How much thought do you put into a name?

[amberdyan]

I don't give a whole lot of thought to the hamster names. My fiancee named our first hamster "squirrel" ("named" is a strong word. She called him that goofily from day one since we didn't have a name and he ended up being called that for the three years we had him). Eliza was named after one of my favorite early British writers.

My first dog was named Princess Diana. Because I was 8, lol. Then I had a hound named "Old Dan" because I love the book "Where the Red Fern Grows."

Hugo is the first dog I've acquired as an independent adult. We had been planning on him for over a year and had a boy and girl name picked out. We talked about them as though they existed out there somewhere and thought hard about what we wanted them to be like. Honestly it helped me be realistic about the type of dog that would make me happy and that we could provide the best home for. Otherwise... I have a bad habit of falling in love with the dog I feel the sorriest for. Example: the day we went to the shelter (the third shelter) I met a pointer/pit mix girl who was INSANE and had been returned 3 times. I felt SO bad for her but my fiancee looked at me and said "Is this Myka?" and I knew that she wasn't the one for us. Although I did talk my fiancee into sponsoring her to get her off the urgent list

 

[ThoseWordsAtBest]

I love names. The only dog I did not name was Magpie. Initially I hated the name, but eventually it grew on me and suits her somehow. I do however regret not having two small black dogs to name Heckle and Jeckle to be her side kicks, but we can't be perfect all the time.

I hate themes, so they're all just randomly named things I like. Smalls was Daisy, Jack McCoy was Elwin, Jonas was Sir Hot Cocoa (lol no), Shambles was Clove, and Elsa didn't have a name so she was just "mama" until she was this ridiculous **** "Lolly Doo"

I have a whole reserve of names which is really annoying when there will be no new dogs until this crew is gone.

 

[JacksonsMom]

Sir went with my Ex when we split so I was down to Frag and Recon when Patton came along - had always wanted to name a GSD Patton after the general of course.

Next dog names - Tango or Zulu for a female; Tic, Brig, and Rommel for a male are all contenders.

I loooveee the name Patton. Always have. I love history/war related names too though. My step-dad is really into the Civil War and we visit Gettysburg every year so I've always thought Lincoln would be cool too. A Jackson and a Lincoln. But the name I continually come back to is Jonah. Who knows though, I go through so many, I have a whole list saved lol.

 

[Grab]

My first Chow was named Legend. So, we kind of wanted to stick with the story theme, so we went with Aesop, and then Goose (for Mother Goose). We'll probably stay with the theme for future Chows.

The wee dogs kind of have a sci fi theme: Newt (from Aliens) and Nog (Star Trek), except Julian, who is just an entity of his own. He's totally a Julian though.

Brooks is lumped with the Chows, I guess, since he's named for a book character too I think his name took the longest to come up with. I love it, though. And I can't imagine him named anything else.

I still like everyone's names, and I generally like naming things. Except girls..I have the worst time coming up with girl names

 

[JessLough]

Naming things stresses me out.

Rosey, well, I was like 7, my siblings and I each chose a name, stood in a circle and called that name. Whoever she went to, that was her name. She came to me, so Rosey it was. My middle name is Rose, so why not name the dog Rosey.

As I child, I also had such other pets as a goldfish named Jessica and a bird that was nameless for 5 years until I started calling it Tweety. I also had a batch of hamsters named after xmen characters. And Cloud, because he was white and fluffy.

Rascal and Harley came to me with their names.

Renegade and Rogue came to me as Gridd and Nyx. Allie and her ex-bf named them.

Nacho came to me as Marley. I had literally just gotten a foster out of my house who my mom named Marlee, so it wasn't going to stay. Fran suggested I name him Nacho, so I can say "this is Nacho (not yo') house". Look how that turned out

Ella came to me as Bella. I thought she needed a really girly name, but hated Bella. So Ella she shall be.

Fosters Kirk and Spock came to me as Gucci and Prada. Both were males, so that couldn't stay. I think my sister named them. Widget came to me as Wedgey. I hated it. Her new foster home loved Wedgey and so her name was changed back.

