The naming of dogs is a difficult matter, one that should not be entered into lightly! It has been my experience, that a dog will live up to his name. Not in ALL cases, but it happens often enough that I feel the need to be quite careful in the naming of all my future puppies!
Kaos for instance, was from a “k” litter and I wanted something that sounded a little crazy. His uncle bore the name Havoc with flair, and I thought Kaos would suit my working puppy quite well. I now pay the price, he lives his name quite well! Always prepared to have a good time and he derives as much satisfaction as possible from creating chaos.
Maverick, takes on the renegade traits of a Maverick. Well, in some ways I guess. He is truly my “clown” dog, and far too smart for his own good. He will try to get away with anything he can though.
There is Cyrano who was named after our families first dog. THAT dog was named after Cyrano de Bergerac, best known for his very large nose. Considering that Cyrano is a german shepherd, it suits him well. Cyrano de bergerac is also quite the amorous flirt, and Cyrano the dog is definitely a people pleaser, who wants nothing more then to snuggle up. But which came first, the personality, or his name? Did he develop the personality BECAUSE of his name?
My little dog Cosette was named after Cosette from Les Miserables. She always was one of my favorite characters. One website said that it means “little pet” in french. Since this is a small dog, Cosette seemed to suit her just fine.
So how DOES one decide on what to name their pets? There are so many ideas to choose from. Websites and books provide a wide variety of ideas. Names from Literature, Movies, Art, Historical figures, to classic pet names. Names that describe the dog or breed or characteristics might be a good choice. I once had a dog named Ilio. He was from the “i” litter and needed to be named with something starting with an ” i “. Since I wanted him to be a very strong male german shepherd, that didn’t leave many choices. I stumbled across Ilio on a website which apparently means “dog” in Hawaiian. So basically I had a dog named dog.
In over 20 years of training dogs, I’ve heard my fair share of unique dog names, as well as the truly common. There are a LOT of golden retrievers named Buddy or Lucky, chihuahuas named “monster” or “killer” or some other “big dog” type name, and large dogs named “small dog” type names. I hear a lot of Rocky, Rosie, and Billy. Have run into quite a few named George lately as well. One of my favorites was “prince diamond blue eyes”. Of course it could be worse, Kaos was VERY close to being named “Kaptain Kitty Kat!” Of course, I just couldn’t do that to the poor puppy!
My point is, be careful what you name your pup, he may just grow into that name!
