Dog names

[Smilla]

I'm really enjoying the book I'm currently reading, "I Capture the Castle", by Dodie Smith (see my post under Dog General/What's Your Favorite Dog Book?). As a result, I might suggest "Heloise" to my husband as a name for our future dog.

My husband likes the name Sikan, from the excellent film "My Life as a Dog". Anyone here ever see it?

[AdoreMyDogs]

Dukiemom,

Another weather related name....about a year ago at the vet. there was this lady with a lil kitten in a carrier. She had weather names for all her animals too, she decided to name this lil kitty Twister. I thought that was a great name for a cat or a super active dog.

[AdoreMyDogs]

Hi! I just remembered another funny name I heard...a co-worker at the vet I worked at when I was in high school had a little brother with a long hair doxy. He named him Link. I thought that was a great name, he named it after some video game character, but how fitting for a doxy...Link

[ktreva52]

We used to have a Cattle Dog Mix named Lacey Louise Upson. Lacey was her name when we got her and it got lengthened when she turned out to be a mischevious rascal. She's gone to the Rainbow Bridge. Our next dog was a shelter dog who was very shy and got the name Shiloh because of that. Full name: Shiloh Esther Upson (Esther was my grandmother's name and it just fits Shi), she's still around and 11.5 years old. Then we had a Cattle Dog named Smokey because he was a smokey-blue, a Cattle Dog named Justin because his parents were named for the boots, Smokey and Justin have moved to other homes. I had a JRT named k'Treva Askeveron Upson (gone to the Rainbow Bridge) after books by Mercedes Lackey. My next JRT will have the name Ellysium, call name Lys (lease), just because I like the sound of that name. I try all names outloud because if I ever take a dog into the obedience ring I want something that will not start the watchers laughing (like BoBo which was D'Artagnon's original name, but he's one of the cats. The other cat is named Monocle because she has a gray spot around her eye that looked like a monocle). I think names have power, so if you want a calmer dog, I don't recommend giving it an active name.

[carrie]

I can empathise with trying out names that aren't too embarrassing to call out in public! Guide Dogs names each litter by consecutive letters of the alphabet. When you've got the second litter of the year with the letter U to name and there are seven pups some pretty weird named dogs arrived at training. Try calling,"Ursula!" to a black 100lb GSD in a crowded park. "Ulna" (!) was another one sure to get weird looks and "Yuko" and "Prudence" turned heads too.

[BoxerLover]

-------------------My pets-------------------
Nikki - because I had a dream of a boxer named Nikki.
Samantha - because the dog that we were going to get was named Samantha.
Kitty - because that was the only thing he came to.
Koko - he's dark brown.
Smokey - he was smoky gray
Smokey2 - we were sad about losing Smokey1
-------------Nikki's Puppies-----------------

Brooke - my Jeff gordon fanatic friend named her after Jeff Gordon's wife.
Dotty - My Grandma named her; she had a spot on her head.
Buddy - My cousin namedhim; he looked like one.
Saide - we always wanted to name a dog Saide
Petey - My friend Gabby named her; named after her deceased dog.
Roxy - My friend Kara named her; named after her favorite clothes brand.

[This message has been edited by BoxerLover (edited November 14, 2000).]

[BoxerLover]

My friend named her male dog Polly because they found him at a store called Polly's

[carrie]

Cornwall's trademark image is of the stacks of the old tin mines, sounds awful but they are really beautiful structures. We named a litter of pups after the old local mines. Each mine is named Wheal----. So we had Prosper, Prudence, Peter, Jane, Honey and, you want an embarassing name to call out in public try this one, Kitty.

[Jenn]

When we got our Weimaraner, my husband wanted to name her something Native American. The first name he came up with was Suix however my mother's name is Sue, could you imagine me telling her what we named our dog? So he asked his friends and they came up with Bailey, Jack, Daniels, Whiskey, see a theme here? So we nixed those. Since he wanted a Native American name I asked what type of things are in the Dakotas. He liked Dakota, so that is her name....Dakota. It is good!

