Gelert was almost a Gulliver, a name which I still like. He had been known as Frankie by the people he came from.
If I had ended up with a bitch she was going to be either Sugar or Angel. I find picking girl's names much more difficult lol.

I've not named any of my dogs. My mum named Shadow after a book she read as a child, Shadow the Sheepdog. But everyone thought we'd named him after one of the Gladiators from the tv show so when we got another dog my parents decided to stick with that theme and so called him Wolf. Which was probably the most unsuitable name ever as he was the exact opposite of the Gladiator Wolf.

Rupert was named by the bloke who mostly looked after him at the shelter and he answered to it so I didn't change it although I hated it at first. It grew on me though and it just seemed to suit him.

Spencer was named by his previous owners and responds to it so although it's not a name I'd have chosen he has remained Spencer. At least I'm not likely to get a dozen dogs responding when I call him I suppose

Moon came with his name so there was no question of changing it, and it suited him.

Cain was called Harry by his original owners but we wanted to give him a fresh start. I was going to call him Milo or Dillon, then Lucas, but when he turned up they didn't suit him. So he became HurriCain because he demolished the house

Guinness came with his name. It's not what I would have chosen, but Jon liked it and we decided to stick with it. I tentatively have a name picked for the Collie I would like sometime in the future, but it depends on the sex (would need to be a bitch) and if I think it suits them.

Ted came with his name we where going to change it as we weren't sure about it but it seemed to suit him and we couldn't think of anything else so kept it I have got some ideas of names i like for female dogs but not so much for males.

I wanted to name my dog Tupence

I had also thought of Lilly but we stuck with Millie in the end, turns out millie is a very popular name for both dogs and little girls, poor Millie she can be very confused sometimes!

I wanted to call Jake, "Radar" because of his large, always alert ears. H pooh poohed that idea and came up with Jake instead.

Jasper nearly ended up as Whisper - he didn't make a sound for the first few weeks we had him. He's now found his voice and Whisper would have been very inappropriate, let's just say!

Ripley was nearly a radar

Maverick was called cash for the first day or so and then I decided maverick suited him better. He is anything but a maverick!

Becka was always Becka, even before we bought her home don't know why it just suited her.

My mum named Abbie and Sam.

I wanted to call dogs either Jake or Seth, but when we got Cooper he was already named and Jake and Seth didn't suit him, and although Cooper is a bit 'chavvy' for me, it suited him. He was nearly called Harley by his foster family.

My mum wants to call her next one Sadie, and I want Cordie

Layton had been named Brian by the rescue who had him. The longer version of the story was there were two dogs picked up together - a wirehaired lurcher and him - and so since he had the long hair, he got called Brian, and the shorthaired lad got called Freddie (after Brian May and Freddie Mercury)... unfortunately, the kennel staff couldn't spell very well - so he was down as Brain on most of his documentation - which would have been distinctly inappropriate in his case!

We were trying desperately to think of a name that would fit him - closest we'd come across was Gandalf because of him being all beardy with big bushy eyebrows - but the how much of a prat would you feel shouting the name in the park factor took effect there... in the end I was just looking at the computer games on the bookshelf, looked at the Professor Layton games and it came from there.

Nancy was already named and we couldn't think of a better one for her really - although it tends to just be Si-si now or Nan.

The cats - I went through a phase of alcohol related names - so we had Smirnoff, Bailey(s), Pernod and I was going to name the current one Tia (Maria) but she came as a Suki and just absolutely suited it to a T so it stayed.

We had a Radar growing up - the world's stupidest German Shepherd... and that was the vet's verdict on his lack of intelligence!