How Do You Pick Your Pupīs Name?

[MartyH]

As much as I love reading, teaching and advising on Dog training, behavior and nutrition one thing that I have a personal interest in is how people choose their pupīs names.

for instance when I brought my pup she used to bounce like Tigger from Whinnie the Pooh and so the kids decided she should be called Tigger, I wasnīt overly keen on the idea at first, but eventually it gre on me and the name stuck, then to add to the humour my dog walking pal was a fan of Only Fools and Horses and named his alsation Trigger.

You can imagine the looks and the smiles when we were in the fields calling Tigger and Trigger!

What makes you name your dog, and how do you go about finding the name?

I look forward to your responses!

[CarolynInPEI]

When we adopted our dog Monty, his name was actually Vernon (because he was found in Vernon River by the PEI Humane Society). My father really wasn't a fan of that name so, since we lived in Monticello, Vernon became Monty!!

It was the perfect fit...Monty from Monticello!

[glasslass]

We were in high school during the 60s when Kennedy was in the White House. His small son was called John-John by the press. It got to be a fad for the girls to nickname their boyfriends with double hyphenated names like Tom-Tom, etc. As a joke, I called my now-hubby (Dennis) Den-Den. He didn't like it. I got my puppy about that time and gave the name to him. Our first Den-Den was stolen in Georgia. We got Den-Den Too in South Carolina. He lived 13 years. Then we got Den-Den 3 (lived 18 years) and now have Den-Den 4 (currently 10 years). They have all been white poodles, but with totally individual personalities. It's just comforting to have a Den-Den. I can distinctly see similarities because of the breed, and the differences in personality really stand out. We call him by other nicknames as well, like Punkie and Bubby.

Corky is a "silver phantom" poodle. Called that because of the silver points. My mom was thinking up names for him, using Silver in them. My hubby came up with Coors Silver Bullet as a joke. He's bouncy and lively - the very definition of his name in the dictionary.

[mollywog]

When we adopted Molly her name was Missy. However, that was DH's boss' name so we didn't want to stick with it!!! As she was already 6 months old, we racked our brains for days trying to find a somewhat similar alternative. We came up with Molly. But she also goes by nicknames of Mollybird, Mollywog, but usually just Bird. haha, poor girl must be confused!!

[lUvMyLaB<3]

I rescued my dog, he was the result of the designer breed phenomenon.. so we gave him a designer name, GUCCI, probably the only thing gucci I will ever own anyway..lol

My lab.. Not so original, her registered name is Gonzaga's Lady Perdita.. we call her Lady! And a lady she is!

[Dee-O-Gee]

When we rescued our Golden--her original name was Tippy! That didn't stick very well and because she was an English Blonde (Irish Creme color), we named her "Bailey!"

Our Springer was ALMOST named HOMER

But momma saved the day and went onto an English Springer Spaniel website and found a champion named, Gryphon (sounds like Griffin). I tried to push for "Frigit" but Gryphon was the family choice.

[pbpatti]

My DH named Sasha before she was even born she was his dog and he spent a lot of time choosing her name I don't know where he got the name from he just liked it I guess.

I had a Buff colored american Cocker, while driving home with her I started with words starting with an A,B,C had an aha moment she looked the color of Cognac, and that was her name. I still like that name maybe in the future I will have another Cognac.

[lor]

We had a hard time deciding on a name for our dog, she was full grown when we got her from the SPCA but she had been a stray so we didn't know her name.

We called her Bella for a few days but it didn't seem right so we kept trying. We are crazy football fans and our local team name is Montreal Alouettes so I asked DH if we could name her Allie after our team. She responded to it right away so Allie it was. It's funny, when she isn't listening I call her "Alouette", my mom always used my full name when I was in trouble so I figure I can do the same LOL.

Our cat is a rescued stray as well, I had chosen the name Grace if I were to have another child but it turned out that it wasn't in the cards for us so I used the name for my furry baby

[Diamondsmum]

LOL

Diamond got her name bc "I dont have one" a Diamond on my ringfinger

So now I have my Diamond We had her about 1 week before my kids got home from Florida (DD said She looks like a Lexi and wanted to change it)

Told her next dog we have She can name it.

Diamond was a surprise to the kids LOL

[Mat&Murph]

M&M's sire and dame were both "M" names. So I wanted to do it for them. Murphy seemed so calm and doopy name and it fit perfect. Matt was a good boy that could be bad name and That fit perfect.

