Back in October our friend Sue from the Talking Dogs Blog shared a Throwback Thursday post titled “The Rhyme and Reason of Dog Names at Talking Dogs”. Her post talked about the dogs in her life and how she came up with their names. I thought it was such a fun idea, and wanted to do the same thing.
Some people wait until the dog joins their family, and they observe their personality before giving them a name (or re-naming them if they’re from a rescue or shelter). We’ve always liked to have names chosen either before or as soon as they come home with us. Somehow I think they end up suiting their names either way.
I didn’t have dogs in my life until I was well into adulthood, married and in our own home. Our first dog was a mutt we named “Shelby”. Shelby was an older puppy from our local shelter (if she had a name there I don’t remember what it was). Since both my hubby and I have been lifelong fans of Ford Mustangs (a Shelby Cobra was one of their fancier models), that one came to my hubby and was perfect for us.
After Shelby was gone we got our first young puppy. At that time, as best I remember, I perused the internet for popular dog names and we hit on “Maggie” which appealed to us and seemed to fit our little black Lab mix. We often called her “Maggie May” and if you don’t get that reference, you’re much younger than I am and we’ll leave it at that.
We had Maggie for about a year when family was looking to re-home their year old beagle. The kids there had named him “Kobi” and we saw no reason to change that. We had met Kobi the previous Christmas as a puppy and he was the star of that party, so we already knew him well with that name. Many people want to spell it “Kobe” but he was always Kobi with an “i”. If they ever told us the origin of that name, I don’t remember.
When we lost Maggie suddenly, we were scrambling to find another beagle to keep Kobi company. We found a beagle puppy, and my hubby had his heart set on naming her “Cricket” after a beagle his father had long before he was born. My hubby grew up hearing stories of what a wonderful rabbit hunting dog that Cricket was. Our Cricket had also been bred to be a hunting dog. Though we never pursued that for her, she would have been quite the rabbit hunter too we think.
Next to join our lives, not long after Cricket, were our two golden retrievers. We originally only planned to get one golden, a female, from a friend’s litter, but a male stole our hearts when visiting those puppies. When discussing whether or not to get two, I said it would feel right if we could name the male “Moses”, after our old neighbor/landlords’ chocolate Lab, Moses. That Lab was the first dog that made me fall in love with dogs; I had been a lifelong cat lover only up until I met him. You can read that full story in my post, “A Spiritual Awakening of Sorts” one of my favorite stories to tell. I’ve always felt that the original Moses literally changed my life by turning me into a dog lover.
Since Moses had a biblical name, I wanted one for the female as well, and we chose “Sheba“, even though in the bible, it is the “Queen of Sheba” (1 Kings 10). Our Sheba’s AKC registered name is “Her Highness Queen Sheba.” Since we also call Cricket the “princess”, they go along well! Sheba is certainly treated like a queen too.
When we decided to rescue a Lab mix puppy three Christmases ago, the one we chose was in a large litter of rescued puppies born just before Halloween, so he came to us with the name “Goblin”. Following along with the previous theme, I came up with another biblical name “Luke”. It’s always been a favorite name of mine anyway, and if we’d had human children it was my first choice of name for a boy. My sisters and girlfriends often question if I named him after the country singer Luke Bryan, who I love, but trust me, my hubby never would have gone along with that!
I think I often tend to lean more towards human names, since the pets in my life are equally as important as the humans. Our last three cats were Samantha, Conrad, and Katie. I’d like to do this same post for all the cats in our life, but cats are a much longer list, so I’ll have to save that for another day!
Is there a story behind your dog’s name?
This was fun to read!
I named Harley & Jaxson before I met them. They’re names just magically seem to match their personalities. I didn’t name Leo – because he was 6 months old when I got him, I decided not to change his name. I would never have named him Leo – I would have named him “Jaxson”
Sometimes you have a name you love, and you just know you have to have a pet with that name some day. When I was a child I had a stuffed dog named Lucy. I know I’ll have to have a Lucy some day!
