What's in a name?

[Pepandfriend's mom]

When I got Pepper as a rescue, he was four years old and had been in at least two homes. I only know that because he was turned into the pound by owners who couldn't housebreak him after one year. (Issue sound a little familiar?) Long story short, I didn't want to add more confusion to his life by changing his name at that point -- and Pepper is also a neat name for a black Cairn.

Pam

[MzLed]

Cosmo = after my favorite drink

plus his kennel name is Red Arrow, cuz he's got alotta red in him and Cosmo's are a red drink afterall.

We actually started checking into Scottish names and their meanings. We almost went with Scully, but that means "town crier" and that definitely wasn't his personality. Also my husband enjoys a good single malt scotch, but i wasn't gonna call him Laphroaig, Balvenie, or Glenfarclas, like my husband suggested

[Maggie15]

my 2 cents for Apollo8it... i was thinking of using the greek goddess "Isis" for maggie... but i found this test for greek goddesses...plug in your personality and it tells you what greek goddess you'd be!...might work for your naming!

http://www.paleothea.com/quiz.html

a

[bubba]

My suggestion for Apollo is Morgan LeFay.....we had a westie named that. I had wanted to name her Maggie, and nobody else could agree on anything. After about a week of having a no name dog, we were driving around and went past the Morgan Motel (the local dive) and I mentioned Morgan. Our youngest daughter loved it and insisted she be named Morgan Lefay, who was King Arthur's sister. Our other westie was named when we got her....Crystal Delight (which I never cared for, but everyone else did.)

pat.

[Apollo8it]

A and J, thanks for the link. I came up with Artemis, Apollo's twin, after the questionaire. Too cute!

[Toto times 2]

What fun to read everyone's stories. We wanted pick a Scottish name and for some reason simultaneously thought of the name Ghillie.

gillie

ghillie

noun

gillies, ghillies

1. A guide or assistant to a game-hunter or fisherman, especially in Scotland.

Etymology: 19c: from Gaelic gille boy.

Smokey came to us when he was four. His real name is Silver Bullet II but the story is that the name Smokey came about because there was a fire when he was a baby.

[SARpartner]

My Cairn is Dusty. He got the name because we have always and still have large dogs. I've always called small furry dogs dust bunnies. So when I decided on a Cairn I started joking about getting a live dust bunny. While at breeder's the puppies went out to the yard. The beautiful little red I'd picked came back covered in dry mud. He and his litter mates were trying to dig into the other part of the yard where the pet rabbit's cage was. After catching him rolling in the dust trying to get to the rabbit I figured that he had picked his name. His call is Dusty and I'm working "Dust Bunny" into his registered name. Still trying to settle on the registered name.

[wellygoggles]

I've been searching for a "scruffy little dog with attitude" for 53 years and when I found him he would be called NORMAN because it sounded such an incongruous name for a dog.

One day after checking my daily equivalent of E-bay here in New Zealand, I yelled to hubhy "I've found Norman!" I had the name, but was in search of the dog. He was a 5 month old Cairn owned by a young mum with 2 pre-schoolers who discovered a 3rd was on the way and didn't want a 4th baby!

So 5 month Fergus got flown up to me, but because I didn't want to give him an identity crisis, he remained Fergus.......but to me he will always be a Norman ))

[Chiyama]

My family and I are very involved in karate. During one of the warm-up exercises, our instructor always says,"Chi Yama", which means 4 stop. I thought that would be a great name for a puppy and since we have always had a large dog named Tess, I knew that we needed a small dog for the name.

My four daughters think that having a Japanese name is cool.

Maggie and Chi

[Angus'mum]

SARpartner -- I like your story about Dusty. My brother-in-law calls Angus "Swiffer" for the same reason!

WellyGoggles -- Fergus was my 2nd choice. My husband vetoed it b/c we have a friend with the last name Ferguson who we call Fergie. We just couldn't do it to an innocent puppy.

[Cairns2]

MzLed: I had the same idea about Scotch since I like to partake of the single malt myself but the names are so long. Can you imagine me calling little Lagavulin into the house? I personally enjoy Aberlour, Glenmorangie and Macallen.

Speaking of names, I saw a cute item in a pet shop recently. It was a ceramic bone shaped sign that said: My name is "no, no, bad dog", what's yours?

[wheezie23]

Such great stories! Well, let's see....my Zoe was named because it was a good Scottish name.

When we went to pick up Tucker, he was the biggest, sturdiest puppy of the litter. He was built like a tank, so I wanted to call him Sherman. Dh didn't like that one, so we all agreed on Tucker.

Scruffy was adopted from a family who had already named him. I didn't like naming my dogs adjectives, so we tried calling him Angus (keeping to the Scottish theme) but he just didn't fit the name. He was a scruffy dog, and so Scruffy it is!

Thela

[bubba]

I just thought of another....my son in law, who thinks his cocker spaniel is the smartest, best dog on the planet (believe me, he's not) has always called Cooper Brillo, or Brillo Pad. He says that is what his hair reminds me of. Brillo is a pretty good name, just not our dogs name.

pat.