[Etown_Chick]

When I picked up Scruffy from the shelter, he was a stray. They were calling him 'Oliver Twist', which is cool but I was not going to call him either Oliver or Twist. Coming up with a name was a challenge.
I wanted to call him 'Drooly' because of the way he drooled in teh car on the drive home..but common sense won that battle.
It was between Archie (because of the red in his hair); Bear, because he was so scruffy and unkempt he looked bear-like; or Scruffy...because..well...see previous comment. Scruffy won and it suits him. He's also the only one at the park, and everyone knows him.
Much easier than identifying dogs as 'black Oscar' or 'blond Charlie' or 'Max the Collie not Max the terrier'...
just PLEEASSEE don't ask me the human's names..I only know their dogs..lol

[ScottieDog]

I've only gotten to name one of my dogs. We picked the name "Mac" for a Scottie long before we ever got a dog. It just seemed right. We registered him as "Mac N. Tosh", but he is Mac, Puppy Mac, or Mr. Puppy (added the "mr." when he turned 10 and I was told he was no longer a puppy.)

I don't know the history behind my little rescue. Her name was "Tipperty". We were told her first owner had a dog named Figger Dee (sp.?) and that these were character names from a book. I could never find this out. I do know there is a small Scottish town named Tipperty. It was a beautiful name so we didn't change it, but we did usually call her Tipper or Tippy. She shared our lives for nearly 7 years.

Our new little girl is "Cassidy", but we typically call her "Cassie". She was 2 1/2 when she came to live with us. She was named by her breeder who has a musical family. She was named for a line in a Grateful Dead Song. I like the name, I like the song lyrics, I would never change it. I'm OK not picking out my dogs' names.

My childhood cat was a calico. She was named "Patches". I'm not sure I'm the most creative in picking names.

[Melinda]

my soul dog died at age 4 of lepto, she and us went through 9 months of treatments etc to try to save her to no avail, so the next dog we "adopted" was a lab/shepherd and I wanted to name her something "strong"....so we decided on Brina, an irish name meaning "strong".......

[EndOfFashion]

My girl, Autumn, already had her name when we adopted her. She's a beautiful rust-coloured husky, so we didn't change her name because it suited her PERFECTLY (plus she was born in September).

We did name our pug, Milo. We chose the name from Milo and Otis but...oops!...we named him after the cat, not the pug! It had been a while since I'd seen the movie...

I felt I had to include our cat's story (even though the OP is asking about dogs). When we went to the THS to find a cat, I fell in love with Charlie. His name wasn't written anywhere on his documents, and since it said he came in as a stray I figured he didn't have a name. When we went to ask an employee about him, she said "Oh, that's Gigantor". GIGANTOR!! Because he weighed 25 lbs (duh)! We took him home but could NOT keep the name - I was convinced it would hurt his self-esteem and he would never lose weight as Gigantor. So I named him after the lead character in "Anansi Boys" by Neil Gaiman (fav author) - FAT CHARLIE. I figured we could drop the "Fat" when Charlie lost some weight; but actually, even at 20 lbs he is only called Fat Charlie by my friends.

[kiara]

Actually we are owned by our two female strays and they came with names from the shelter, so we kept them. Natasha is a tortoiseshell (sp?) and the other is Kiara. We have to name all the strays that pass through our home and the names are picked at random or by the color of their fur or personality. Orange males are often called Ginger or Garfield. Black cats Blackie etc...

[bendyfoot]

Let's see...


Boo: Named by 3-year-old neighbour

Solomon: named after over 2 months of being called "my cat"...he was an odd kitten who would just sit nearby and stare at you with a wise look on his tiny face, so he was named after wise king Solomon

Gracie: named by the HS, and the name stuck

Jaida: was called Jada by her "breeder" , as much as we hated the person we liked the name and thought it might be comforting to her to have something familiar with all the upheaval in her little life...we just changed the spelling.

Heidi: DW always wanted to name a dog "Heidi" (dunno why) so Heidi it was

Molly: wanted an Irish-sounding name for the little "redhead"

[ancientgirl]

My cats names are pretty much what I wanted to name my kids, had I had kids.

Vladimir, I've always loved that name, plus I've always had an interest in vampires and Transylvania.

Oksana, Russian names have always fascinated me, and I love the sound of Oksana.

Maksimilian, again, I love the sound of the name, and the shortened version too.

Kiska, was my second choice for Oksana. Kiska didn't seem to fit Oksana, but it fits my tiny miss very well.

Czarina, going along with the theme, I wanted another Russian girl. Czari is the last one to come into the family, and she's the oldest girl. I see her as the Queen, and considering her life before she came to me, she deserves a regal name.

[flipgirl4]

I named my dog, Kiri, because, at first, I thought it meant 'mighty' in Cambodian and i thought it would be cute for a little white fluffy dog. I found out it really meant 'mountain' but it still seems appropriate. I wanted her to have a Cambodian name because my dad was Cambodian. He'd get a kick out of her having a Cambodian name.

