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

I love hearing how everyone came up with the names for their dogs.

Let see:

Hamish - he was Hamish O'Neil - O'Neil from his father Ryan O'Neil, Hamish because it means James in Scotland. At the time, my sister was married to a Scotsman named James. Hamish I borrowed and never let go back home (long involved story).

Noah - He was named Noah Bradley. Noah means comfort - I searched for names meaning comfort and loved this one. Bradley was after my Dad - his middle name. I have no human children - I chose to name my animals this way, with the support of Dad and at the instigation of my Mom. Interestingly, Bradley was the second name of the vet we had at the time - also a family friend from church.

Emma - Missy Emma Marie. I love the name Emma, which means comfort as well. Missy - that was my nickname as a girl from my Dad. Marie - my middle name and also my Mom's middle name as well as the middle name of the breeder. Emma - the breeder would have called her daughter this. Her name at the breeder's was Finney.

Liam - his original name was Slick, a play off his registered name of Smooth as Glass. I chose Liam - it means strong protector, but it also honours my Irish heritage.

Natalie - I didn't change her name. It mean too much to the breeder. It is a take off of her registered name of Unforgettable - a great Nat King Cole song, whose daughter is Natalie.

As I am not likely to have other dogs than these ones, I wanted to choose well the names I picked. They all get a variety of nicknames - Emma is My Love, Liam is My Darling, Natalie started off as Sweetheart, then became Sweetpea, more suited to her crazy loving personality.
 
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Missy has an interesting registered name. The breeder never told me to prefix it with the kennel name, and it wasn't in my contract. So I did my own thing. Her registered name is Miss Layla of Jubilee.

Miss is short for Missy. Layla means "dark beauty", and it was a front runner for her call name. Jubilee is a tribute to my first Sheltie, Jasmine. Her name was Jasmine Jubilee. I wanted to have Jubilee in the name, and that's what I came up with. IDK. I guess it's special to me. It really throws off our flyball club owner when he gets her title certificates. I don't know why he doesn't see the Miss at the beginning and think Missy, but so far both times he's had a perplexed look on his face, and I just say, "It's Missy.. that's Missy's certificate" lol.:winkgrin:
 
I tend to name my shelties after food, lol. My first pet sheltie was named Honey, the second was named Pepper. Fletcher is a biblue, and looks like an Oreo cookie splashed with cream to me; hence, the registered name.
 
I was looking for names when I knew I was getting a sable puppy, and I thought for sure I wanted a scottish name, I was living in New Scotland, aka Nova Scotia it wasn't a stretch at all to name him Angus. BUT instantly when I met him I realized personality was so far from what I thought an Angus would look like,, I had to veto my own idea lol.
My friend had thrown out the name Toffee and I really loved it, especially with his sweet face, it was so easy to name him Toffee.

Spruce was Spruce at birth, being from the same tree litter Birch is from, and his call name had been changed to Leo. Originally, I had no plans of changing his name but I kept on thinking back of the tree litter and how smitten I had been back then, lol. ALSO my cat was terribly confused, cuz whenever I called LILO to come inside, he'd come barreling full tilt (also into the door, or corners or walls, lol) and my poor cat was all put out LOL.
I asked Rachel if she'd mind terribly if I could change his name, although I think she was a bit sad, since she knew and loved him by that name, she gave me permission, of course I could call him what I wanted. I felt it wasn't a terribly jump or betrayal of his identity, I always adore the names Shelli comes up with for their litters anyhow, LOL. He reminds me of a still Winter Spruce, covered in snow. With his colouring and his more stand back and observe personality. (until you get to know him and then he's the blue menace :) )

The tree litter is pretty great :D aka The Grove, hahaha, could be a Gang name
 
We've named our dogs as we got each one, based on their look and personality. Pixie was tiny, Barkley was....well, barky! Lacey is delicate and feminine and the name seemed to fit her.

I've waited years to have a show puppy I could start from scratch. I like names with a musical reference so I named her Rabbit Run Ruffles and Flourishes, with her call name Ruffles. "Ruffles and Flourishes" is the four bars of very elegant music played just before Hail to the Chief to announce the President. I thought I'll hear that music in my head every time I walk into the ring with her, and maybe I won't trip! :cool:
 
I picked out bi-blue Trace from a picture at 5 weeks old. I love the country singer, Trace Adkins, so knew Trace would fit into his name somehow.

We came up with: "(kn) McAtee's (our last name) Trace Sings The Blues"
 
Bentley had his call name when we brought him home. He was almost 7 months old, seemed to know his name, plus we liked it :) I came up with his registered name -- Coastal's Blue Train Special. I'm kind of hard to please when it comes to registered names. I like them to be related to their call names, but not be super obvious.

The Blue Train (le train bleu) was a luxury French train that carried wealthy passengers from Calais to the French Riviera in the 1920s and '30s. The idea of racing the train was popular with motor enthusiasts, and a car called the Rover Light Six managed to beat the train in 1930. Word got around to the chairman of Bentley, and he boasted that his Bentley Speed Six car could beat the train and he could be at his club in London before the train reached Calais. He made it by 4 minutes. His car earned the nickname the Blue Train Bentley. A few years later they produced a Speed Six called the Blue Train Special.

Then we got a cat, and decided to stick with the theme. I'm kind of a car snob, and my dad always had BMWs (despite being frugal in every other aspect of his life!) so, we named the cat Bimmer (pronounced "Beamer"). Bimmer is the German spelling of the nickname for BMW.

And then Lexi. Of course we had to keep up the theme. I loved the name Lexi because it is all at once girly and sassy (Lexi to a T!). Her registered name is "Whisperwind's Pursuit of Perfection"-- the pursuit of perfection is Lexus' (the car manufacturer's) slogan.
 
I named Cookie after the first sheltie I fell in love with while working at a kennel at a vet's office. He was a beautiful, sweet, smart blue merle sheltie, one of the first shelties I had ever met, and he made me decide I had to have one. So I named Cookie after him. His middle name is "Puppeh" because my cat, Gilbert, has the middle name "Kitteh." His last name is Bear because...it just is. Cookie P. Bear. Sometimes he is just P. Bear. Sometimes just P. Sometimes just Bear.
 
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