Because I'm getting a puppy in 8 weeks I've been conducting wild (more like obsessive actually) research on the net for dog-name inspiration. Apparently, there has been a massive increase in the popularity of "human" names for dogs over the last few years, and a dwindling interest in the use of more "traditional" dog or pet names. I wondered whether this was reflected amongst Champ-dog aficionados ...?

At the moment I'm contemplating Rafferty (Raff for short) as a possible name (it's also a "human" name). My husband thinks I should wait to meet the pup (mind you he also thinks that Rafferty is silly and the dog'll get the p*** taken out of it by the local cats, but that's domestic harmony for you).

Jo

When I got Kassie until then I liked the name 'Sadie' but she just didn't look like a 'Sadie':) I got the name Sadie from the Jan Fennel book, but when I got her and it didn't suit I thought it would be nicer to name her something to tie in with the KC name hence 'Kassie' and it suited her:) I think the boom in 'human' names could be to do with people choosing not to have children and having them later on? This makes sense looking at a lot of people I know with dogs?

Stacey x x x

Totally agree with the children issue! Many people are having children later in life, so tend to have more time, energy and dosh to invest in them. Just going on the basis of friends' experiences, when they decide to get a dog or cat it's a decision they've spent a huge amount of time thinking about, and consequently tend to throw themselves body and soul into the situation. I have a very close friend that had an extremely demanding job in London. She decided to get some goldfish. I tell you, she read everything there was to read about goldfish before she bought them, and after she got the darn things home she spent lots of time worrying about them and "developing their relationship". :-0 Anyway, if I have trouble getting a handle on this, I'm pretty sure the previous generation would!

I suspect that people are inclined to make a greater emotional investment in their dogs these days, because the whole "getting a dog" decision has become a much more intellectual and considered process.

Jo

If your anything like me then the house name is not likely to be the end of the story.

Monty became Chopper
Mandy was Pudding
Lucy rather obviously was Loo
Beth was shortened to Bethany

Others stayed something like original except Anna
Who became Annabelle which mutated to Bellflower and later shortened to "The Flower"

John ;)

I like all the "new" names for dogs nowadays. When I was a child we had a dog called Rex and a cat called Tiddles :p - I much prefer Molly and Barney for my two and Matilda for the cat :D

Gina

Lol like john - all my animals have ped names (dogs only), their proper names, then all sorts of nicknames -

Meeko (cat) - is also 'my man' or fat boy
Misty (cat) is also known as s**t legs - due to her being a rescue stray and has never got the idea of litter trays
Ebony - midnight dream, ebony, ebbie, ebbieknobblyknees, eb, my girlie
Merlin (cat) - my boy
Finlay - first footer, finn, boyo and as he is a pup some not so favourable names when he wakes me up in the middle of the night lol

Nikki xx

My new pup is called Noah, my other three are Holly, Megan and Bailey. Noahs litter mates went on to be called Tess, Coco, Coco, Remy and Lily and the boys were Rio, Bailey and Noah.(The pups are chocolate labs)
I think Noah will stay as Noah, but our friends daughter who is nearly two calls him Nono, which is very cute. Megan is shortened to Megs, Holly is Loulou and Bailey is Bay.
Best Wishes
Amy

I live the human type names for my dogs - I don't like the traditional dog names like Fido, Spot etc so that is why I choose:-

Sebastian my first ever dog and as such he needed a special name - Sebastian means majestic and his ped name is Dunnfisheau Majestic Lad

Bart was next and his name was choosen by my other half - he is mad on the Simpsons :D :D

And Douglas my baby and pride and joy :D :D

Dessie :D :D

We named our puppy Trefor after having him a few days when we could his personality coming through. Trefor with a F, the Welsh way, forever known as the F in Trefor around the show rings and his puppies are known as Treforettes. Never a more aptly named dog it suits him so well.

Jo
I love the name Rafferty :) Perfect choice.
My Boxer is called Ruby (stunningly marked Brindle & White) :D AKA The Roobster :D

Also called StinkBomb (severe wind problem;)
She is also called Wooby when im talking GA GA to her :D :o

Ali:)

I was alarmed to see with the current trends in human baby names that Mia & Ella had made the top 20! My 3rd bitch is called Mia & her litter sister is Ella!!!!! Back to the drawing board for whenever I get a new puppy!

I rather like the name Ella but I think Gina has two nice names Molly and Barnie. They go together well. Our Cassie always get called Flossy and Lulu gets her name changed to Lulee. Makes you wonder why we took so much time choosing names for them in the first place.
Personally I like to hear dogs called by proper names (and cats) after all we treat them as one of the family and you wouldn't call your son Chocolate or your daughter Snowy (can't think of a girls name).

Maggie

Mia gets Mimi, which is one letter longer than her own name.......

:D @ Wooby!

Piglet (enough of a handicap, you may think) gets called Piggy-Wiggy, Mr Wiggles, or Twiglet. No wonder he's confused!

