Dog Names

I have always tried to think of something a little different when naming my dogs, I know that they aren't necessarily original but, with the exception of Bradley and Tyler, they weren't names that you would hear everyday or names that people would call their children.

So far I have had Prince, (our crossbreed from when I was 2 years old to 16 years old), Jasper, my first Irish Setter, followed by Harvey, Georgia, Miles, Bailey, Tyler, Remy, Amber, Gracie, Leon, Fabian, Leonie, Bramble, Gideon, Ebony and Bradley (English Setters), Rory, Bridie, Alfie and Barney (Irish Setters), and Lacey and Tawny (Pointers).

Clive and I had a discussion this morning about what we would call another setter if we ever got one and he likes the name Oliver, which I like too, but he said I choose "poofy" names and that he would feel embarrassed calling out Fabians name if he were over the park with him..this stems from me threatening to buy him a toy poodle and calling it Fifi

I understand that some are rescues and possibly have the same name that they were previously given. Funnily enough, both Gracie and Tawny were called Lucy when I purchased them, Gracie was a couple of years old and Tawny just 6 months, but neither of them knew their names and learnt their new names within hours. I decided to change them as a friend had a Lucy and it would have been confusing when they were all together at visiting times.

This got me to wondering how you go about choosing your dogs names and do you bear your surname in mind? You see, Clives surname is Parrish and I think it would be funny at the vets to hear Percy Parrish being called out

I like place names hence Sydney, Rio, Milan, the list can be endless I've also had a less exotic Dudley and Shannon and Tyler who was named after a local beauty spot. Frankie and Diesel already had their names and they were ok as in I didn't object to them, Milan was Miel which sounded like MEOW with my accent so that had to go, tbh she was answering to her new name the day we changed it.
One of my cats is called Chile although we spelt it chillie for the sake of pronunciation at the vets.

i like really unusual funny names that not many people have. for instance my dog is called daphni, and has been since she was two days old it was either that or penelope i have already decided the name of my next dog ( a hairless boy crested, hopefully appearing sometime next year) who is going to be named mowgli, like the boy off jungle book. people look at me funny when i tell them what my dog is called, but i like the fact that she has something individual and isnt just a regular max, toby or gem etc.

I never gave our surname a thought (though it isn't one which would need careful consideration when being mixed with a first name).

I do wish I'd thought more about getting mixed up with names though....when my brain isn't functionally properly and gets confused about which dog I'm calling, I quite often shout 'Humpy'

Ben was called Ben because my husband choose it, I never really loved it though, always wanted to choose something a bit more unique. In fairness it did suit him and not sure a more unsual name would have.
I prefer more "cool" and "different" types of names for dogs. My new GSD pup is called Bear. My husband hates it but that is too bad lol. He thinks it is embarrassing. I like it because I don't think that there will be too many other Bear's about, although have come across a couple. We once had a dog called Blue, I choose that one too. I thought it was nice and everyone seemed to like that name. My sister has now called her cat Blue lol.
If I were to ever get another dog I am quite liking the name Sticks.
I do think about the surname sound, my name is Smith, so that seems to go with most names.

well.... jelly.... need i say more. i do really want a male bedlington called rupert giles (it's a buffy the vampire slayer thing- please don't judge me). i like dogs to have surnames too. jelly's fullname is as you can probably guess; jelly belly.
i like unusual names- also old fashioned names- i like daphne. my friend has a jrtxgsd called ruth.

I like unusual names too. Loki was called Loki because he was a Norwegian breed and Loki was the Norse god of mischief (and fire) which suited him, although he was almost called Erik. Rio is called Rio because Duran Duran were on the radio as we pulled into the breeders to pick her up. She would have been called Lyra, after the character in the Golden Compass, but no one but me liked that name. Dandy was already called Dandy when we got him, and we kept it because it really suits him, although we do get some raised eyebrows as people expect him to have a 'tougher' name.

If I get another Estrela male I will call him Ender I think, after Ender Wiggin in Ender's Game, one of my favourite books. I like the name Chilli too, for a red dog. I always struggle with names for bitches though!

I named frey when we picked her up as a rescue because she had no name and we were in the van driving back. She was sooo small and scared so she sat in between me and the kennel supervisor. I turned the radio on real low and the band The Fray was playing and she sat up and her ears went up and she was doing the head tilting thing, so i decided on naming her after the band but spelling it different
xx

I like to pick names that mean something to me, which with me being a book worm means charcters out of books. Ela (short for Elena, only used when being naughty) was named after Elena the only female werewolf in the books by Kelly armstrong. Our new girl is going to be called Raina again after a female werewolf from the Anita Blake Vampire hunter books.

Cassie was named by us and i wanted an Irish souunding name because she came from Ireland. Looked at loads but this was the only one me and my OH both liked but he wanted to spell it the more normal way. Cant remember the other spelling now but i know it meant 'bright'.

With a a new puppy to name every year, it can be tough. I find http://www.lowchensaustralia.com/names/petnames.htm#1 and http://www.cat-dog-names.com/ valuable.

The assistance dog school Tux belongs to gives everybody getting a puppy out of a litter a list of 30 names all starting with the same litter. I didn't like any of them until I remembered the Linux penguin.

We used Xanthe, greek for yellow, for our last female, yellow Lab. Our last female black Lab was Nita, Chocktaw for bear cub. Peggy came to us at 7 months with a name. Later we named a German Shepherd Gretchen, the German version of Peggy.