Originally posted by lhg0962:
I'm curious about how you all decided what to name your dogs. We always strive for something unique when we get a new animal in our household.
Honey - so named because of her color as well as the fact that her mom was "Johnston's Brown Sugar". Couldn't name her Ginger because my sister had already named her beagle that one.
Lilly - because one of my daughter's favorite characaters in a book when she was young was "Lilly" from Lilly and the Purple Plastic Purse.
Mimi - don't know, but we liked it!
Phoebe and Evelyn - our two female hamsters.

[lhg0962]

I need to print all these great ideas off and put them in my file cabinet for future reference! My mom is getting a new Boston Terrier puppy and his name will be "Mr. Darcy" from Pride and Predjudice. She is so excited about getting him. He is now three weeks old!

[shais_mom]

My greyhound was called Tara at the Humane Society, and I didn't like that. I was going to call her Lady b/c she was so Ladylike, but that was too plain. My sister thought I should call her Bambi, b/c she looks like a deer.
I decided on Shaianne, spelled with an S b/c my name starts with an S.
My sister has a lab mix name Scooby Doo, b/c my 3 year old nephew said "I want a black boy puppy names Scooby Doo!"
Just goes to show Scooby is a Classic!!!
My aunt has had 2 lab mixes one was named Corey Bear, the new one is Katie.

[conniff11]

I have a small Baby Names book i use to pick names for my animals...

"Nika": means victory (she was found with her 7 siblings in the woods when they were 3 days old)

"Hoshi": means star in Japanese. she is all white with blue eyes that *sparkle*

"Billie": means strong-willed. (she was dumbed along with her 5 puppies in a small carrier. i had never seen such a mess. Billie was so skinny but her puppies were in excellent health!)

and then we have "Gypsy"...When i took her mom in to foster, she was first named Jackie (she had one white front paw so it was after Micheal Jackson) and then when we adopted her my sister-in-law had a fit about the dog having *her* name. so, she became Gypsy just because i liked the name and she is a terrier mix and looks like a gypsy!! has a bad-hair-day everyday.
that is how we came up with the dogs' names.
the cats have all just been named and all start with "S". we have a "Summer"(which i thought would be a *calm* name...boy was i wrong!), "Sillie"(as we were bringing her home my husband said "you're a silly looking kitten...) and "Samir", which Samir was picked out of the baby book: means partner.

My rats are Tai (I loved that name) and Tres, which is the spanish word for "3" (she is my third rat and i got her at a pet store on 3rd st.) My first rat was "Tara"...spell it backwards...a rat!

this was fun!

When i foster, i name the foster *kids* after family members...ha! the only one that has ever gotten bent out of shape was my sister-in-law!!!!

[Daisy's Mom]

Daisy was named by my mother who said the name seemed to fit our droopy little basset puppy just fine. It also rhymes with lazy with totally fits her!! She has about 10 nicknames last time we counted, but her most common ones are Daze, Lil' Roo (because if you ever heard a basset bark, it sounds exactly like a low "Rooo roooo!") and Bubboo Gizzoos (puppy kisses in baby talk! She loves giving kisses!)

[HowieDawn]

Gizmo is my black and white shih tzu. She got her name from Gremlins. She looks like a little mogwhy (sp?)

[mugsy]

Our 5 are:
Sox: named after the White Sox
Tigger: because I love Tigger and he actually bounces like Tigger!
Jasmine: It took us 3 days, but my husband just said...Jasmine...and it stuck
Shawna: I teach at Shawnee Middle School and my husband said he wasn't going to have a dog named Shawnee so we decided on Shawna and my assistant principal told me to add the middle initial "E" so she is Shawna E.
George: because my husband said the only name for him was George...if there ever was a perfect name for a dog George is it for him.
By the way....this is a great idea for a topic!