June 10, 2014

How Many Nicknames Does Your Dog Have?


I love animal names. I love thinking them up, offering ideas to others, and hearing the stories behind them. If I could make a career out of being a professional animal namer, I would. I like names that nod to an animal's breed or origin (place names are a particular favorite) and those from mythology and literature (like Abby's Pyrrha and Jessica's Silas!). I have a special fondness for unusual names, so I find it funny that Ruby comes in at number 24 in the top 100 female dog names. One of my very favorite things about animal titles is how they evolve over time into a variety of nicknames.  My mother had a horse named Taffy who we called "Wiggins." My elkhound Freya was more often known as "Rella" or "Kiddo."

 

Having been with me for almost a year now, Ruby has quite a collection of monikers, not the least of which inspired this blog's title.  Boca's name itself was quite a dilemma - I had a whole list and discarded many because I liked them too much and thought it might make it harder to adopt her out. Well...we all know how effective that was! My grandmother, who insisted that Boca stay in the family, can't remember her name and calls her alternatively Omar (I have no idea) and Mocha. I must say, though, that I'm tickled by her first official nickname, which came about because of the twin red marks on her neck that remind this recovering Goth of a vampire bite. The Chupacabra ("goat sucker") is a sort of Latin American vampire, and was referenced in an episode of one of my favorite television shows of all time, The X-Files. I'm sure Boca will pick up even more sobriquets along the way!

What are some of your dog's nicknames and how did they come about?

24 comments:

  1. Those are cute monikers! The girls have a lot of affectionate epithets applied to them (dumb-dumbs, turds, psychos, psychopaths), as well as more consistent affectionate monikers: P-dog, P-baby, Sweet P, Edith, Edo, Edie Baby... variations on a theme.

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  2. I am Southern. Therefore, most of Silas's nicknames are terms of endearment. Many of which I use alternately, or used to use, with my husband. *hangs head.* Most commonly, he is Silas or Silas Wegg, Pupkins (pumpkin, aka pun'kin, being a Southern classic), Sugar, or, more rarely, Buddy. When he is having some kind of unnecessary crisis I've gotten into the habit of exclaiming "Dude!" I don't know where it came from--I was such a prissy child that I hated the word even in the 80s.

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  3. Stella is Stella Monster (well because she is a crazy monster), puppy-kins (because my fiance and I came up with a silly pet name of Love-a-kins when we first started dating) so now he calls Stella puppy-kins. Also Boo-boo, and I call her poopie butt. I have no idea why. She loves it though because I say it very animated. Chico the foster bully is George. He just looks like a George. cute post.. I love it. :)

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    1. Calling Chico "George" is one of those random ones that I love so much!

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  4. This is such a cute post! Riley has tons of nicknames: Riley Jo, Riley-Poo, Riley-Piley-Poo, bug, baby bug, Good Dog. I could go on and on. I don't know where most of them come from; they just come out. I can't help myself :)

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    1. It's too much fun! Both of my black cats (Midnight from childhood and my current cat Nina) have ended up being called "Bean" - no idea why!

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  5. Blueberry-fooberry-dooberry-pooberry. Blue. B. Spotty-spotty-polka-dotty! (have to say it with the exclamation point otherwise it isn't as fun). Punk (always affectionately when she does something surprising). Bucko. Cheech. I could go on and on. Sometimes I wonder if she even realizes her actual name is Blueberry. ;)

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  6. Isis was Pink Belly Girl, Baby Boo, then Smiley Bird, and "The Bird" when we talked about her. As in "Have you fed The Bird?" Also, Beakums. (Because her muzzle looked like a bird beak.)

    Leo's full name is Leonidas, but we call him Leo Bug, DJ Leo Bug, Bug Boy, Buggo, Buggie, and Creekums (because he liked to escape through our creek, which we had to fence.)

    Mia is Mia Bear, Mimi B, Meems, Meezy B, Measles, The Bear, and Squeakums.

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    1. Okay, I love that you had Beakums, Creekums and Squeakums. Measles! This is exactly why I asked, so many great funny ones!

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    2. I forgot about Notorious B.U.G!

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  7. I love your new header!

    Neeko is princess, princess pretty girl, brat.
    Bruce is big jerk, Brucifer, buddy, Big sexy.
    Faolan is little boy, Fay Fay, Fadoodle.

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  8. Aw, nice nicknames. Simba has a ton of nicknames from my husband and I from friends and fam as well "Simbino", "Simby", "Stanka", "Lil' Rabbit", etc.

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  9. Hi! These are so hilarious, I just had to drop a couple of the many I have for my two dogs. Rico is a.k.a. Handsomest Maximus, Baby Bear, and Partner. My girlie, Roxy, is a.k.a. Baby Girl, Little Alien, Sweet Pea, Roxy-My-Poxy, and Roxynator. So glad I'm not the only one with nicknames totally unrelated to their actual names! - Christie

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  10. I wrote a post on this very thing a while back and let me say that Boomer and Dottie have way to many nicknames. It's cute how they just keep getting more!

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  11. I remember reading an 'advice' book before getting Mity and it said only use one short name for our dog. Well he gets so many variations on a theme with his name, and some just random. But he knows they are all him!!

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    1. I think two-syllable names work well, but my nicknames usually spin the name longer!

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  12. Jack was never meant to be anything other than "Jack", but over the years he has become: Jackson, Jack-Jack, BooBoo, Goober, and simply, "The Puppy".

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  13. I have tons of nicknames and they are all just variations of our dogs' names:

    Rodrigo: Rigo, Puppy, My Prince
    Sydney: Syd, Syd-Syd, Princess, Princess Pretty Paws, Sydney Australia
    Scout: Boy Scout, Eagle Scout, Baby Boy
    Zoey: Zo, Zo-Zo, Pumpkin, Pretty Girl, Baby Girl

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    1. Those are good ones! Since this post Ruby and Boca have acquired a few more: Big Sister, Little Sister and BocaFace!

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