What names will you use for future dogs?

[Erica]

I, for one, can't wait to use these names:
Backup
Catfish
Ramble
Gallifrey
Crimson
Eleven
Delight
Petrichor
Pond
Fez
River
Saxon
Moldau
Aithusa
Merlin
Pendragon
Becquerel
Semaphore
PM
WQ
AR
WV
tumut
(Runner) Five
(Runner) Eight
Abel
Canton
Altair
Ezio
Connor
Desmond
Malik
La Volpe
Yusuf

I know some aren't ideal dog names (two syllables with hard consonants), buuuut really most of them are so whatever. x3

[dontpugme]

A lot of times, I can't wait to have another dog so I can use the names of some users' dogs on here. I am seriously jealous of some of yall's dogs names!

All the dogs that I've had have been named max. When I was younger, we had a pug named max. We had to return him to the rescue when I was still young, so I don't remember him. When I got older, I wanted a max.


Kinda off topic: When I was doing some creative writing in class, I actually used some names from the forum for characters or character's pets. One story had the mother named Leigha. Another had a dog named Cadence. There was also a Karma and a Jack. I had to make a dialogue for spanish class once and had one character named Emma and one named Beth. Beth was introducing Emma to a person named Rupert.


Well that didn't answer the question at all.....

[emmabeth]

LOL - no but a fun insight into the crazy life of Dontpugme!

I dunno about dog names, those are some great ones you listed Erica.... I like Gallifrey!

I didn't get to choose all my dogs names, so Rocky came with that name, and Ellie was originally Molly but we didn't think she was much of a Molly, so picked something sufficiently different and suited her, but sounded quite similar.

Dill was named after the herb, as I got him almost the same day a friends dog (Parsley) died, so he was named in honour of Parsley (and because I couldn't think of a theme!)..


Kelda's name takes some explaining. We like the author Terry Pratchett, and he wrote the Wee Free Men books. The Wee Free Men are the Nac Mac Feegle, a race of wee (tiny) blue men, who are very hairy, lairy, like to fight drink and steal things. They live in clans, and the head of their clan is the Kelda, shes the Queen (and the mother!) and the biggest of the Feegles.

Since our dogs are all smaller than Kelda, and particularly Dilly is very much a Feegle in dog form (hes small, blue, hairy, will steal anything and enjoys a fight if theres one in the offing), so much so he gets the nickname Rob Anybody, who is one of the Feegles who appears in the books (alongside their brethren, Mad Arthur, Daft Wullie, Wee Jock, No' as Big as Medium Jock But Bigger Than Wee Jock, Jock' etc!), we decided the biggest blue hairy dog should be the Kelda.. and she very much is

Also I think its a pretty name

Then theres Errol who is another one named after a Terry Pratchett character - Errol in the books is a Swamp Dragon, bred by Ms Sybil Ramkin, a prestigious and well known breeder of quality pedigree Swamp Dragons - his full name is Goodboy Bindle Featherstone of Quirm. (Yes most of the stuff about the dragons and Lady Ramkin IS a p*ss take on pedigree dog breeding and showing).

Swamp Dragons are notorious for eating everything in sight and are also liable to explode at any moment - so we thought naming our puppy, notorious for eating everything and exploding randomly, was a good idea! (Our Errol has a silly full name too, Whispara Harvey Moon)

So.. what will occur to us as a good idea for naming the next dog is anyones guess! Probably a Pratchett theme, theres a lot to go on there, but its going to be a while before we have another dog anyway!

[wvvdiup1]

Unless the dogs I get have suitable names, I just don't change them. Of course, during the years, I have had to change some of the dogs' names because of some confusion such as I already have a dog with the same name as another's or a family member with the same name, especially mine! It's hard to which one someone is calling for dinner, when you and a dog have the same name, as I did a few times. When I change a dog's name, it has to be close to their personalities. I don't know why I'm like that, but even I can't explain it.

One dog I did get was from a friend's litter. They kept one of the black in color puppies and named it Buttons. We took the other black one and aptly named it Zipper, which also matched her personality. The running joke in our house was "What's faster than a fly? The answer is Zipper the dog, because she 'zips' throughout the house."

[bendog]

I had a teddy called Benjy when I was little. I wanted to call my little brother Ben but I was overruled...so I called my dog Ben instead.