Although we chose a rather run of this mill name in Charlie, he has a variety of names, including Charlie Farley, Farlster, Mr Farlington, Little Matey, MateySmatey, and CharlieNOoooooooooooooooo - with the last one generally trailing off into an anguished howl on our part, while Charlie sits there looking like butter wouldn't melt :D

majix

I too prefere human names but i do like them to have a twist:

Eddy known as Wardo (cat)
Charley known as Puka (cat)
Boston know as Boss or Beast lol! (Min Schnauzer)
Monty to be known as Mips (Min Schnauzer Pup 4 weeks to go :) )

I also like Sebastian (Seb) and im going to name my next cat that, might get two litter mates and call the other harvey :)

I think the more doggy names (child like) such as spot, Fido etc...suit mongrals (No offence there)

Min is Grumpy bear, Moose is Moosicle , and MB at the moment is Tubby Mcpuppy ! :D

Lucy

I think people prefer human names becasue it less embarassing to stand in he park and shout one than it is something like Spoty or Blackie!!!!

Mine are called

EMily - aka Pigeon
Lucy - aka Minky
Darcy - aka naughty little git

The trouble is I always call them My girls when I'm talking about them and the human names just add to peoples ideas that I have 3 daughters.

I think a bloke I was talking to last night was going to report me to the NSPCC last night when I said I had to rush becasue my girls had been on their own in the house for over an hour.
I had to hurridley explain they were 2 cats and a dog and not neglected little girls

Can't be doing with long names - its too hard to shout them across the drive......

Max was know as Maxi, Moobar or Maximillipig (husbands name for him, not mine sorry)
Taz was/is babydog or youb....r}
Ash is Ashypuppy or you little toerag} collectively called The Boys
Chester is Wessie

Ratty (cat) is baggage
Bonnie is Furrypurry
Basil is Baz or bazzieboo

Christopher had picked a name for the puppy, but it was far to embarassing to go shooting yelling for Gromit :)

Kane got his name because he was a big strong puppy, now he is Kane the pain,
Tayo was named after a beautifull male stripper on a holiday program for 18-30's
Holly born at christmas. Yorkshire Terrier.
Fraya because she is small gentle and affectionate.My Tibetan Spaniel
P.J. he is a Landseer Newfoundland his marking make him look as if he has pajama's on
Megan black newfoundland my dad named her as he bought her for me

Britney The Dogue De Bordeaux my revenge for my husband haveing britney spears poster's in his workshop

My new puppy "Hope" because that is what she means to me

Hi britney1000,

My one dog is also called Kane! My others are Angus, Abbie, Emily and Jessica!

Well my three are called:

Callum- better known as the moose, or golden balls because he never does anything wrong, what i hear you say, yes i can honestly say i have the perfect dog in my boy.

Lady- better known as flossy fossil due to her being nearly 13, and other various names that i cannot share with you as they are usually said when she has weed and pood everywhere, poor old lady.

Buffy- better known as the flying ferret, devil dog, muffy, a true horror who covered herself in foxs crap today, all in her ears and down her feathering lovely.

My two are:

Bramble - named after a horse that my daughter rode when she was small :)

Tara - the four of us couldn't agree on a name, so when we collected her we liked her KC reg. name and used that to prevent World War Three breaking out :)

When I was a teenager, my best friend's dog was called - much to our embarrassment when walking him - Lusty :D

Daisy

My Terv's little sister was called Ratty by the breeder, because she used to bite all the time, but her new owners changed it to Milly. Here are all the puppys' names: Boys: Ruso(mine, pedigree name Jaraz Amoruso)
Ralph, Voe(after a village in the Shetlands where his owners used to live), Diesel(formerly Gourou). Girls: Milly, Yaris and Jaeger

like your names lots-----specially -ruso, would you mind if i pinched it-------weve a boy heading this way soon????

Hi, it's flattering that there might be another little Ruso! I was going to call him Rico originally. What breed is your little boy?

if you click on my name you"ll get my website--my breeds on there :D

we chose ZAK mini schnauzer,
as we cant have more babies and have 3 girls,zak is what we would have named our little boy had one graced us,and BOSCOE for our new kerry blue pup who comes home in 6-7 weeks,he is an irish dog so i picked an irish name that i heard on (blind date)sshhhhh dont tell anyone that i watched it. :D
mel
edited to say we also have a bearded dragon called EDDIE get it eddie lizard-eddie izzard o well never mind:)the first bearded dragon i had was called sushi unfortunatley after 2 weeks it died,i found out i had cooked it alive poor little thing.WELL no one told me to turn off the heat mat in hot weather.(doh)

A trend seems to be emerging here - people call their dog or cat "human" names, but also have a number of pet names which completely defy the laws of reason or sense!

Jo

But then again, my husband and son both have "human" names, and nonsensical petnames too! We're not species-ist!!
:)

But then men defy all laws of sense and reason don't they!!

You've met my family, then, Julia? :D

Being one of only 3 females in a house of 6 males .................................

I always keep the names to no more than two syllables. Right now I have two GSD's. Male is named Tazar, female is Haven.

