AK dog doc Posted May 18, 2008 Report Share Posted May 18, 2008 Finn is short for Finndubh, which is Gaelic for white and black. I tried to name him Galen (for calm, which as a puppy he was, by and large) but he wouldn't come to it. I named him for his colors because when I was trying to pick which pup I wanted from his litter, I kept having meditations in which a distinctly-marked black and white adult dog would run through or come and sit and stare at me (suggesting I wasn't going to be taking one of the merles). I actually picked Finn based on his temperament test, not his colors; however, later it turned out that Finn's adult marking matched the meditation-dog's exactly (though at the time, as a pup, I couldn't tell.) MacKenzie means "child of the warlord". Kenzie is a feisty wee baggage, always ready to speak up for herself and not one to back down from a fight, although she's peaceful if offered the chance. The name just seemed to suit her, she being a Scottish dog and all. Ali (Ali Babba) came to me with that name. I thought about changing it, but Ali Babba is the prince of theives, and Ali is a lurcher - a thief-dog (from the Rom word "lur", which evidently means "thief"). Lurchers having been bred for the express purpose of poaching, being named after a notorious thief seemed kind of appropriate. There's also a sort of magic association with Ali Babba, and Ali came into being as a consequence of what seemed to be an immaculate conception, or else the consequence of some kind of hocus-pocus: his mother, a stockdog imported from the UK, was confined inside a 6 foot chainlink fence during her estrus (and only out in that when the owners were home), so everyone was most astonished when she came up all pregnant. Ali's father was a show whippet belonging to the daughter of the BC's owners. Whippet-boy evidently jumped the fence, enjoyed a brief but passionate romance with the woman of his dreams, and jumped back out again, to be found sitting innocently under the picnic table in the front yard, with no one the wiser... until a batch of bullet-shaped B&W babies were born. Raven got her name before I even knew I was getting her. Some of you may know Raven is from Julie Poudrier's breeding of Twist (and is sister to Pip and Phoebe). One day I was driving to work, minding my own biz, and this voice said, "You should name the puppy 'Raven'." (I was quite alone in the truck at the time). I'm thinking: What puppy would THAT be, pray tell? I'M not getting a puppy. (At the time Julie was teasing me a little about wouldn't I LOOOVVVE to have a big white puppy named Pudge to play with? - But I couldn't picture putting another male into the mix with my two.) However, through some unexpected twists and turns, I found myself in posession of a little mostly-black pup. Since the Little Voice knew before I did that I was getting a puppy, I decided to go with the suggestion... it suited her (a smart, tough black bird, inquisitive and inventive and just a little bit mystical)... and besides, it fit with the bird-name theme of the litter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1sheepdoggal Posted May 18, 2008 Report Share Posted May 18, 2008 Ah ha! So this is the Raven I'll be meeting tomorrow. I'll be sure to give her an extra hug for ya. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sluj Posted May 18, 2008 Report Share Posted May 18, 2008 Allie's name at the shelter was Alabama, apparently given by the shelter staff. Since she belonged to a rescue (I was fostering her), I didn't think I could change her name. In fact, she's still Alabama on all her vet records. But I prefer names of one or two syllables, so I shortened it to Allie on the drive home from the shelter. It didn't matter since she didn't respond to either name. I likely would have changed it altogether if I had known I would keep her. Anyways, she prefers a nickname derived from a string of baby-babble my boyfriend coos to her on a regular basis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ceredwyn Posted May 18, 2008 Report Share Posted May 18, 2008 Our late, great Girlfriend was "Cupcake" when the neighbor had her for a bit. No way. Our (then) baby coon hound Bubba was in love with her, so she was Bubba's Girlfriend even before she came to live with us. One of her many nicknames over the years was Pooter. And being a senior, myself, I can't remember why we started calling her that. DH has Young's Treeing Coonhounds caps embroidered with his coon hounds' names; but he also has one that says "Girlfriend the Wonderdog". Belle's name was Fly at the puppy mill, and her rescuer kept it, but she was one of many dogs there, and she never really seemed to answer to the name. They were a little worried no one would take her because of her scarred face, but she's always been the belle of the ball to us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK dog doc Posted May 18, 2008 Report Share Posted May 18, 2008 Ah ha! So this is the Raven I'll be meeting tomorrow. I'll be sure to give her an extra hug for ya. Please do! I miss her! (It's very pathetic.