It then got confusing because I have a best friend called Ben as well and no-one ever knew whether I was talking about my dog or my friend so the dog became Bendog

I do sometimes which I'd thought of more original names though!

Sasha is my boyfriends so his mum came up with that name.

And Poppy became Poppy because no-one could think of a name for her and we spent about a week just calling her Puppy, to the point she started to respond to Puppy, so her name became Poppy as its very similar.

[Suzette]

This is an interesting question. I personally never think of names prior to getting a dog (or cat, or horse). I like to live with them for a little while and get to know their personalities, then I name them.

Some of my animals have come to me as babies, so a blank slate name-wise. But occasionally I get an adult animal and with one exception (my horse who came to me with the name Skip A Note, which I simply morphed into Skipper), I always give them a new name that suits them and us.

My sister always bulked at this (thinking she had to keep the animals original name or it would confuse or upset them until I pointed out that if the dog came to her as a stray she wouldn't know their original name anyway and they'd adjust just fine in a few days to a new one). This little insight made her quite happy since she really disliked the name her adult, chihuahua rescue came with and now he has the cute name of Paco.

[Nettle]

Lots of people don't realise that the name the dog has in Rescue was probably made up by the staff.

My rescue dog from long ago came with the name Suki. No Way was my dog being called Suki! I renamed her Saxon, but she had the last laugh because she was often known as the Spooky Suzuki.


I wait until I've had them a few days, and they 'tell' me their names.

Future dogs - I'm not planning on any more once the ones I have are over the Bridge. That will be a sad day indeed.

[thepennywhistle]

My sister always bulked at this (thinking she had to keep the animals original name or it would confuse or upset them until I pointed out that if the dog came to her as a stray she wouldn't know their original name anyway and they'd adjust just fine in a few days to a new one). This little insight made her quite happy since she really disliked the name her adult, chihuahua rescue came with and now he has the cute name of Paco.

I had to laugh at this, as I've run into people with this firm attitude before. I worked in an exotic bird store about 25 years ago, and sold many birds, including an African Grey called Salsa. Her new owner didn't care for it, but modified it to Salsa Anne. While working there I was given the task of handfeeding another grey baby, all of 3 weeks old and bald. The store owner dubbed this bird Ziggy after the little bald, round-headed cartoon character. "Ziggy" grew into a lovely, dignified little girl that I fell in love with and couldn't sell. Once I bought her, I changed her name to Merlin, which horrified the owner of Salsa Anne. My reply that day has become my standard reply in such confrontations over changing of names. "She's a bird, not a ship. She'll be fine."

I've always felt that a new name for a rescue was a way of ending the past and starting a new future together.
Thus Shasta the white collie became Rowan, Buttercup the shetland pony was renamed Amanda, etc. A
very sick, very wormy, undersized underweight collie puppy came with the name of Thor. No. He was
all nose at that point, and renamed Cyrano.

As far as names I'd like to use, I've tried to name 3 dogs Paisley, but they always wanted other names, so
that one is still hanging. I also wanted to call a dog Indigo, but all my dogs having been white for many
years, it didn't seem to work.

It's snowing, and I must go shopping, or the cats will not have anything to eat and I'll have no fingers
left for typing. I am disgusted with having to cope with snow this early. Not fair.

Nettle, I sympathise. These are my last dogs as well. Certainly no more parrots. No more horses, either.
Maybe one more cat....

[minkee]

Future dogs - I'm not planning on any more once the ones I have are over the Bridge. That will be a sad day indeed.

This is a very sad thought - something I had never even contemplated before.

..

To go back to the topic, though, I have something of a mental list of children's names that I like, that I know would never be accepted by anyone else, so they're reserved for any appropriate furry creatures that come along to claim them instead. Scout was one of these, named for the (excellent) little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird. Many people mistake the name upon hearing it for "Scouse" though... which doesn't go down well

Dido was the name of the little girl heroine in a series of books I adored when I was a little girl. A really strong, feisty girl lead, always a rarity, and always something I was looking for. She had a little sister named Is, which I always thought was pretty cool too. I also like the name Dodie, which is similar, after Dodie Smith, who wrote 101 Dalmations and was something of a 1920s rockstar.

Infact a lot of my earmarked names are from strong females characters, fictional, legendary or otherwise. I like Ada, after Ada Lovelace who was the first computer programmer, Hypatia who was an Egyptian mathematician, Ninsun ("Lady wild cow"), a goddess from the Epic of Gilgamesh... the list goes on!

