Naming a puppy isn’t as easy as I thought. Before I had one, I had dog names in mind, but they were for certain breeds.
If I had a Boxer,
I’d name him Fido:
If I had a French Poodle,
I’d name her Fi-Fi:
If I had a Scottish Terrier,
I’d name him MacTavish:
So what’s so hard about naming the puppy I got? People name things all the time. I’d never paid so close attention to the names you see and hear every day, as when my puppy was nameless. I noted names everywhere:
Street names like Laurel and Songbird and Newberry.
Store names like Staples and Kohls and Levitz.
Websites like Amazon and Xanga and GrayCharles.
City names like Chehalis and Vashon and Illahee.
Musicians’ names like Taylor and Mayer and Otis.
But were any of them good enough to use? My puppy had to have not just any name, but the perfect name.
The analytical part of me kicked in and I started to research dog names. A Google search provided seemingly endless sites with suggestions for names. You can find lists of names based on breed, male or female, popularity, language, or things like film or comic book characters. Lists of the most popular dog names are:
| MALES 1 Max 2 Jake 3 Buddy 4 Bailey 5 Sam 6 Rocky 7 Buster 8 Casey 9 Cody 10 Duke 11 Charlie 12 Jack 13 Harley 14 Rusty 15 Toby 16 Murphy 17 Shelby 18 Sparky 19 Barney 20 Winston |
FEMALES 1 Maggie 2 Molly 3 Lady 4 Sadie 5 Lucy 6 Daisy 7 Ginger 8 Abby 9 Sasha 10 Sandy 11 Dakota 12 Katie 13 Annie 14 Chelsea 15 Princess 16 Missy 17 Sophie 18 Bo 19 Coco 20 Tasha |
Did you notice how many names on these lists are people names? It hasn’t always been this way. It turns out that pet names are trendy, too.
“More and more, pets are true family members,” said (Kal Kan) company spokeswoman Alice Nathanson.*
That people names are used for dogs is just a reflection of the fact that now they are viewed as more than just animals to live outdoors and guard the house or herd the livestock or retrieve game.
Some sites provided advice on choosing a name, rather than just lists of names: Choose a name of one or two syllables for easier training. Don’t pick a name that sounds like a command, like “Sketch” if you train your dog to fetch. Find a name that conveys the image you want for your dog, since the name itself can influence how people respond. After all, would you rather meet a rotweiler for the first time named “Killer” or “Snuggles”?
I started a short list of possible names. Short being relative to the thousands of possibilities. I could have taken the easy way out and just named him Spot, I guess, as he bore a resemblance to the story-book character:
Or given up altogether and hired Jerry.
In the end, choosing a name came down to a matter of necessity, not finally finding the perfect one. How long could a puppy go without a name? We found ourselves calling him nicknames, none of which I wanted to stick. Then others started giving suggestions of what to call him, none of which I wanted to stick, either. So he got a name that’s not too trendy, and not too person-alized. He got a name that represents him well. My dog got a name that seems appropriate for ‘Man’s Best Friend’.
-Amigo’s friend
