How Do You Name Your Dogs?

Khai (started as Chi -- the Greek letter) My husband (boyfriend then) and I were both in College Greek life... seems dorky 10 years later :o). Well, changed to Khai, because no one could pronounce Chi.
Tundra -- my husband's roomate's Toyota Truck. My husband had a camry then... kinda lame, so the dog got the "cool" car's name.

I picked my cat names by mostly color and/or something unique. My cats are:

Baby (brown tiger tabby with full rear white boots and white front socks)

Rocky (a beauitful cream and shades of grey tabby - his swirl pattern looks like rocks I've seen in Earth Science)

Cinder (all medium grey medium long hair)

Calliope (was given to me with that name - medium long haired white cat with brown tabby splotches)

Pike (short haired white with brown tabby splotches)

Boy (all red tabby)

Mama (had total of 6 kitties - she's a short hair tortoise shell)

Silky (medium long haired - all light grey with white chest and tummy)

Tux (medium long haired - all black with white chest and tummy)

Cirrus (cream and light red tabby - almost looks cream or white)

Moon (all black)

Snowball (white body with light red seal points (tail, ears and nose)

Stripe (red tabby with white tummy and socks)

My Dad's name is Bob, so when we got a dalmatian, we named her Bob's Marley. A few years later we got another dalmatian and his name was Bob's Dylan. Our next dog was going to be Bob's Barker, but my parents ended up rescuing 2 dogs that already had names.

My yellow lab got her name b/c I love Daisies and I always wanted a big, sweet yellow lab so I could name her Daisy. Hubby bought her for me for our first anniversary :)
All our other pets have been named by the kids.
Black Cat = Blacky
Calico Cat = Precious
Black/Grey Cat = Sammy
Our chickens all have names = Pure, Shadow, Midnight, Dixie, Dan, Reggie, Alice, Star, Jane and Mary.
Fish = Bumble Bee and Tony Stark
Frogs = Sunshine and Kermit

cute naming of your dogs. :)

My dog is a boxer. So his previous owner (who had him as a puppy. I got him when he was 1 yr) named him "Cassius Clay" which is Muhammad Ali's name.... Muhammad Ali was a boxer. I've heard of other boxer dogs named Tyson, but I like my little Cassius (pronounced Cashus.) I call him "Cash."

@ Pamela - are ALL of those cats inside your house??

We usually name a dog after something he/she does or looks like.

My first dog was an adopted wirehaired terrier (mixed breed). I called him "Whiskers" because his hair was like my dad's whiskers.

We had a dog that was sired by a fence jumper with my AKC airdale. Our family couldn't agree on a name (8 kids, a mom, and a dad) so I said we would call the puppy "pup" until we could agree on a name. He was still "Pup" when he died 14 years later. He was apparently part collie because he had all of the collie characteristics, except he had the airdale's wirey hair. Thankfully he never shed because it was long like a collie's hair.

The next dog we had was saved at the dog pound. He was part poodle and who-knows-what. He would run around the house all the time. He was a little dog and someone in the family said he was a little crazy and he became "Poco Loco".

The dog I currently have was saved from being put down too. He must have been terribly abused and starved. He wanted nothing to do with me. When my wife gave him food and water and some table scraps and pet him, he would follow her so close she would hit his muzzle with the heel of her shoes when she walked. She said, "He follows me around like a little shadow". So he became "Shadow". With love and food, he warmed up to me. He is now Grandpa's dog. When the grandkids come over and they push him too hard. He comes to me for protection. I lift him into my lap and then the grandkids and I practice petting Shadow "soft and nice".

Thanks for the question. Good luck to you and yours.

We name our pets after flowers. I don't know why. One is named Lily and one is named Daisy (although we realize now that we should have named her Dahlia, because she's all black, and is really very fancy by nature! LOL)

Our first dog had been abandoned at a rest stop in MacGregor, MN. My dad and brother found him when they stopped on their way to go deer hunting...poor thing had a belly full of worms and frostbitten paws. We named him Mac.

Our second dog was named Baron Kirby von Schwarzhund--my older brother had just gotten back from a trip to Germany, and he was/is a major MN Twins fan, so the Kirby was a nod to Kirby Puckett. Baron was because he was very distingished looking--a shorthaired mini dauschaund with sleek black and tan hair.

Our first dog was a rescure. We just went to the humane society "to look". LOL!! I saw this sweet, mixed breed dog. The date on her kennel was 5 days previous. My friend asked what the date was for. They said it was their "put down" date. SHe said sometimes they find a dog that they think needs just one more week. Our pick was one of those dogs. This kennel was SO over-run with dogs. They had dogs on the trucks that they couldn't take off because they didn't have room. So, you know that it was a sacrifice not to open up that kennel. Well, we thought is was only by the "grace" of God that we showed up that day. SO, our dog is named "Gracie".

