The Subtle Art of Naming a Canine (part II)

My son Alex and his friend Jack decided they approve of dogs with human names-- so our dog Lola and Jack's dog Walter fit the bill-- but the human name should be old school and not particularly common: you can't have a dog named "Michael," for instance . . . that's weird; every time you called for the dog people would think you lost a child.

11 comments:

zman said...

Alex and Jack are 100% correct, pets like dogs and cats should have real names but the names should be uncommon. I knew a standard poodle named Michael and an old English sheepdog named Amy. They were named when their owners were little kids, and their names were problematic later in life. My neighbor Sally has a dog named Annie and when I first moved in I used to call Sally Annie and Annie Sally. Not the best way to make new friends.

Pets like fish and hamsters probably don't need real names.

Dave said...

holy shit. i can't believe you know a dog named "michael." we were joking about this the who car ride. that is so fucked up! and i totally understand the screw up.

rob said...

mcwhinney has (had?) a cat named julie

Unknown said...

We have two aussies, Ruby and Leo. I didn't name them. If I had they would have been Dirt Pile and Cinder Block respectively.

zman said...

I have a cat named Simone. I had very mousetrap-resistant mice in my Boston apartment so I decided to get a feral cat to catch the mice and went to the pound. I picked out the feral cat and was immediately asked to name it as part of the adoption process, and Nina Simone was stuck in my head because I was listening to her music on the way over, and my friend just had a baby and named it Nina so I went with Simone on the spot. She's great at catching mice but much more affectionate than I expected or wanted, remarkably so for a feral cat.

My wife liked my cat so much that she got one and named it Parsley, which is a goofy name but she was threatening to name our kids Parsley and Whiskey so I figured it's better to have a cat named Parsley than a kid.

My son named his first goldfish Firetruck, which was fine given that he was about 3 years old, fascinated by firetrucks, and it was just a fish. He now has a betta fish named Dogis, which is a weird made-up name but better than Parsley and who cares, it's just a fish.

Whitney said...

Evan re-nicknamed his circle of friends with whatever he felt like: Outhouse, Cockroach, Hucklberry, Lester Polyester, and Firetruck. I met Firetruck. Zson’s goldfish and him could go toe-to-toe in any cognitive challenge. And goldfish don’t even have toes.

I used to have a dog named Squirt.

Whitney said...

And I know a family that has dogs named Ruthie and James as well as daughters named Ann Reed and Carlisle and a son named Robey. Odd.

zman said...

I got a grandma Hazel and a grandma Tilly.

Dave said...

my grandmother's name is mildred. it never really caught on with humans but might be a great name for a turtle.

Dave said...

dirt pile and cinderblock are professional wrestling names.

rob said...

myrtle also a grandma name that would be good for a turtle

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