Dog Names | Strong Dog

Dog Names: How to Name a Dog

“Good Girl Sparkle Bottom!”

It’s really sort of silly in my opinion, but how and what to name a dog can be a daunting task. Look around, there are hundreds of websites with different techniques on how and what to name a dog. One can buy books on what to name a dog, get advice on how to name a dog there’s even dog name forums where folks can bounce ideas off each other when settling on what to name their dogs. Is all this necessary? They are just dogs, right?

Not so fast. It’s said that over the span of an average dog’s life which is right around the decade mark, you will call your dog’s name between 30 and 40 thousand times. That’s A LOT! So, with that thought in mind, maybe there is some wisdom in taking your time when considering how and what to name your dog.

What did He Call That Dog?

Before we go any further, how does this sound being yelled in public? “Heeeeeerrreee Sprinkle Toes” or “Come here Pumpkin Butt” or “Cuddle Lover, you come here right now!”…see what I mean? Maybe some of these folks should have spent a little more time pondering what to name their dogs.

Here are 4 basic “ground rules” when thinking of how to name your dog. The following list should be considered when determining what to name your dog before you ruin your dog’s self esteem and embarrass yourself publicly by shouting what could otherwise be construed as a mild form of Tourettes.

Pick a Name your dog can understand: Dog’s speak body language and voice inflection, not English. One or two syllables in ideal. Don’t go crazy trying to impress your friends. Your dog’s name is a calling card tool, not a gauge of social acceptance.
Choose a name you can yell in public: Pretty self explanatory here. We’ve all seen those owners at the dog parks regretting what they had to announce at high decibels.
Avoid names that sound like a command: Just consider the basics when thinking of what to name your dog. Avoid names that sound like “sit”, “stay”, “no”, etc.
Pick timeless dog names: Rollie Pollie and Puddles are cute puppy names, but what will that sound like in 5 years?

No Pressure!

With these 4 thoughts considered, the rest is up to you. Picking a dog name, unlike picking a child’s name allows for a wider “brush” of sorts where you wont have to worry about hurting someones feelings or keeping a family tradition. Settling on what to name a dog should be a fun experience, sometimes how to name a dog can be a heart warming story. The fact is how you name that dog will vary as much as the dogs themselves. Do you want a funny name, a cute name, a literary name, a masculine name, a famous name, the list goes on and on and should be left up to the individual owner.

The only time a dog’s name really matters is if they are a hoity toity show dog registered with the American Kennel Club. The intent of this write up is to help the majority of dog owners, not the prestigious few whom need a litter and generational name like King Charles Spaniel Rover Dover III. If that’s you, check out the AKC rules on how to name your dog.

L-O-L-A, LooooooLa

I am the proud owner of pound puppy named Lola. Lola is a dainty looking dog with a deep bark. When considering what to name her, it brought to mind the Kinks song “Lola” specifically the lyric, “Well she walked liked a woman and talked like a man”. Our other dog is named Barney, for no other reason that he looked like Barney Rubble from the Flintstones. I’ve owned almost 30 dogs and each one was named for the thought that they evoked, so in that spirit I might suggest the acronym B.A.P.O.H.

Breed- What to name a dog could be as simple as using the breed. An Russian Wolfhound named Ivan, as an example.

Appearance- A big, round fluffy dog could be named Bear

Personality- A smart, inquisitive dog could be named Einstein, or a slow moving, lazy dog could be Sloth

Opposite- Another good way of how to name a dog could be the opposite. A Chihuahua named Bully or a Pit Bull named Cuddles.

Hobbies- Do you play tennis? How bout a dog named Racket? Are you a hunter? How about Tracker?

How and what to name a dog should be a fun experience. Everyone will have a different strategy for how to name a dog and although there may be disagreements on what to name a dog, the important part is simply that you have a dog.

Dog Names : Rover

A Dog Named Rover

Like many people, I’m fascinated with historical significances in common and or generally accepted terms or names, be it a person’s name or a dog’s name or just an accepted cliche’. As an example, the general acceptance of a man’s name being Joseph is a biblical reference, or a dog named Fido is a reference to Abraham Lincoln’s dog with a Latin definition of “faithful”, but what about the dog name, Rover?

