What Was Your Dog's Original Name?

[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

[Jessika]

I thought he was Batman

Oh well, that too. That's what the breeder had named him! So I guess he has two first names!

[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.

[BitsyNaceyDog]

We named Bitsy from a Puppy, that's been her only name.

Charlie was named Shorty when we got him, it didn't fit him whatsoever.

Buster came with his name, we kept it because it fit him so well and we had other obstacles to overcome with him, we didn't need to add a name change to it.

Nacey came with her name, it's different and we really like it, also it fits her well. A few people I know didn't like the name Nacey and tried to convince us to chance it to Lacey, but that didn't fit her. She's our dog and if other people don't like her name that's too bad.

Nova was roughly 9 months old when we found her. We never found out what her original name was.

[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.

[tricollie4me]

Although we adopted Bijou as a pup from the shelter when she was about 14 weeks old, she had never been named. So she's always just been our Bijou!

[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.

[tikeyas_mom]

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

Oscars was Male #4.. (Breeder)

Tikeya was nameless. (Breeder)

[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.