My two are Whisper and Josh although their nicknames are fat boys! being whippets they are definately not fat!! Our cat is Tamla after the music. It's nearly as bad as naming a baby!

We've always had a mix - spaniels used to be Tanner and Teasel, our lab is Tilly (though tends to be called Precious (sickening i know!...Lord of the rings has a lot to answer to!!) Budgies are Socrates and Plato as they chatter constantly, Cockatiels are Hugin and Munin after Thor's ravens, rabbit was Bracken, Guineas Pipsqueak and Pickles...and thats our lot. I guess the only thing about dogs names is that we always chose something short with a distinct sound so that on shoots it doesn't take long to get their attention!
Of course the list of alternatives used are longer and not all as complementary...especially if fox poo and the lab are involved (Argh, this morning's joys!!) Has anyone else had to shout "Noooo.." to someone as they are just about to run up to your wagging, grinning black lab, to give it a hug hello...do non-dog owners have no sense of smell?!?! The woman thought i was mad ;-)

hi ,some truth in this I haven't got any children and my dogs have been called Joe, Alex, Tara, Dillon, Xena, Billie and now Eddie next one soon to be called Misty so must be a substitute for kids eh!.

Well,
Mine are collectively known as The Crazy Gang.

Sapphire is aka Safsaf, saffi, saffipants, saffipoo, saffimoo, mrs moo, moomoo, moobags and puddinbrain.

Rocky is aka Gitbag, Wickywoo, wickywoodles, ickywickywoo, fat boy, fart, bumbrain, and a lot of unprintable stuff

Dill is called Dilly, Dillers, Dillbrain, DillyNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, Fatpuppy, Fatpuppers, puppypants and stickymonsterarghhhgerroffme.

The cat is known as Sailor, though to his friends and foes he is Lord of the Underworld, Master of Darkness, Murderer of Small Furry Things, and Ultimate Death Machine. To me, he is Bigfatfraud, and Mrfurry knickers!

Em

My new puppy is called Solo because he's a singleton and when he's registered I'm hoping for Crazicrest Going Solo because it's my first litter.

hi my dogs are called

windsor but hes usually called fatty vee
molly - aka mole

who have been called (by the new owners)
barney
basil
taffy

shelly and winter for the girls

they are miniature schnauzers which is why windsor is called that because my husband thinks they look like windsor davies

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congrats on the pups rainbow,we also have a mini boy arent they just gorgeous?
:)
mel

Our BC's called Sasha, another human name. Later on, when we hopefully get other dogs, I think words in other languages are a good idea. E.g. I would consider 'laeta', which means 'happy' in Latin, or something of the sort.

Don't be put off calling your dog a human name, I have an old boy here whos called Mr. Murphy - sorry Mick, that was wayyyyyyyy before I came across you :D.

Taylor

Ours have been Meg, Zoe and now we have Livvy. Livvy was supposed to be Bella, but it didn't suit her...she was far to naughty for such a name! Most people think we are calling Libby not Livvy but it's actually because her colour is "liver" and when she's in trouble it's OLIVIA!!! She also responds to "spud" !

Ok, it's official - the British are stark raving bonkers when it comes to dogs.

I just dread to think what your partners' pet names are ...

: 0

One of mine is called Ebony (novel!) - shortened to Eb, Bib, Bibbin, Bibbity Bobbity, Bibulous. In fact anything really, he won't come when called anyway. The other is called Muffin (again, novel!). That gets shortened to Muff although you have to watch it when you're talking to people and you ask if they want to see a picture of your Muff. Also when you call her.."ear muff..."

Has anyone got one called "Dog"?

One of mine is called 'Domdog' sometimes - does that count?
Proper name Domino - white & black Beagle/Pointer cross
Steph

well my hubs wanted to call our dog di fa (di fa dog) , though i settled for Oscar

You're right about human names, my dog like many others here is called Megan. However this name is only used when out or training, every other time she has a vast array of pet names, meggie, meggie moo, moo moo, miss moo, mew mew, pudge, buba and something that is too rude to write down when she is being naughty! Yes i am daft! I chose megan as it was a name i liked and felt that she was very much like my baby. If i am going to be stading in a forest shouting a name it has to be something i don't get laughed at for! I do like rafferty though it has got an element of both human and animal name about it. I know someone who had a GR named fatso! (how mean and embarrassing!) :-) My friend found two names she liked, Brownwyn and bethany and then when the puppy came hom they used both and saw which one she responded to best. However like me she hardly ever uses bronwyn, its bronnie, boulou, bou, nean, nean muk pean, squidge, yes she is daft too. I have even met a standard poodle called vinnie, very apt when it bit my pups tail!
Interestingly i am hoping to get a GR called pepper, not a human name at all, it just suits the breed.

Our Golden Retriever; Bree (named after the village in the Lord of the Rings; not the cheese) is also knowen as Bumper, Bumperlina, Bumbles, and Breebles :D
Our f/c, called Liberty also answers to Libling, Liblina, Liebchen, ......Spanker, Spankerdoodle, Spanklina ( oh don't ask!!!) :D :D

Liberty :) :D