 

[Shai]

"How much thought do you put into a name?"

Varies. I enjoy naming. Kim has a random name we picked that fits her, Webster kept the name he came with because it fits him so well. Both have registered names chosen years later.

Mira has the most meaningful name in the house, named after a longtime friend and mentor, plus other meanings. Didn't pick her registered name but it fits.

Lodin is named, call and registered, out of a favorite book.

And Brie's name is kind of a joke haha

 

[Brattina88]

Stressful and agonizing over it for days?

Not with Maddie, though. She was named after only 2 hours of knowing her. The idea Maddie came from Cybil's character Maddolyn Hayes with Bruce Willis as David Addison on Moonlighting. LOVED it as soon as my dad suggested it. That was it, no questions asked. It fit

Bailey was Shelby and it just didn't suit her to me. I think it took a couple of weeks to settle on a name. Breagha and about 10 variation spellings of Bailey (baylee, bayleigh etc ect) were the 'narrow down' list. I still really like the name Breagha but it just didn't suit her.

The ferrets were much easier to name! It just hit me all of the sudden, with a gut feeling. Except Murtagh, I just kept his name from the breeder. Couldn't think of anything better and it fit

I have lists of future names but if it doesn't fit it doesn't fit

 

[k9krazee]

I am terrible with names, but I do find them important!

Dogs of my past have never had great names--shadow, Micki, Mini, Kyra and Jack.

DH named Crossbone and I hated it at first-- but it grew on me and I love it.

We've been talking about nextpup's name for a looong time. We want a name to go with Crossbone...

 

[Dekka]

I find names really important. I am not a fan of people names for dogs unless they are so unusual I will never know a person by that name (See I don't think of names like Fergus to be people names as I know a few dogs and horses named that but nary a human) The only caveat to this is that one day I want to name a JRT Wade. (As in Wade Wilson AKA Deadpool lol)

Some names came very quickly. I don't remember where Dekka came from but once I decided I was keeping her the name just showed up. Quest was an accident. I didn't have a puppy name for her when I started keeping records so her brother was Ice and she was a "?" Which became Quest. Kaiden was supposed to be Kandinsky but Ex hubby kept calling him Kandinky.. lol. I loved the name Scandal and it fit her so well. Bounce just named herself as that was what she loved to do. I named a horse Rivendell long before the movies came out. Her full sister Tapley... So many animals and so many names. Most had a reason, but not all have had.

And I am faced with this again. New puppy's name is currently Apollo. And while I like that name it makes me think of large statuesque danes, not a super fuffy puff crested.

 

[Snark]

Always have a hard time with dog names, although our family is notorious for nicknaming all the animals, so original names tend to morph into something else anyway.

Patch was a stray we weren't sure we could keep, the name didn't really fit her but it stuck, sort of. Dad and my brother always called her Sammie, Mom called her KaPutch.
Sam was from the Humane Society. The person at the shelter told us they'd been calling him Sam, so it stuck, sort of. It morphed, over time, to SammerJammer.
Emily, I just liked the name, which eventually, as she kept growing (she was the runt of the litter and grew to be the largest) morphed into eM-dog (Mega-dog).
Holly came named as Holly and it fit her, although 'bear' was usually tacked on, too.
Robbie was originally RobRoy (his original owner named him) but the neighborhood knew him as Robbie. He went through five owners (he kept being left behind with the house when people moved away). We took him in when the last house owner neglected him.
Abbey was found on the way to work, dumped on the road. She was named, logically I think, Abbey Road.
Took awhile to name Murph and Mick, wanted something Irish (their original names were Buddy and Grizzly); Buddy became Murphy Himself and Grizzly became Michaleen (from the movie, The Quiet Man)
Riley, well, we wanted to keep the irish thing going (as part of our Irish Mafia) but he answers to Stripey-Dawg just as well.
Cats were more fun for some reason, we have mangled famous/fictional people names with abandon over the years: Margaret Scratcher, Joan Clawford, Nicolas Caged, Lionel Scritchey, Purrl Bailey, Oliver Hissed, LucyFurr, Zasu Spitts, Black Jack Purring, Robert E. Flea, etc. Our two latest hooligans are Doria Gray and Miss Mary Mack (from the children's rhyme/hand-clapping game)

 

[*blackrose]

If I get my way, my next dog (although I'm pretty sure Michael will have Next Dog Dibs) will be a female Black Lab and her name will be Caydence. Sticking with the military theme, only much more feminine sounding than other names.

