What's In a Name
I've been thinking about what we name our pets since Sirius and I met another rough collie at the dog park last week named George. I didn't ask George's mom why she chose that name, but I kept thinking of English royalty and all the King Georges there have been. He was definitely a regal looking dog. And it made me wonder: how well do dogs fit their names usually? We name our pets based on our own personalties and passions, after all. Do they somehow end up working with the pet? In which case, then you could have the chicken and the egg discussion: which came first, the dog's personality, or did they somehow mold their personality to fit the name (just like I don't know if I act like a Leo because I grew up being told that's what my personality was supposed to be like, or am I like this because I'm a Leo...)
Over the years, I've had so many dogs ebb and flow into my life, I can look to any number of them to make whatever point I would choose to, such as names are just names and the dogs have no idea who they named after anyway, or the opposite.
Take our dog Ashley for example. She came to us as an adult stray. A friend whom I worked with found her out on a construction site, eating from the construction workers' garbage. She called me up, told me about her, and I immediately said I'd take her in. She spent the rest of her days with us. But that first night we had her, we were trying to figure out what to call her. We had to assume she had a name, so I started just spewing out random names, including names of my daughters' friends. When I came to "Ashley" she cocked her head, and there you have it. There was no more thought put into it than that. But, after I thought about her for a while this morning, I decided this was a good fit: Ashley was the name of a friend of my oldest daughter. Ashley the dog ended up being a very loyal friend to her too. So...despite its rather random selection, the name worked in a way.
The worst named dog we ever had was Precious. There was a story to the name that was - dare I say - precious. She was re-homed to us from the family of a police officer who lived around the corner. He was being assigned a canine officer, and no other companion pets were allowed in the same home so they tearfully had to let her go. A lab/malamute mix, Precious was hardly the kind of dog who normally has such a dainty name. But the story went that when she was just a puppy, she became very sick - she carried a scar all her life on her leg from the IV used to pump fluids in to her to try and save her - since the family didn't know if she'd live or die, they were reluctant to give her a proper name and just called her their "precious" (I don't think they had a Lord of the Rings reference in mind). She recovered, and the name stuck. But it was - we thought - a ridiculous name for such a large dog and wanted to change it, but couldn't decide on what. Coincidentally, we got her on the Saturday before the AFC Championship game that would send the Steelers to Super Bowl XXX against my husband's Cowboys. So, we made a bet. Whoever's team won the Super Bowl could rename the dog. Sadly, I lost that bet, and he came up with a string of perfectly awful names: Deiondre (for Deion Sanders), Emmitt (for Emmitt Smith), and the stupid list goes on. I vetoed each and every one. So Precious she remained, and he was handed on a silver platter a story he's retold a million times (minimum) to almost anyone who will listen about how I welch on my bets. Precious was, however, a good and docile dog. There was nothing "malamute" about her outside of her coat and size - her personality was the more laid back lab. So...despite my disdain for the name, it wasn't a bad one for her.
I have to confess that Geddy suits his name perfectly, but I had no idea that would come to pass at the time I dubbed him that. Named for the lead singer of my favorite band, Geddy Lee of Rush, whose vocal range in his younger days spanned three octaves, with his early songs favoring the higher ranges. I have friends who will tell you it's like listening to fingers on a chalk board. I'll tell you its meaningful and amazing. To each his own. But like his namesake, my Geddy has a rather interesting vocal range, and likes to favor the higher range when he's excited. This does not please my neighbors. I doubt they have any Rush in their music library either. Their loss.
Rooney is named for Pittsburgh royalty. The Rooney family - take your pick which one. It's hard to say really if she's aptly named because of that wide ranging list of individuals, but I'll make the case that she is. She's not a cigar chomping Yinzer with a heart of gold like The Chief. I think she's more like his son, Dan. I mean, the persona I saw of him - soft spoken, dignified, sincere. She's the calming force in our trio. I think Mr. Rooney would approve. I hope so anyway.
Finally, there's Sirius. He wasn't actually named for the Harry Potter character Sirius Black. As a matter of fact, his breeder didn't even know who that was. Rather, he and all his litter mates had names of stars and constellations. Sirius means glowing in Greek, and it's the brightest star in the sky. But, of course, nerd that I am, he immediately caught my attention out of all the puppies because of the character Sirius. When the breeder analyzed the Volhard Aptitude Test and matched us to Sirius, I literally jumped for joy - it was meant to be as far as I was concerned. There was never any doubt Sirius would retain that name. But, I'll confess, he probably suits the original intent of the name as a "bright star" better than the geekier rendition of it. He is indeed my bright star. Whatever source you want to attach to his name, I'm glad he's part of my army.
So, at the end of the day. based on my own limited case study, I have to say, we as pet owners, tend to hit the nail on the head more often than we don't, and we match our dogs to the right names. What's your pet's name? And what do you think?
Over the years, I've had so many dogs ebb and flow into my life, I can look to any number of them to make whatever point I would choose to, such as names are just names and the dogs have no idea who they named after anyway, or the opposite.
Take our dog Ashley for example. She came to us as an adult stray. A friend whom I worked with found her out on a construction site, eating from the construction workers' garbage. She called me up, told me about her, and I immediately said I'd take her in. She spent the rest of her days with us. But that first night we had her, we were trying to figure out what to call her. We had to assume she had a name, so I started just spewing out random names, including names of my daughters' friends. When I came to "Ashley" she cocked her head, and there you have it. There was no more thought put into it than that. But, after I thought about her for a while this morning, I decided this was a good fit: Ashley was the name of a friend of my oldest daughter. Ashley the dog ended up being a very loyal friend to her too. So...despite its rather random selection, the name worked in a way.
I have to confess that Geddy suits his name perfectly, but I had no idea that would come to pass at the time I dubbed him that. Named for the lead singer of my favorite band, Geddy Lee of Rush, whose vocal range in his younger days spanned three octaves, with his early songs favoring the higher ranges. I have friends who will tell you it's like listening to fingers on a chalk board. I'll tell you its meaningful and amazing. To each his own. But like his namesake, my Geddy has a rather interesting vocal range, and likes to favor the higher range when he's excited. This does not please my neighbors. I doubt they have any Rush in their music library either. Their loss.Rooney is named for Pittsburgh royalty. The Rooney family - take your pick which one. It's hard to say really if she's aptly named because of that wide ranging list of individuals, but I'll make the case that she is. She's not a cigar chomping Yinzer with a heart of gold like The Chief. I think she's more like his son, Dan. I mean, the persona I saw of him - soft spoken, dignified, sincere. She's the calming force in our trio. I think Mr. Rooney would approve. I hope so anyway.
Finally, there's Sirius. He wasn't actually named for the Harry Potter character Sirius Black. As a matter of fact, his breeder didn't even know who that was. Rather, he and all his litter mates had names of stars and constellations. Sirius means glowing in Greek, and it's the brightest star in the sky. But, of course, nerd that I am, he immediately caught my attention out of all the puppies because of the character Sirius. When the breeder analyzed the Volhard Aptitude Test and matched us to Sirius, I literally jumped for joy - it was meant to be as far as I was concerned. There was never any doubt Sirius would retain that name. But, I'll confess, he probably suits the original intent of the name as a "bright star" better than the geekier rendition of it. He is indeed my bright star. Whatever source you want to attach to his name, I'm glad he's part of my army.
So, at the end of the day. based on my own limited case study, I have to say, we as pet owners, tend to hit the nail on the head more often than we don't, and we match our dogs to the right names. What's your pet's name? And what do you think?
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