My adult cat, Schweppie, was an abandoned cat. His previous owner let him outside and didn't bother feeding him so my sister-in-law started to feed him. He was so skinny. My brother is severely allergic but we felt so bad for this declawed cat outside and he would look at us with his big sad eyes. She called him Scrappy. I decided I would take him in until she could find him a good home - I wasn't a cat lover at the time. I didn't like the name Scrappy but he was so sweet, I started calling him Sweet Pea. I started falling in love and Sweet Pea evolved into 'Schweppie' (pronounced Sh-wih-pee). Weird I know, but unique and unusual.

I adopted my kitten from the Humane Society and they called him Dolce. I was doing a working interview at an animal hospital and he was getting neutered. I fell in love and had to have him. I didn't think the name Dolce suited him so I decided to leave him unnamed until I found something that suited him. First, it was baby but it eventually became My Little Guy because he was so little and so cuddly. I tried finding a Cambodian name for him that meant sweet, adorable, cuddly but nothing worked.

[Chaser]

I tend to name animals to suit the general mood of their appearance and personality.l

"Chase" was thus named after three days of being too timid to take more than a few steps outside he suddenly took off down the street after an elderly lady that caught his interest. So, "Chase" it was and it just grew to suit him more and more as his border collie traits became increasingly apparent.

We named Kailey the night before we picked her up to foster her. The shelter named her "Beauty" but that was just weird. We wanted a name that sounded similar just in case she had started to respond to Beauty though. We also wanted a name that sounded gentle and kind, to help people develop a positive impression of her. We figured she (and many GSDs) have faced enough discrimination already. I think Kailey really conveys a certain gentleness, and it suited her perfectly when we met her.

I've already named my future dogs as well. I want a female Bernese Mountain Dog called Bella and a male Rottweiler who I'll name Jackson. I know,

[himanshu]

sister in law got the rights to pick her name. She chose it off my MSN list - lexi

[Magicwildwolf69]

i don't have dogs but i have my three cats

Serena and Eclipse are litter mates.

We found out one of the kittens we were going to be able to pick from was black. So Bf and i went through thesaurus and came up with that name. it fits him well he really has a sweet side that i call his light side and his aggressive grumpy other side which is the darkness

Serena was a total surprise. i was only suppose to get one cat. well i ended up falling in love with her. and on the ride home she was so calm and quiet and stayed that way. She seemed like such a lady so i was thinking of words that described her and came up with that.

Stormy was just a name i kept. where i got her there was a little girl that said she named her stormy cause she looked like a storm cloud. i thought it was cute so i kept it. it seems to fit her well. my little trouble marker

[TwinTails]

Hmm, well here are my critters:

Majik - she was an early Christmas gift. I wanted to call her Gizmo, but my Mom convinced me that a magical name better suited her. Come Christmas morning, and every gift of mine was magic themed, lol! Her nick names are Maji and Maji-kins.

Bo - she was a bottle baby that I decided to keep. I was pondering names when it hit me, Bo after Miss Derek! My boss at the time (whom I had an innocent flirtation with), was rather fond of the actress, so that is how Bo got her name. However, now she's more likely to be called Boo, Boolette, Boolie, etc.

Kahlua - she is such an elegant girl, so sleek and sexy (for a cat!). She even has a *g-string* of cream colored fur :P We call her Lua, Lua Maow, Kitty Maow or Lua Lua

Baby - was originally called Bailey (to go with Kahlua), but she never responded to that name. She was 5 weeks old when I got frustrated and just called her Baby - she looked right at me and came running to me. So she sort of named herself Her nicknames are Bebe, Bebe-kins & Goomba Butt (she put on a lot of weight a while back, and her rear started to resemble a goomba ).

Oliver - his original name was Ziggy, but I didn't like it. I decided to call him Gilbert, however he didn't like that. One day I was sitting talking to him as he walked around ignoring me. I said "Boy, you sure do remind me of Oliver" (old family cat that was named after Oliver Twist as no one wanted him because he was 'ugly'). He turned around, started yattering at me and rubbed up against my legs! I asked him if he was Oliver, and he jumped up and rubbed against my face. So Oliver it is His nicknames are Oli, Oli-Ver, Polywog, Woogy Bear, Mr Woogy Bum, Oli-butt, Mr No-Nutts, etc.

Chili - came with her name. I actually call her Beaner or Chili Bean or Chili Beaner more than Chili

Cera - I loved the name (hubby picked it), I changed the spelling in honor of my sisters love of The Land Before Time She's often called Cera-Bear

Fergus - he LOVED the Black Eyed Peas and Fergie! So I decided on Fergus

Cate Ferguson - I wanted to keep the C name, and I love Cate. Ferguson is in honor of Fergus, who had to be euthied the day before Cate was born. Her nickname is Catie Bug