 

[GaelicBlues]

I have trouble coming up with pet names and agonise over them (I have a list I add to/swap around etc). But I really love coming up with registered names. I like their call name to be in their registered name.

The dogs I have now:
Scout (Brittany) was a name that has been top of my Border Collie girl name list for quite a while, from "To kill a Mockingbird", my husband stole it for his Brittany but it suits her so well and she couldn't be anything else Her registered name (Eclaireur) is a translation of "Scout".

Gael was not a name on my list, my husband named her. I didn't like it at first but I do like old-fashioned sheepdog names for my collies. Her registered name (Gaelic Blues) is because her parents were imported from Scotland and she is a pretty blue colour. Generally I call her "Blue" or "Bluedog".

My husband also named my last 2 collies: Maddie and KC. So I was determined to name my puppyman myself "Kep" is a name that goes with Gael, being another old-fashioned uncommon sheepdog name. Then I just did some googling until I found something I could make into a registered name so he is (Kepler's Mission), a nasa space program.

 

[thehoundgirl]

My boss named Dixie "Fritza" when she came to the shelter. Oh god I hated that name. We put a lot of thought into her name when she came home. And we were going through names and I was like what about Dixie? And it just fits her. Her full name is Dixie Loo.

Rudy my mom named because he looked like a deer when a pup and she named him after Rudolph the red nosed reindeer. But it fits. His nickname is Roo lol.

Buster.. I wanted to name Bullwinkle because we had a Rocky. :rofl1: But it was a mouth full pretty much. Buster just.. stuck I don't remember how we named him but he's definitely a Buster.

Usually we go through names until we like them. Miagi my cat has nothing to do with the karate kid. My mom was actually thinking of names and said Mowgli.. then Miagi. And he is pretty eccentric any way he is definitely a Miagi.

Tiger.. my cat well he was already named Tiger by his foster family. And he is such a Tiger. I wanted to change it but Tiger just fits him he's stripey after all.

Angel our 3rd cat well my dad named her.. lol. It does not fit her at all. She's a sweetheart but we couldn't change it after my dad named her lol.

 

[Finkie_Mom]

Bubbles and Pentti came named. Pen's name is just perfect for him (Finnish form of our name Benedict, slang-ish for "old man") and I honestly HATED Bubbles' name when we first got her. Hers fits her reg name Finkkila's Kupla as kupla is Finnish for bubble. But now that I know her, she's totally a Bubbles. We tend to just call her Bubby though.

It took FOREVER to come up with Kimma's name. Actually DH figured it out. We named her after Finnish hockey player Kimmo Timonen, obviously just changing the -o to an -a. Because feminine. Lo and behold, Kimma actually means "little girl" or "little chick" in Finnish. It's adorable by mistake

Jari is now also named after a hockey player, Jari Kurri, whose nickname was the "Finnish Flash." Funny thing is that this nickname was "stolen" by player Teemu Selänne. So out of Bubby's puppies we have Loistava's Jari (born first) and Loistava's Teemu (call name "Axl"). I wasn't planning on any sort of theme but it just happened magically.

Nika the ferret was easy. Named her after Niko Bellic from GTA4 (again with the -o to the -a) because she was crazy

I did have a crowntail betta years back named Berlioz, after the awesome composer. I just decided early on that dogs would not have musical names, even though I'm a professional musician and could probably have enough names/music terms to last me a lifetime.

Also, I should note that I hate sports. Like all of them. So it's funny that the two dogs I've named have sports-related names.

 

[katiem]

I am a fan of people names for dogs, and they few I've had with non-people name feel odd to me. Usually when I see a dog I like a name will just pop into my head, but not always.