One that I have tucked away in the back of my mind for a Pointer, if one ever makes her way to me, is Artemis. If Nettle's dogs ever heard that they'd probably say "YEAH RIGHT", what with Artemis being the greek goddess of the hunt and wild animals, and me being not much of a hunter at all! But I still think it's a good name, if a little.... facile on my account

I would always have the animal for at least a few days before settling hard on a name though. My cat was called Parsnip on account of his very parsnip-like tail when he was just a baby, and my o/h's cats are called Pod and Pyro. Scout could very almost have been a Pixie, but I wanted to break the P habit, and it's just far too cute a name for her, she's much too horrible for a cute name like that

[minkee]

However.. when Scout was just a pup, I did used to call her and all the cats Three pee and the Three P's. I'll leave you to figure out why!

[bendog]

I like the name Scout
It suits a terrier, and reminded me straight away of the girl in To Kill a Mockingbird, she was very determined and outspoken and I guess your Scout is similar.

I also like Pippin. Another brilliant terrier name by Flyby!

I need to get more inventive with names although it does very much depend on the breed of dog.

I like Sky(e) for a dog, or Heather or Abby, which are all useless since I prefer boy dogs! I'm a firm believer that dogs names should be fairly short, or at least easily shortened. I save the longer names for other furry creatures. My guineapig (the only one of our 9 that has a name!) is called Jasmine, which was also the name of a gerbil I had once. And I had a rabbit called Galaxy.

My boyfriends first dog was called Biscuit.

I once met a rescue puppy called Gucci... , it got renamed Frank!

[minkee]

I like the name Scout :)
It suits a terrier, and reminded me straight away of the girl in To Kill a Mockingbird, she was very determined and outspoken and I guess your Scout is similar.

Bendog, this has made my day :D And why am I not surprised that a dog called Gucci ended up in a rescue after the owner found out he wasn't just an accessory :(

I do agree on the short names, which is why Hypatia will never make the grade! I still think she was one cool lady though (despite being murdered by a horde of angry Christians :<). That said, Scout thinks any of the following things mean someone is talking to her:

Pup
Puppy
Buggerpup
Her
Scout
Horror
Hey
Oi
*Kissnoise*
Bebby (like baby)

and especially "Awww" or any kind of laughing or giggling. If anyone on the street awws or laughs at anything, she straight away turns to them and looks up to say 'Yes, here I am, what do you want?'

[Fundog]

I actually wanted to re-name Dottie "Jenny," but after talking about her and referring to her (the rescue named her) countless times before picking her up, all of my family had grown accustomed to, and even fond, of her name, and voted to keep it as-is. So Dottie she stayed (obviously she was so named because of her appearance). Because we got her in February, her "formal" name is Miss Polka-Dottie Valentine. The name Jenny will definitely be in the list of possible names to vote upon, come our next English Setter.

And... for the past 20 years, we had already decided if we ever have an Irish Setter, her name will be Naomi. I don't know why--- we just really like Naomi for a red Irish Setter.

We named Annie partly because that really and truly fit her--- when I brought her home, the boys immediately called her Annie, and she responded, so that was her name. And... partly because we already had a black and white cat named Andrew.

Other than Jenny and Naomi, I don't have a future name list. We'll just have to see who we get, when we get her.

[Ari_RR]

When it's time to get the second dog, we'll probably have have the name ready well in advance, as part of anticipation of a new puppy, along with the crate, food bowl, toys, etc.. We know exactly what the dog will be (a Rhodesian ridgeback girl), so it will be a fun family thing to do - picking the name.. Some will have suggestions, everyone will critique everyone else's choices..

Looking forward, even though it's a year or so out (Ari just turned 14 months). We'll definitely go through this and other forums, looking for ideas. Some names out there are brilliant.

[ClareMarsh]

Buggerpup

and especially "Awww" or any kind of laughing or giggling. If anyone on the street awws or laughs at anything, she straight away turns to them and looks up to say 'Yes, here I am, what do you want?'

Buggerpup

Ted thinks the same on the street, although less so now, he was getting a right diva complex

We named Ted once we had chosen him, after a LOT of looking at his baby photo. In his early months he was also called Teddytwopoos

He also gets called Tedlington by me . But no other names lined up, I'll decide as and when other dogs come along (although one is more than enough for now )