This month I’ve focused on adopting dogs, because October is Adopt a Shelter Dog Month. For anyone who has taken the time to visit a shelter this month and welcome a new dog into their life, “Bravo!”
Yet, October isn’t the only time of year pets come into our lives, and dogs aren’t the only types of animals we welcome into our families. No matter when we add to our household or what type of pet we choose, we have to name them. It’s almost as much fun as picking the pet, right?
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
~-William Shakespeare-~
A pet’s name is as much a reflection on the pet as it is on our personality. Which makes the decision, while fun, sometimes challenging. After all, we want to pick the most perfect name possible!
Some Things to Keep in Mind
Everyone goes about picking a name differently but picking a name that best suits your pet is crucial. You’ll want to consider things like:
• Personality and Temperament: What’s your dog’s disposition? Lazy? Sweet? Standoffish? Super playful? You wouldn’t want to name your dog something like Happy if Grumpy would be more apropos.
• Size and Breed: How big or small a dog is can give you some perspective on a potential name. Many people like to be cute with this, such as naming a Rottweiler Tiny. One of our neighbor’s has a Chihuahua she named Goliath.
• Gender: Some names, like Kitty, are unisex. They work equally well for male and female animals. But you probably wouldn’t want to name a boy dog Fifi and a girl dog Pierre. (Although with some pets, like fish, it’s not always easy telling what gender they are so it wouldn’t be hard to see how a girl could get a boy’s name and vice versa.)
• Species: many names are uni-species. What works for a cat would often work for a dog…or a parrot or a guinea pig.
How to Pick a Name
It took Wayne and I two days to come up with Murphy’s name. Wayne had made a list the night before we went back to the shelter to get him. We were leaning towards Remington. But after spending some time with Murph, we felt that wasn’t quite right. During a walk at the beach “Murphy” came to us and we knew that was his name.
1. Involve the whole family. Have everyone choose a name and then vote to see which name you like best.
2. Brainstorm and write down whatever pops into your head.
3. Use baby name books for ideas.
4. Visit sites like BabyDogNames.com, Petrix’s Database of 2,000 dog names, Next Day Pets list of male and female dog names for inspiration. (Even though they’re dog-related sites, many of these names would work for any type of animal.)
Question to Readers
How do you name your pets? Do you know the name ahead of time? Or do you wait to see what kind of personality they have?
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