Just imagine if you had a dollar for every dog named Daisy! Or Dusty. Or Lassie. Or Buddy. Or Rex. They wouldn’t even have to be your dogs, just someone’s pets. You’d have a bath tub full of bucks. Or perhaps a swimming pool (preferably Olympic sized). It’s readily apparent where some of these popular pooch names originated. A best-selling book, a movie and a long-running TV series combined to make Lassie one of the most renowned dogs of modern times and provided a name that was apprehended by hundreds of canines. The popularity of the name Daisy may be attributed to the cartoon featuring the Bumstead family and their perky pup. Rex was one of a group of names alluding to royalty or positions of power such as King, Prince, Queen, General, Princess, Baron and so on. Names like Buddy or Pal were bestowed on dogs because it described their position in a relationship (and Companion was too long).
We’re talking call names here. Registered names are a different story.
An article about a long-time breeder mentioned he gave each new pup he retained the same name as the preceding one “because it makes it easier to remember.” But doesn’t a special dog deserve a special name? Of course there’s something to be said about names that are easy to remember. There have been times when I’ve stood in an obedience ring and when the judge asked, “Are you ready?” I’ve answered, “I will be as soon as I remember my dog’s name.” Even royalty had problems with dog names. Queen Victoria, a dog lover par excellence, must have run out of dog names or had trouble remembering them. Over the years, she had (among other breeds) 36 Pugs, of which two were named Rose, two answered to Fermach, two were called Miska, another two duos were named Quiz and Arjah, and there were three more each responding to Minka or Mops. Maybe they had name tags on their collars.
Over the years, I knew several people who had dogs named Poppy simply because they called the youngster Puppy until they could agree on a proper name. And then one day when Puppy was six or eight months old, they realized she needed a real name and turned to the closest one, which was Poppy.
When it comes to popular names, I’m old enough to remember when first grade readers were introduced to Dick and Jane and their dog, Spot, whose main source of entertainment seemed to be running. “See Spot run. Run Spot, run.” Not exactly a particularly original name. And the poor dog must have been exhausted after all that running.
It’s not really difficult to come up with creative call names. Names in sports or in the news. Names of characters in books or movies. Ever wonder how many dogs got dubbed Rambo? Occupations are another source of names. At one time, I named pups after natural disasters (earthquake, avalanche, landslide, et al). Read the name tags of clerks in stores. Some of them are positively unique! Got a hobby? (Beside dogs, of course.) Choose words that apply to it. How about cars? The automotive vocabulary is an absolute gold mine.
Names to avoid are those that make people laugh whenever you call your dog. How would you feel if people smirked, chuckled or laughed out loud whenever your name was mentioned? An article I read told of a foreign couple who moved to the U.S. and when their daughter was born, they opted for an English word that sounded ‘pretty’ to them without knowing its meaning. The poor girl was christened Diarrhea. Then there are the misguided souls who think Kong is a clever name for their Chihuahua. That’s just reinforcing the breed’s Napoleonic complex. That’s almost as bad as calling a Rottie Petunia.
And for heaven’s sake, skip the ‘cutesy’ names. A vet told of a lady who acquired a toy breed and wanted to name the pup Itsy Bitsy. Her husband objected. She asked the vet what he thought of the name. He said, “Imagine your dog slips through an open door one night and you (and your husband?) are walking the dark streets of your neighborhood calling ‘Itsy Bitsy’.” I believe she got the picture.
Entry blanks for performance sports usually request the dog’s call name as well as the registered name. If that’s the case, make sure you spell it correctly and print it clearly. A canine whose call name was Eeyore, like the donkey, came out as Eyesore. Then there was the pup named Pizzazz, only sloppy printing resulted in the Zs being mistaken for Ss.
One of the drawbacks of a common name is the chance of encountering another dog with the same moniker. Though, most of the time, it just makes for a bit of confusion. However, it’s interesting that owners who once used canine call names like Spot, Buddy, Rex or Rover have switched to ‘people’ names. Perhaps it’s a sign that dogs have become One of the Family rather than just a pet.
— alice bixler, Bearded Collie Club of America, alice@bedlamkennels.com.