[MikeC]

Duffy is just a shortened version of MacDuff which is part of Duffy's registered name, MacDuff's Tavern on the Green. Mickey got his name because in looking at pictures of him as a newborn pup, he resembled a little white mouse! His registered name is MacTavish's Highland Fling!

Mike

[Guest Darcy's Mom]

Our first two cairns were named Dusty and Toby. Dusty - female, because she was light blond colored and reminded us of the color of dust. Toby just because we liked the name.

Our present cairn is named Darcy or Darcey. We spell it without the "e". It means "dark eyes" in Scottish, or so we were told by the breeder. We liked it so that's what we named her. We named Molly, our mixed Scottie/JR Terrier, just because, again, we liked the name and it seemed to fit her strong personality.

By the way, if I ever get another pup, this is where I will come for a name. Everyone has such original names and I love all of them.

[ParNone]

With my male Cairn, Murph, I was looking for a Scottish sounding name. I happened to love the fiesty character on China Beach, Colleen McMurphy, at that time. I decided McMurphy not only sounded perfect, but that the character was spunky was perfect for a terrier too.

I was going to name my female Cairn, McMuffin, to kind of go along with McMurphy, but it really didn't fit her. Even as a puppy, she was so regal. I loved the movie "Splash" and what better name for an uptown girl, then Madison.

For my 3rd dog, I veered off into Collies, but I love my Cairns so much, I wanted him to have a connection to my lil' Toto dogs. So his official name is Whizzer of Oz, although I just call him Oz (well and multitude of embarassing nicknames).

Dog number 4 is also a male Collie. His name is Gulliver, after "Gulliver's Travels". I figured it kind of went with "The Wizard of Oz". Both stories have somewhat of a travel theme going. Amazing how many people have never heard of "Gulliver's Travels".

Les...

[Eliz222]

My story is pretty simple. To Kill a Mockingbird is my FAVORITE book and movie, so I jumped at the chance of naming my first Cairn Scout, after the little girl. Finch is my second Cairn and we went back and forth between several names for her...first she was going to be Boo, and then Atty..and then we settled on Finch.

[Pepandfriend's mom]

Shoe, I am glad you posted about Finch and Scout. I have wondered if they were named after the "To Kill A Mockingbird" characters -- Also one of MY favorite books and movies --

Pam

[Mama Kim]

Our first Cairn, Lucy, was named in honor of Lucille Ball, whom I adored. Ms. Ball passed away just prior to our getting Lucy and it seemed appropriate. For this reason, Lucy's collar and leash and accessories were always her signature red. I so wanted an Ethel to go along with her but DH said no.

Piper is named in honor of DH's hobby, flying. He has always wanted to own a Piper Mallibu, so Piper it was. Her slogan (and Piper Aircraft's) is Piper, Flight Happens and it fits! I wanted an Aerosmith related name, but couldn't think of any girlie sounding names. Ironically her sire's name is Tyler and she was born on what is known as Aerosmith Day in Massachusetts, April 13.

[Gracie's Mom]

I just knew that when we found our Cairn puppy, if she was a girl, she would be Grace. I have always loved the name and since I am the mom of three boys this would be my chance to give her the girl's name I always had ready... Also, I thought it would fit her no matter what her personality was. "Grace" if she was more quiet and laid back, and "Gracie" if she was a spitfire. Boy is she a Gracie... Her name is actually Gracie Lou, but we call her The Grace-i-nator many times.

Our newest one, Spike got his name because my dh has always wanted a dog named Spike. He thought it would be fitting because of their kind of stiff outer coat. As it turns out, Spike is the lover of the two and a big bruiser boy who wants to give us kisses all the time.

[Mama Kim]

I meant to say that a few months ago I was checking on the Colonel Potter web site, and saw a Cairn and her three pups. Her name was Bobbin (I think she's still up for adoption, btw) and her three male pups were Button, Snap, and Zipper. How cute is that???

[Guest sandy's mom]

Our Sandy is a pound puppy. When we went to see her she was bedraggled, tick-covered and very sad. She reminded us of the dog in "Annie" - and particularly of the stuffed animal our daughter had from that movie. That dog was Sandy...and so is ours!

BTW - the rescue was calling her "Myrtle" after someone's great aunt. Somehow, "Sandy" seemed to fit better than "Myrtle."

[Guest girliejr]

I named Jack before I got him. I saw him in a pet store (I know, I know!!) and I was not going to buy him due to his enormous price tag! I thought he was adorable and on the way out of the pet store, my friend and I were saying that he was such a little "boy" and whoever ends up with him should call him something really "boyish" like Jack. A good plain, simple, boy name.

Needless to say, the next day, I went back to the pet store, negotiated a much better price and took little Jack home. He's been exactly like a toddler boy ever since!

[Saidi'sDad]

When waiting to get our little pup my family really got into the naming thing. Only problem is that everybody thinks their name is the best and this became a constant argument with my stepdaughter and I So when my sister in law suggested Sadie it seemed the best solution. I looked up the name online and found a place that listed dog names from a to z. I found the interesting spelling of Saidi in there and after reading that it meant "helper" I was sold! Everybody else I've talked to loves the name and unique spelling also

[Given2Fly]

Tiki Bob got his name from the club my wife and I met at ... Tiki Bob's .