My first dog was a Rottweiler, and I had a hard time naming him. He was Jack, then Gus, then my boss suggested Adolph (no), before I ended up with Levon, after the Elton John song. He needed a soft name to match his soft personality, and to contrast with his tough dog image. His registered name was Spartan's Vito, which I did not pick.

I adopted my next dog, a German Shepherd x Beagle, from a small city pound, and his name was Lil'Man. Barf. Changed it to Daniel, aka Dan, because I like the name and it goes with the Elton John theme. He was almost Gilbert.

Then I adopted my next dog, a Beagle x Basset Hound, from a rescue who brings dogs to Canada from puppy mills in the US. She was originally My Little Lady, then Angel (which I hate) before she joined the Elton trend and became Little Jeanie, aka Jeanie or Beans.

I ended up keeping an older dog who I had been dog sitting and dog walking since forever, and he kept his name since I'd known him by it forever,Loeke (Loki).

Next I had a Saint Bernard puppy (11 months) dumped on me, and I used my second favourite name on him and called him Bram. He had been named Max, but that's not my style, yo.

My Bull Mastiff mix was a rescue and a biter, and she came with the name Tara, but was usually called Tara-Bull.

Keira, my coconut, came as Keira, which is a name I can't stand. I took her in as a foster, and never thought she would stay, so I wasn't worried about her name...Oops!

We also recently adopted a Pug named Miss Puggy Puggerton. I let my boyfriend pick her new name and he came up with Pugachu, 2Pug Shakur and Puggy Brewster. Puggy Brewster it was, but we called her Puggy. Another choice was Petunia, but it had to have an * beside it, so that we could explain it was a name as ugly as her face. Again, that was the boyfriend.

 

[TexasRanger]

I sometimes like naming, other times not so much. Also depends on the animal.

Nala I named when I 6 and in love with the Lion King.
Kieber was named "Simon" and I was worried it would be awkward if I ever had a friend with the same name, plus he did not act like a Simon.
Nina, Chance, Chevy, Zane, Abby and Deputy all where named before I got them.

I also enjoyed naming my three cats: Ardeshire after a Middle Eastern prince, Binky after Death's horse in Terry Pratchett's Discworld, and Raiden was named after the Japanese word for "thunder storm".

Goats are: Snickers (when she was born she resembled one), Taffy ( sort of oozed out of Snickers and was the right color (light brown), Eddy (fits him to a T), Crowley ( from Supernatural), and Steve (breeder named him).

Chickens:Biscuit, Peregrine, Minnow, Partridge, Comet, Fred, The Crows (3 Black Rocks), The Goldies (4 Production Reds) and The Sparrows ( a bunch of Easter Eggers and Welsummers).

 

[sassafras]

I generally like picking out names.

Pip was Freckles. Just... no. We tried unsuccessfully tossing around black and white things. I almost named him "Flower" after the skunk in Bambi but my husband vetoed it. Then I decided that if ever a dog cried out to be named "Spot" it is him, and the spots on dice are called "pips" soooooo... we just found an obscure way to name him Spot. I think Pip really suits him, though.

Maisy was Roxie. Her immediate predecessor was named Roxy so it had to go. I just wanted a girly name and browsed baby name lists untiil I found one I liked that wasn't too popular. So it was sort of random but I think it does suit her.

Squash came named, but I loved it so hard I kept it. His litter was the Pumpkin Pie litter, born the week of Thanksgiving and with themed puppy names. But it's so adorable and suits him so perfectly I never even thought of changing it.

 

[Babyblue5290]

I like and hate naming dogs. Artimis took a long time to name. At first he was Damien, then Tobias, then simply demon spawn. Lol Then my sister suggested Artimis and I didn't really like it at first but now I couldn't imagine him with any other name. So I don't regret it.

Talon I had picked out before we got him and yes it suited him well lol Its actually the name of the baby ship from the tv show "Farscape." We spelled it different than the show did though.

I have two names for future dogs. One is "Que" with a registered naming being "of the continuum" Obviously it's a star trek thing lol The other is "Infinity" were we would call him "Finn" . I also love the name Cheza from Wolf's Rain.