Those are all great names. I think sometimes it can be hard to come up with a name. We had a bit of a problem with picking a name for Storm. I think Storm fits her though.
I’ve always loved that you have a Storm and a Thunder, and expected one day you’d have a Lightning too! 🙂
We’ve done it each way with both our cats and our dogs. When we adopted our rescue Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, her shelter name was ‘Debbie,’ but she didn’t know it and we had watched too much SNL to keep the name, Debbie Downer…. Wah wah wah. Plus she was already so quiet and hesitant; she needed something with more strength.
Because she is a Cavalier, we were looking first for royal names before we went to meet her. We narrowed it down to Raina – meaning Queen, Katana – a strong Marvel character, and Callie – not meaning anything royal, but fun and relaxed. As soon as we got her, Callie fit better, and she kind of picked it.
One cat we named Leeloo Dallas (watch the movie The Fifth Element.) She came with the name Batman; we started going with that theme until we got to know her. She is super smart, agile, and idiotic at times, definitely fitting the name! LOL
You definitely put a lot of thought into your pets’ names – I love that!
I know I saw the movie The Fifth Element, but it’s been so long, I’ll have to look up that reference! 🙂
Such a cute post! I wouldn’t blame you for naming Luke after Luke Bryan. I think they’re both equally cute! 😉 But I totally understand the name themes, so I the Biblical Luke probably makes more sense!
Agreed! But my hubby HATES country music so he never would have agreed. Not that I would have had to tell him, he never would have known. 🙂
Let’s see, our first beagle was going to be Millie or Molly, but when we picked her, for some reason the name Brandy seemed to suit her. The others kept the name I originally picked (lucky for me Rusty always let me pick their names).Trixie is named after my favorite book character from when I was growing up – Trixie Belden. My middle name is Sue, and dad used to call me Suzy Q when I was little, so that’s where Susie got her name. I agonized over a boy’s name, but one night watching Revenge, I had my name after my favorite character – Jack.
I think we considered Molly for Maggie too. I don’t think I knew, or I forgot, how Susie and Jack got their names too, especially Jack! I love it! 🙂
LOL, looks like I’m a bit younger than you, can you pls expain what Maggie May means?
🙂 Maggie May was a hit song in the early 1970’s by rock icon Rod Stewart.
I love reading the stories behind the fur babies’ names. Yes, Dakota has a short back story. When we got him his name was “Tanner” I never liked that name and felt it didn’t suit him. I had wanted a Shetland Sheepdog and always loved the name “Dakota.” I looked it up online to see what it meant, the meaning is “Trusted Friend.” That was it. Dakota it was.
Perfect…..I love it!!
We never name our dogs until after they live with us. They have human names too.
And I love the classy names….Bentley, Pierre. Tucker was just a bit more homey sounding, perfect for a golden retriever though! My nephew has a black Lab named Tucker too.
We choose our pets’ names after we get them and toss around names to fit their personalities, sizes, etc. (Yeah, we’re that kind of people LOL!) We chose the name Daisy because our little puppy was delicate (at the time!) and so sweet and friendly that she brought to mind a line from one of our favorite RomComs, You’ve Got Mail, when Meg Ryan says “Don’t you think daisies are the friendliest flowers?” And so our little flower was named Daisy. 🙂
It makes sense to do it that way, but I would never know what to call them in the meantime. 🙂
I love Daisy’s story – that’s so sweet!!
Funny thing about Luke, a radio show attempted to prove that all pet names had two syllables, which I favor. But Luke and many other names don’t fit that standard, we also had a cat Herb but mostly all pet names have 2. Makes it easier to call the dog I guess. Who knows. Love Dolly
I think you’re right….there is something about having two syllables. I often call Luke “Lukey” – when he’s being good, and “Lucas” when he’s misbehaving, but his name was only ever intended to be Luke. In retrospect, I should have gone with Lucas and then shortened it (though that would have taken away the biblical aspect I guess).