In terms of dog names, the name Rover is darn near synonymous with the word “dog” itself, much the same way Fido is. Mentioned is casual conversation, “rover” would most likely conjur up images of a dog in some form or fashion, but have you ever stopped to wonder why?

Child’s Play

My first recollection of the word “rover” comes from maybe 1st or 2nd grade as a game teachers made us play at school when they obviously didn’t have a well planned curriculum. The class would form two lines facing each other while holding hands we would then call someone out in the other line to run across and try to break through the arms of your class mates after the coaxing chant of “Red rover, red rover send Billy right over”. Ah, fun times…not.

Today, even though still synonymous with the word “dog” itself, “Rover” refers to anything but a four legged, furry house mate. NASA has a Rover that they put on Mars to explore. Rover is also a popular morning radio show; it’s a really cool sport utility vehicle, it’s also a phrase associated with something new replacing something old or a request to move your butt when used as “move over Rover”, It’s a folk song sung to the tune of “Four Leaf Clover”….”I’m looking over, my dead dog Rover….” but no longer is it a dog’s name.

That’s All Folks!

For a history of the dog name Rover, we shall turn to the all knowing, sage like icon that made stuttering socially acceptable, Porky Pig. Porky Pig had a dog named Rover but even he didn’t know why he called his dog A-rr, a-rr, rr,r a Rover.

By definition, a rover is a wanderer. That makes sense in the SUV application as well as with NASA’s exploration of other planets and it is, in that sense, by all means fitting. Used as a dog’s name, Rover’s historical significance appears by all accounts to be just that, a wandering dog.

We all know that the dog name Rover was hugely popular 50 to 100 years ago and longer, but unlike Fido, there is no Latin meaning, there is no iconic owner or social or historical reference to tie into a deep, intellectual meaning for why a dog name equated with the canine breed itself was so popular other than the damned dog wandered off out of the yard one day and has now received this insignificant scarlett letter to bear for life.

Who Let the Dogs Out?

Although not documented, and this would be me grabbing for straws for some type of historical meaning, however I would also have to suppose that the American Indians were much better suited to name an explorer “Wandering Dog” opposed to Rover as it just doesn’t have the same cool effect.

So there you have it. If you’ve ever sat up at nights pondering where the dog name Rover originated, and I know you have, put your curiosity to bed, because it seems to be a dog that ran away.

Dog Names: Top 10 list, With a Twist

Top Ten List with a Twist

Okay, I know what you’re thinking…”Oh geez, another top ten list of dog names” and factually, I agree with you. If you did a web search for the top ten dog names in any given year, most likely, you’ll find the same list over and over, at least I did; and that very fact got me thinking.

Top ten lists are cool and all, but what do they really mean? Is there something deeper than just 10 popular dog names? I for one, think so, but only if we add a twist! A twist that could possibly bring meaning to the mundane, icing on our cake, food for our thoughts…well, you get the idea. What better fun twist is there than one of statistics. Yes! Exciting, right? By itself, no, but what if we took it a step further and matched the top ten dog names with the top ten dog breeds for the same year? What would that say about us as a dog loving people? As a tail wagging society? Can we draw a meaningful conclusion that dog names and dog breeds at matched reflections of the owners or maybe a current state of affairs in the country. Lets see…

Names vs. Breeds

Fighting out of the “Red” corner of the Veterinary Pet Insurance vault, weighing in at 360,000 pet insurance policies written in 2010, we give you the top ten dog names of 2010:

1. Buddy

2. Max

3. Sadie

4. Jack

5. Daisy

6. Lucy

7. Lady

8. Charlie

9. Rocky

10. Duke

And fighting out of the “Blue” corner weighing in at hundreds of thousands registered dogs in the United States, we give you the top ten most popular breeds from the American Kennel Club:

1. Labrador Retriever

2. German Shepherd Dogs

3. Yorkshire Terriers

4. Beagles

5. Golden Retrievers

6. Bulldogs

7. Boxers

8. Dachshunds

9. Poodles

10. Shih Tzu

Get Ready to Rumble

For our purposes, let’s mix the most popular dog breed with the most popular dog name, shall we? The proverbial “They” say that not only the dog, but the name of the dog is a reflection of their owners, so what do we get when we do that? I give you the new and improved, top ten dog name list with a twist!

