Why did you name your dog(s) their name?

Sharon7

Sharon7

Moderator
The thread on possible names for Barb's puppy had some folks explaining their name choices, and I thought it might make a good thread of its own! So, why did you choose your dog's name(s)?

Asta - is the name of the dog in the Thin Man movies (who was a fox terrier) but we chose her name after meeting a Border Collie girl on a ranch in Canada. This dog was awesome. A real love but, but serious about her job. When she'd round up the horses, she'd hurry the laggards by grabbing onto their tails and dangling....:eek2: it did seem to work although looked dangerous! But I just fell in love with her and also her name. So we decided the next Sheltie girl would be "Asta". Her registered name, therefore, is "Hasta Be Asta" ! :biggrin2:

Ally - came with her name. It's a derivative of her registered name, "All You Need Is Love". We almost changed it when we adopted her, but she knew her name and it did sound fine with "Asta".

Brooke - came with her name. Her registered name is "Icon's Pretty Baby", and that was Brooke Shields first movie!! Ironically, Brooke was on my mental list as a potential future name for a Sheltie girl.

All girls have the middle name "Mae".
 
It took us easily 3 months to come up with Cosmo's name, the four of us in our household had to come to an agreement on what to call him, everyone had a different idea. One person thought Taz (which actually suits his personality now come to think of it!) and someone else wanted to call him Shep/Commander Shepherd, but we thought Shep sounded too feminine for him. Cosmo just happened to be on our list and everyone happened to agree on it...

It took ages for it to stick though, we still continued to call him Puppy for a while lol.

As for Jet, it didn't take that long. We had a couple of names (mostly referring to a dark colour), and we shortlisted between Nero and Jet... Jet stuck though, sometimes we call him jumbo-Jet, or Jet-black. But his nicknames now are limitless, he is often called Jelly and Beans. His name was actually Finn when we got him first, but my boyfriend didn't like it as we had a friend called Finn lol.
 
Let me say I hate picking out names. I had a black cat, who adopted us years ago (and has now passed on), who went by "Kitty" her entire life as we never could decide on a name we liked.

When we got our Sheltie, my daughter already had her sister and had named her Shelby. We wanted something that would sound nice with Shelby, but not similar enough to be confusing. Callie came to mind, and when I saw that it meant beautiful, I figured it would do.
 
Edan (AY-den) was chosen for it's meaning, Fire, and the fact that we were hoping for a fast agility dog. His registered name, Celtic Fire, reflects both the translation of Edan and the Celtic origins of the Scottish name. The spelling is Scottish Gaelic rather than English.

CJ, which is short for Calamity Jane, came to us with her name. The entire litter, which included Edan, was named with a wild west theme because their sire's name was <kennel> Colt Forty Five with a call name of Pistol.

As an aside, Edan's original name was Pistol Pete with a call name of Pete. We were able to change his registered name because he had no titles or points. His original name was because his breeder always called Pistol "Pistol Pete" as a joke. Edan, being the only boy in that litter of seven, was then given the name when he was one of the show prospects.

I'm currently on a waiting list for a puppy from Edan and CJ's breeder. I've already settled on a Highlander theme for that pup's name. The call name will be Duncan, which means Brown Warrior (which we thought appropriate for a Sable boy), with a registered name of Rockhill's It's A Kind Of Magic From <breeder>. (Rockhill is my last name, not a kennel name.) "Kind of Magic" is a song from the original Highlander movie; "It's a kind of magic" is a lyric in the song. Duncan is Duncan McLeod from the Highlander TV show.
 
I love this thread! I have had a total of 3 dogs in my life time. The first two (when I was very, very young) were named by my father or the Firemen that gave us dog #2. (Scout was a GSD mix and the firemen gave us a purebred Dalmatian named Little Spot. How cliché are those names?)

My previous Sheltie is/was the only dog I've had as an adult and the one for which I was responsible for choosing a name. I found him at a breeders at about six weeks. The two weeks before I picked him up were spent in an unsuccessful attempt to decide on a name. About two weeks after I brought him home, I still had not selected a name, but being a pure bred Sheltie, I wanted one of those fancy, high brow names you dog folks give those high dollar dogs. :yes: One evening, I was reading Antony and Cleopatra (I'm a big Shakespeare fan). Anyway, I saw that of one of Marc Antony's lieutenants was named Demetrius. Ding! Ding! Ding! I was living on Northwood Lane, so my pup became (officially), Demetrius of Northwood!
 
I always go for some sort of cultural reference-- books, music, plays...
In fairly recent memory, the good ones have been:

<kennel name> Much Ado called Hero
<kn> Rainy Day Woman called Stone
<kn> Eleventh Hour called Graeme
<kn> Dirty Paws called Lars

Lars is the only one where the call name doesn't in some way come from the registered name. He does live up to that registered name! He was knee deep in mud over the weekend, and loved every minute of it.
 
Lets see-

Justice was born the 4th of July weekend. All his littermates had patriotic names-Justice, Liberty, Freedom, Pride and Independence. His original name was Independence which I hated. His brother Justice had his name changed so I took it because I love it. His registered name is Code of Honor after the Marine Corps honor code.

Ember- was named after her dad Duke whos registered name has Blazin in it. He was a blue merle and she is his Ember. A gray piece of ash with a hot core. Resgistered name Fire N' Ice because that is her.

Birch- I was sitting on the couch looking out the window helping my friend think of names for her new litter. I saw the leaves falling off the trees and said what about tree names. we wrote down a whole bunch of names and gave them to the puppies at random. Well almost random, The name I like best was Birch and I gave it to the puppy I like most. I think it was fate from the first second because he was the puppy that was born into my hands. His little nose was stuck in head flexion, I hooked my finger around his nose, pushed back slightly and he fell into my hands. Mine every since. Registered name Shockwave because he could not enter my living room without sliding into the wall and rattling the picutres.

Diva I named because I was helping her breeder glue ears and the other puppies were well behave and calm. Diva was a terror first she didn't want to wait her turn and then she wailed like a banshee to get away and then to get attention when she was done. I remember saying "what a little Prima Donna". I want her! Registered name Prima Donna call name Diva.
 
My very first sheltie was a sable & white, Brittany was already 3 when we got her, so even though I didn't love the name I figured she already had enough change in her life so we kept it.

Dallas had a registered name ( Thistle Down Dilly), my background is french Canadian and I have trouble with the "Th" sound, so that wasn't happening. We had just moved back to Calgary from Dallas Texas, so we picked that.

Blue came from the same breeder as Dallas, she had been keeping him to show but he didn't turn out so she offered him to us. He already was named something I could pronounce - so we kept it. He was my heart dog.

Kali - I picked beacuse I thought it was sounded pretty and I wanted something short and unique. My friend later told me that Kali is a Hindi goddess of mischief & destruction - in that regard it did not suit her as she was/is an absolute gem.

Hanna's registered name is Whitland's Charmed I'm Sure, as her mom is Tru Lee Karylyn Magic Charm. I had lists of names and it took me a couple of days. Orginally I wanted something more unique/unusual. In the end she was such a sweetie and she reminded me so much of good friend's dog ( a shepherd cross) that had just died and also had the sweetest temperament ever, that I decided to name her in honour of Jill's girl.
 
Justicemom said:
...Birch- I was sitting on the couch looking out the window helping my friend think of names for her new litter. I saw the leaves falling off the trees and said what about tree names. we wrote down a whole bunch of names and gave them to the puppies at random...
Click to expand...

Dr. Shelli:

Each time you talk about this litter of tree names, a thought crosses my mind: Rather than refer to them as a "litter" or a "pack", we should refer to them as a "grove".
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top