Thanks for sharing the stories behind everyone’s name (well, all but Samantha, but she’s not a dog).
Since I adopted him when he was 9 years old, my Bentley came with a name. He was formally Sir Bentley of Hidden Oaks.
All my cats I’ve named or renamed. They usually get middle names too, based on their personality or appearance. Only Sammi kept a similar name (Samantha in the shelter) because we adopted her at 10 years old and she responded to it.
Sir Bentley….I love that! I also like the idea of middle names, I might have to start doing that!
Samantha will get her turn, but she is one that I don’t think really has much of a story behind her name….I just liked it!
I am so glad you did this!! Love finding out the stories behind the names. As a classic car lover I really should’ve guessed the Shelby. Love this post! (And every time you remind me/us that you were an adult when you got your first dog, I can’t help but feel so sorry for you! 😉 )
I know, right? All of those years that I just didn’t know what I was missing!
My name was Eddie. Now I’m Julius “Edward.”
Not Naughty,
Lily & Edward
I think your new name suits you quite well, Edward, and a great way to make it a variation on your original name, but with a lot more sophistication!
Most of us came here with names so the choice was Easy, except for the newbies!
Lately, the mom has gone with human-type names for us. It’s funny that no matter what you name them, the name always seems to fit.
I love your cats’ names, and they definitely suit them!
I’ve always named my dogs after they arrived based on their personalities. The OES’s I had for 15 years had to be renamed. Both were rescues and so horribly named they begged be changed. Eliot was originally known as Chester at the Dumb Friends, and he seemed much more suited to the dignified moniker, Eliot after the much beloved writer, T.S. Eliot. When we found ‘Lily’ at the same shelter a couple years later, she was so horribly misnamed I knew it would be changed. She was a pill of a dog and the Shakespeare character, Puck was so much better. Sam was Sam when I got him-his AKC name is Bryant’s Yosemite Sam and like the red haired cartoon character, it turned out to be a good one for him though I wasn’t crazy about “Sam” at first. Now I can’t think of anything better. Elsa took days to name, though most often I refer to her as Ninja because she’s so stealthy and a true gladiator with the epilepsy she developed shortly after rescuing her. Elsa means noble but she really is a little Ninja warrior.
Oh yes, Chester is definitely a name that would only be suited to certain dogs, it makes me think of a big goofy dog! Of course, there is always the option of nicknames if a name doesn’t suit perfectly. We often use nicknames anyway. Most are just variation of their names… Sheba is Sheeby or Big Girl and Luke is Lukey or my Buddy, but Cricket is often Jelly Bean. I guess because she’s our little sweetie! 🙂
Let’s see…there was Kissy, which I shortened from Katie Scarlet of Tara (my own poodle as opposed to Mom’s poodles); then Callie, whose AKC name was Sunshine Callie Tess – the Sunshine came from her father’s AKC name and the Tess from her maternal grandmother; then Shadow, whose AKC name is Callie’s Shadow (because she has always been her older sister’s shadow); and then there’s Ducky who was named by the adoption counselors at the county shelter where I found her. The name fits her better than any other name I could come up with back then so it just “stuck”.
I love them all, but Sunshine Callie Tess is my favorite! I think a golden retriever called Sunshine would be very apt too!
My mom just picks names she happens to like, often trendy, ones that can be shortened. She has a short name, and was always jealous of kids who could shorten their names. In college she was into the preppy thing and named her cats Skip, Muffy, and Penelope!
I love the name Maggie… and the name Cricket fits so perfectly to Cricket ;o) the dogs we had were mostly named by a breeder … and I never changed it… I’ve read it brings bad luck to re-name ships…and my supersticious me told me to stick with the names, even when dogs are no ships … ;o)
It’s always best not to mess with superstitions! 🙂