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmtst2 Posted May 19, 2008 Report Share Posted May 19, 2008 Loki...the god of chaos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silhouettestable Posted May 19, 2008 Report Share Posted May 19, 2008 Noah - came with his name. He was just a pup and I could have changed it but I didn't. Lightning - a name I was able to get my daughter to agree to instead of something very unsuitable she wanted to call him (can't remember now what is was, just that he couldn't be called that). Lightning really suits him anyways. Thunder - wanted something to go with Lightning, and what better. Flash - adopted with Thunder so we wanted it to also "go with" Lightning, plus he's very flashy looking with all his spots. Rain and Storm - by now we just had this whole weather theme going, so we stuck with it Flurry - another weather themed name, but more wintery sounding (more suitable maybe for a sled dog) No plans for any more additions for a while, but I'll be keeping a few names in mind like: Blizzard, Tornado, Cyclone, Hurricane, Whirlwind... Since I'll be racing the dogs I'd like them to fit with our theme plus be fast sounding if possible. If I ever run out of themed names or want to change themes, I might switch to bird names or tree names or something like that. I can't really explain why I like a theme, I never used to have one, but then again, I never used to have 7 dogs either! ETA: If Thunder or Flash had been female instead of male I probably would have called one of them Katrina, after the hurricane. They were born just a few months after that and slated for euthanasia in an overcrowded shelter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kayleegator Posted May 20, 2008 Report Share Posted May 20, 2008 Kaylee got her name from two sources: 'Ceilidh' which means 'dance' in Scots Gaelic, and from a freckle-faced engineer character in the late, great scifi series 'Firefly'. Had to anglicize the spelling! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sasha's Mom Posted May 21, 2008 Report Share Posted May 21, 2008 Black Cat: Ion. I always wanted a black cat named Ion who was positively charged. I'm a nerd (cation being a positively charged particle), and wanted to name my orange tabby Anne or Enin, (anions and catenins, both molecular entities), but hubby wouldn't let me. So she's a perfectly nondescript Ginger. Nikolai came with the name, but they spelled it phonetically. A Russian friend gave me the spelling. He knew it, and it was perfect. Sasha is the only dog we named. We had a short list, but wanted something we could yell. And one of my favorite characters from an obscure movie had the name - and it fits with the Russian theme. Except "Sasha is boy's name" - quote from movie. Again, it worked. Sassy came with her name. Seemed to fit, although "Princess" might be more apropo. Zoe, well, is as cute as a button, and her name was perfect. We have a foster right now, whose name foreshadows her (if husband gets his way) imminent addition to the pack. I'm rueing the day I agreed to transport her - little girl's name is Rue. Danielle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stockdogranch Posted May 22, 2008 Report Share Posted May 22, 2008 Caddy (AKA Toots Marie): Named after the protagonist in The Sound and the Fury. She was, as Faulkner said, "doomed." Sabre: Came with the name & I didn't change it Trucker B: Named after a friend's dog of long ago, Trucker, as in Keep on Truckin'. It needed another syllable, and B just seemed to fit Riddle: Named after her big sis Puzzel, in hopes she would grow up to be as good. She did. Trubble: While trying desperately to find her name, I found myself saying, "here comes trouble" every time I saw her. It fit, but the alternate spelling made it not so heavy and serious Tikkle: Named after the online list Tick-L; her mother had a TBD in the last weeks of pregnancy, and the list was very instrumental in helping Riddle and all her pups survive and thrive Alli: Named by Butch, who originally bought her as a pup. She has a white body and black face (& head). Named after Al Jolson A Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevieD Posted May 22, 2008 Report Share Posted May 22, 2008 this is probably obvious, but Zappa is named in tribute to the musician Frank Zappa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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