Besides, Grant fits him.

[My Peanuts]

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.

[howl4metok]

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.

[Canis-Lupess]

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.

[3muttsandaboston]

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

[.sarah]

Mandy's name was Tess. I hated that name ... still do. Well, not the name, but it doesn't fit her.

Nova's name was Scout. I actually really like that name, but it is my friend's dog's name. Nova fits her better and I like the name better too. Though I could see myself naming a dog Scout in the future. I think it's a cute name.

Luka was Lulu. Gross gross gross! To me that name belongs on "foofy" little lap dogs, not a big goof like Luka! Luka fits her really well. To me the name is tomboy-ish, and she is really a big tomboy. I almost named her Luna to stick with the outer space theme, but it didn't fit her. Besides, Mandy isn't an outer space name and I doubt my next dog's name would have been even if Luka was Luna.

[pnance]

Hunter was Bam Bam at the rescue group.
Savannah was Anya from the person who rescued her. Nikka and Bear we kept the same.