How did you choose your dog’s name?

[Boogie]

My son moved to Germany in 2009. His first job was caring for a blind man who had a guide dog called Tatze.

He was home for the week in 2013 when we went to pick up our new puppy. On the way I said “you can choose the name, Pepper or Rosie?” Meaning I wanted him to decide one of those names. He said “Tatze”. So Tatze it was. It means “paw” in German.

Of course, I’m constantly having to explain her name and how to pronounce it! (Tats - er)

Ted’s name needs no explanation!

 

[JES72]

Homer, Homer Simpson

 

[kateincornwall]

Nelly was registered as Bella , we wanted to change it but to something similar ( not that it mattered as she is deaf ! ) and so she became Nell , now Nelly .
We were on our way to see Reuben for the first time , I had picked Asher as a name but on the radio was a play with a character called Reuben, it resonated with us so thats what he is xx

 

[Atemas]

After we had picked Red at 4 weeks, the breeders needed to have a name when she was taken to be micro chipped. We had no idea except wanted her name to be short as was Sky’s - our black lab we had. Red had a red collar on, so we decided on Red. So it was nothing to do with her colour although her dad is a Fox Red lab and she does have a mainly dark red top coat

 

[Selina27]

Cassies mother is called Tia (Maria), she was born on a farm called Sherrington, has sister called Sherry and another one called Bailey who lives in a pub.
Some local blackcurrant producers had a promotional event for their Cassis when I was considering having a Black Lab puppy .
It all just fitted together really!

 

[Kelsey]

Originally I had the name Jax picked out for Hugo. But one night I was watching TV and a commercial came on for Hugo Boss, and it was in massive letters basically flashing at me, and just like that I could picture a big dapper chocolate lab named Hugo I picked out the name 9 months before I even held him but I never swayed and it suits him perfectly, I think!

 

[Cath]

An old lady who I knew had a dog called Fred when I was a child. It was a lovely dog so gentle, I called Fred after him.
When we got Annie, she was so different to Fred. She had so much spirit for a little dog. So I called her after Annie Oakley from the film, Annie get your gun

 

[Jen]

I just thought it would be funny to shout Stan at a dog when I was out in public

 

[HAH]

Kipper and Stilton were named after two characters’ nicknames in a series of comic books by PG Wodehouse (who I am barmy about!)

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

I just thought it would be funny to shout Stan at a dog when I was out in public

I love this!

 

[Stacia]

I was about to have my first Labrador puppy after having had five German Pointers. I was driving up to the hills when I heard on the radio the mention of the battle Rourke's Drift and thought Drift was a good name, so he was duly called Drift. When the next (and present)) Lab puppy came, he just had to be Rourke!

 

[Candy]

I was doing some tidying up in the garden on the morning of the day when we were going to meet our potential new puppy. I knew I wanted a little girl pup, and wanted a short name,preferably one not many other dogs would have. I also wanted a happy, positive name. I was toying with the idea of 'Joy' when Beethoven's 'Ode to Joy' came on the radio. It was a beautiful Spring morning, we were going to meet our new pup, and the whole thing just slid into place all at once. She lives up to her name.

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

I very, very, very carefully picked out an Irish name for my next dog after Brogan. As I was looking for a Labrador, I wanted to something to do with the sea or seals. I also wanted something actually Irish and not "American Irish" as my friend in Kinsale says. So I ran it past him and he approved 100%. The name means a selkie's son. A selkie is a seal who turns into a human on land. Celtic legends and all that. Why Celtic? No idea really, just all my dogs that I've named have had either Irish or Scottish names.

The name was Ronan.

You will notice that the Señor is not named Ronan. Pfft!

That was me trying to be altruistic. Someone at the shelter named him Carbón. Which is like calling a black dog "Blackie". I really hated it but thought, "No, his forever family should name him, not me."

Now I'm stuck with "Carbón" forever. A name, which, I may add, that if you switch the 'r' and the 'b' around in Spanish, means as*&ole. Lovely. At least I know instantly when I introduce him, if I'm talking to a native Spanish speaker because they gasp in indignation or stifle a giggle. Saves me a lot of time figuring out what language I should speak with them.

By the way, years ago I was lamenting all this to my Irish friend who had approved 'Ronan'. He said, "Well, just call him Ronan Carbón - sounds like someone from the Irish mafia".

Nope, didn't make any sense to me either.

 

[edzbird]

The only name we picked was Belle. She was a stray in a council dog pound with no name. In those days you saw the dog on the website, phoned up and said can we have that one, then turned up, paid your £80 and they handed you a dog, so we'd never even met her! I'd decided on another name (which I've forgotten now), took my first look at her and she was SO beautiful that Belle was the only name for her. The others have all kept their names from their 1st homes.

 

[Cath]

She looks Beautiful

 

[Emily]

We had picked the name Benji for our boy lab. Then the breeder contacted us to say there wasn't a boy available for us but we could have a girl if we liked. Of course we said yes but then we had no name!

We liked human names and liked two syllables as somehow it seemed easier to yell across the park

We ended up writing a few names down on a piece of paper on the coffee table and picked Ella before we went to meet her for the first time at 2 weeks.

When we got there, we were a little nervous to tell the breeder as one of her girls (Ella's great grandmother) passed away a couple of months earlier and was named Ellie. Ellie was a lovely girl, one of the first we met. When we told the breeder we'd picked Ella, she burst into tears and told us that Ellie's registered name was actually Ella and that it was absolutely perfect that her great granddaughter would take her name. It was meant to be

 

[M.F.]

Snowie was from the A litter. His name was Archie. We felt obliged to keep it, but he just didn’t seem like an Archie.

We’d actually made a list of possible names before we got him, probably before he was born. My husband loves TinTin and said no matter the dog, the colour, he’ll be Snowie (yes, he misspelt it with an “ie”!).

Anyway, after two weeks of struggling with “Archie”, Snowie became “Snowie”.

We do get looks about his “cute small fluffy dog” name. But with young kids, I think they hear the name and see a small dog. So it’s worked out well!

 

[Hollysdad]

Like many, we made a list of possible names but none of them resonated. When we picked Holly up, just before Christmas, her little puppy teeth were prickly like holly leaves. The name stuck.

 

[JES72]

Snowie was from the A litter. His name was Archie. We felt obliged to keep it, but he just didn’t seem like an Archie.

We’d actually made a list of possible names before we got him, probably before he was born. My husband loves TinTin and said no matter the dog, the colour, he’ll be Snowie (yes, he misspelt it with an “ie”!).

Anyway, after two weeks of struggling with “Archie”, Snowie became “Snowie”.

We do get looks about his “cute small fluffy dog” name. But with young kids, I think they hear the name and see a small dog. So it’s worked out well!

I can’t think of Snowie being called anything else. He’s just a bigger fluffy ball.

 

[MrChew]

OH is obsessed with Star Wars and thought Chewbacca was a sensible name for a dog... To be fair it does actually suit him because he makes all sort of weird Wookie groaning noises.