Our other mutt is all black and we got him in October, so his name is Boo. Also, quite the "spook", that one. Ha ha!!!

We have a white pony named "Vanilla" for obvious reasons. Our other horse is named Curious George, or Georgie for short. He's always into trouble and extremely curious!!!

Our first dog was a rescue dog. The rescuer planned on keeping him for just a few months so she let her niece name the dog thinking that a permanent owner would adopt him young and change the name. We adopted him when he was 3 so his name stuck. Eight years later that poor dog, a very large Soft-Coated Wheaton Terrier, is still named Tickles.

My husband let our then-3-year-old name our second dog Smudgie. That at least fits a little better because she's a little rat terrier.

One little beagle (dumped dog) was named Kelsey - not sure where the kids picked that up, but they liked it for her.

The shepherd mix gotten from the Humane Society was already named Amigo and we left that as he was about 4 months old then.

Lab mix gotten from a shelter was named Onyx in their pics of her for adoption - liked that name, so she kept it and she's all black except for a white spot on her chest!

Minpin/beagle mix was named Chomsky when we first got her from her owner, but dgd had been wanting to use the name Sara for a pet, so let her use that name on her. (w/her spots, tho, Freckles or Pepper would've probably been more approriate! *L*_

(can't remember all the cats we had as kids - one I remember the name of most was the little kitten we got while we had that dog - my dad said 'Snicklefritz' and it stuck! dog never would bother that kitten since dad said he couldn't - but pity any other cat crazy enough to come around!)

Oh, those names are adorable!! We usually pick names that *feel* right for the animal and their personality.

I saw the name Django and fell in love with it for a dog. I held onto that name for years for when we would get a male dog. That never happened, so my girl dog is named Django! We had another puppy we named Daisy b/c I love daisies. 13 years ago, Harley was a name we used for a girl dog b/c I thought it was cute for a girl and I was done having kids (I had boys). When I was a teenager, my parents named our dog Shakespeare b/c they love Shakespeare!

We are a cat family, but we have let the kids take turns naming them, even if the names were silly. Our first was a tiny kitten we got from the SPCA our youngest named Tater Tot when she was about 3 years old. Then we had a big tabby (also from SPCA) our oldest named Clover at age 5 because that's what he was looking at outside when I asked him what her name would be. I went with a friend to take her dog to the vet & fell in love with an all-black fluffy long haired beauty of a kitten they had already named London which seemed fitting so we kept that as her name. Because of sicknesses, London is our only pet right now. She's very temperamental, but absolutely gorgeous & I love her!

My daughter named a goldfish Aphrodite because Aphrosite was the daughter of Poseidon, the sea god. She named our plecostamus Poseidon.

Our dog is named Django, after one of my favorite musicians, Django Reinhardt.

Our cats Sam and Molly told my husband what their names were.

My daughter's dog was into everything from the moment she brought him home from the shelter, so his name is Loki, after the Norse god of mischief.

Most of our animals were adopted from shelters and came with names. So, we never get to name our pets. LOL We did name one - a puppy that was born of a rescue and my son named her Mary. I just asked him why, as this was three years ago when he was 12, and he just told me "I don't why I picked that name".

So we have Betty, Winnie, Mary, and Chewey - all dogs
and Zoe, Mamma, and Ben - the cats.

Oh, and we had a hamster that my son named Billie. Again - no specific reason for that name. My son is so random sometimes.

I like Oreo and M&M - very cute names.

Huck and Finn (Huckleberry and Finnigan for long names). Our first rescue dog was already named Winnie (the "Pooch"). Love our literary references!

HAHA Cute

We had a big red collie mix, my then 3 year old named him Clifford.

We had a friend who had a black lab and a black cat, Darth and Vader.

In 2003 we got a dog and two cats, Huckle-cat, Berry-cat, and Finn-dog. Then in 2006 we got another dog, I wanted to name her Jim or Tom, she became Becky.
On 2007 another dog and a cat, Sugar the white shepherd, and Spice the tiger cat.

My hubby's dog was Brutus when we got married.
Our first cat was brought to my son by Santa and he became Rudolph
We've had a Tigger-cat, Tulsa-cat, and Peanut Butter-cat, they have all since died.

Tulsa got her name because when I first found her I though she was pregnant, so if you spell Tulsa backwards..............She was just malnourished and wormy.

Not creative here! Our dog's name is Beagle and guess what, she's a Beagle! Lol!