#10, A Shih Tzu named Duke! OK, I can see that one. Shih Tzus could be of royalty, they appear to be high maintenance and “proper” when combined with the name Duke as in the English decent, that one could make sense. As for the owner of Duke the Shih Tzu, I’d have to place him with an older couple that likes their dog more than their grown children and the children know it.

#9, A Poodle named Rocky! Hmmm, I have some mixed feelings here. When I hear the name Rocky, I think of the “Yo Adrian” version of the name and Poodles are smart dogs, usually pampered pooches by most accounts, so what does this breed with that name say about the owner? Someone that wants to sound like a biker gang, rough neck but is really just a big foo-foo on the inside? That describes some people I know…

#8, a Dachshund named Charlie! OK, I don’t think anyone is going to argue this one. That makes total sense. It’s not Charles, it’s Charlie and it’s not a Shih Tzu, it’s a Dachshund. Yeah, he has some short legs, but we all have a set back and we get along, right? I’m certain that the owners of Charlie the Dachshund is a middle class family in Middle America with a white picket fence and 2.5 kids. The name matches the breed. Good job statistics!

#7, A Boxer named Lady! When picking the dog name Lady for a Boxer, what is this owner saying? Elegance, grace and class as in the historical ideal of a lady? Then matching it to a breed that is typically more petite, is a good cuddler and can be neurotic? Seems like a match to me. Boxers are good family dogs. Ladies over men are better family “dogs”, that’s a match. Boxers shed a lot. You ever take a shower after your wife or girlfriend and see the hair in the drain and wonder why she’s not as bald as you? That’s a match too. Statistics win again!

#6, A Bulldog named Lucy! Look at her face…Need I say More? That screams the dog name Lucy, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Lucy rode a skate board on You tube. That’s a match!

#5, A Golden Retriever named Daisy! I have to say, I’m seeing a pattern here with fitting dog names. I’ve never met a Golden that wasn’t sweet, gentle and mild mannered. Matched with the delicate natural beauty and simplicity of one of the most common flowers in a daisy and again, we have a match!

#4 A Beagle named Jack! OK, I confess this one is appropriate too, but almost falls into the “too obvious” category. Here’s a practical owner whom doesn’t see the need for imagination when naming their dog but who, by the very same token, didn’t need to. Besides, I’m sure they already have cats named Petunia and Pumperknicle so they needed a “Jack”.

#3, A Yorkshire Terrier named Sadie! The 80′s called and they want their iconic phrase “gag me with a spoon” back. OK, based on the stats, I know there are a lot of you with Yorkies named Sadie and I certainly can’t condemn that, they’re actually great dogs, but did you have to go over the top proper with the dog name? It’s like the opposite end of the spectrum of Lucy the Bulldog. It’s cutsie wootsie gone wild…am I alone here?

#2 A German Shepherd named Max. Finally, some testosterone. No, it’s not Maxwell, it’s Max and if you have a problem with it, go talk to the German Shepherd. A blue collar dog with a blue collar name. Being that today is Father’s Day, I’m going to say that after Mom named their Yorkie Sadie, then she let Dad name the German Shepherd. I suddenly want to play rugby, eat a bloody steak and burp loudly in public while scratching myself. Who’s with me?

Statistics Win!

Drum roll please…And the number one dog name of 2010 coupled with the number one dog breed of 2010 IS…Buddy, the Labrador Retriever! Well, there’s a perfect ending, huh? Labs are fantastic dogs, obviously or they wouldn’t be the big cheese in dog breeds, and matched with the dog name Buddy that truly embraces what our dogs are for us, they’re our buddies. We spend every day with them, we welcome them into our homes and we consider them family. Buddy the Lab owner is, metaphorically at least, all of us that own and love a dog.

So there is truth to the fact that dogs and their names are well chosen by their owners. Our list with a twist seems to prove just that.