What's in a name!?

[Ginny Nightingale]

I go a bit mad when it is time to name a pet. My mind just goes around and around until I have found the one that feels right. Sometimes, it happens immediately--but other times, it is a struggle. part of the struggle is finding a name that my husband will agree to--I like cute-sy names and he likes formal names like David or simple names like Bob --problem is we know people with both of those names!

With Mattie, it was easy--she had already been called Addie by her previous owner and my husband wanted to call her Matilda--if I called her Mattie,  we'd have a formal name and a cute-sy name! Lyric was even easier--she had also been named already and we didn't want to change it and confuse her--her full name is Lyric Contata and yes, hubby uses the whole thing. I often call her "Leery"--there is the cute-sy thing again.

So, now to the new puppy--I am keeping one of the males from Lyric's litter. He has such pronounced black and white colors that my breeder (who is using him in her breeding program as a stud dog) wanted to name him something that has the idea of a piano...like Piano man. But she also likes Italian names--so I came up with Ebony and Ivory in Italian--Ebano Avorio. What a handle for a 4 pound pup!

The breeder likes it and of course, my husband plans to call the poor dog the entire name (which will take some practice...) And me? Well, i think I will call him "Rio"! It's cute-sy! (and we live on a river--so there you go) Other pups in the litter with names from their new owners are "Rafi" and Zeus".

There are some great names for doodles on this site--I'd love to know how everyone came up with them--do they have a special meaning or are they just cute?

Here's Rio!

 

 

[Amy & Bernie]

Rio is a sweetie! Bernie is named after a bar. It's actually a pretty cool place in Anchorage, Alaska, where my husband and I first met. He asked for my number and I actually gave it to him...it was worth commemorating =)

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

Cooper is my maiden name. I was thinking of girly names, like Arywn, Alys, but when Coop came she was soooo not feminine (she still isnt, shes bouncy like a boy and burps!)

 

My cats (Merry and Pippin) are named after Lord of the Rings characters, as were my pets as a teenager/early twenties (degus, chinchillas, rat, rabbit, hamster), None of the girly names from the Tolkien books fitter her.... maybe I should have started looking at boy names, but my husband suggested cooper and it seemed perfect for her!

[Jennifer Tramell]

My DH wanted a "smart" sounding name so our list was narrowed to: Mozart, Edison, Tesla, Einstein, Webster.  My daughter REALLY liked Webster because of Webster's Dictionary.  Since she actually wanted to keep a different pup, we let her decide the name.  I wanted the name Crockett - I thought it was fitting for this adventurous pup in the TN hills, but I was outvoted.

Charlotte was chosen because I jokingly said "we could call the new pup Charlotte and we'd have Charlotte and Charlotte's Web(ster)".  My entire family loved it and there was no going back.  I actually didn't want the name Charlotte, thought it was to formal and stuffy, but, outvoted again!

[Ginny Nightingale]

LOL! You do have to be careful about what you suggest. My husband is the picky one--and I mentioned that when the kids were little, they had a book about puppies named Wags, Tags, rags and Obediah. Obediah was the good puppy--well, he was SOLD on Obediah for about three days and was lobbying for it. I know I would have ended up calling him Obie--which is cute, but I really didn't want another dog with an "e" sound at the end of their name--too confusing for the dog. I felt it would be easier to give commands if each name sounded different. So, Rio it is! Someone pointed out in the "What's in a name" group that dog's names ending with an O are good for training according to the Monks of New Skete--we shall see!

[Robyn, Greg and Snickers]

I wanted to name Snickers after his Irish heritage but my DH didn't like any if the variations- Ruley, Cullen, Guiness etc. So I was stumped and so was he. Then a few days before we picked him out I was flipping through a cookbook and there was a pic of a Snickerdoodle cookie and it was exactly the same color as his fur. Thus inspiration! We shortened it to Snickers because Snickerdoodle was too long but when he gets in trouble the whole name comes out!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I posted this before, but since you asked, will post again. We always go with food names. We have had a Hershey and a Honey (rescued and I did not name...Fate, for sure). When we got our chocolate doodle I wanted the name Fudge and I took a lot of heat about the name. My sister was so upset and kept saying everyone would think I was saying something else. So, as usual, I did not listen to my stupid sister and named her Fudge. When we were trying to come up with a name for Vern, I liked Noodle (Noodle Doodle), Vanilla Bean, Mulligan (Stew), Walnut (Wally), Macaroni (Mac), Cashew, and Almond (Al). My husband like exactly none of those names and said he was not going to the dog park and yelling, "Here Fudge, Here Noodle!" I mentioned Vernors (after the Ginger Ale) and after that, anytime I said a name, he would say, "Vern". Since he has never named one pet, we went with Vernors.

[Camilla and Darwin]

I remember you posting this before because I also considered Noodle. "Noodle the Doodle" is just too cute to resist! Unfortunately DH refused to call his dog "Noodle" in public either! LOL

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

We actually call Ned, Noodle lots of the time as well as Noodlishus.  Clancy is never anything but Clancy or Clance - go figure on the lack of nickname for him.

[Judi, David & Maddie Irishdoodle]

I think Orio (said like the cookie) would suit him just fine. He looks like a chubby little oreo.

[Pam and Ginger Snap]

Has anyone ever changed the name of their dog?

[Amy & Bernie]

Pam I assume you mean a full grown dog and not a puppy? Bernie was 12 weeks when we got him and he transitioned really well. But I do have a friend that adopted a 2 year old lab mix and changed her name from Pepper to Chloe, the dog was mellow, a bit shy and very sweet - just not a 'Pepper'. Chloe did just fine with it, surprisingly well! When my friend brought her home she immediately started with basic obedience drills and lots of treats and affection, gave her lots of chances to 'please' and be a 'good dog', using her new name as much as possible. We like to think it was a "new life new identity" attitude and Chloe took to it beautifully. Obviously this is one instance, but in my limited experience dogs aren't programmed to respond to word's real meaning, more so the intention and direction that comes with them.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Clancy is our adult rescue.  He came to us with the name Buck but didn't respond so it probably was his shelter name only.  We tried different combinations of sounds to see if he responded to any configurations, but he didn't so I felt free to re-name him.  He learned his adult name pretty easily.