What’s In a Name?

Naming things is a very special process.  Classification and Nomenclature are important to or natural and scientific worlds just as they are in business or personal ventures.  Our own family and personal names reflect heritage, geography, and history.  Names gain our attention and that of our animals, and many am object is known by a particular moniker as well.  Conventions vary from the way we name Stables, Kennels, or bloodlines, the the rules of naming vehicles or even children.  A “call name” or “barn name” is the short, colloquial name we are familiar with, while registered names can be long and official, often combining the breeders prefix or suffix or adhering to a theme.

We have all heard of animals “living up to their name” and have also seen a young or new addition “name themselves”.  With humans, we have to recognize the social impact over a lifetime given a name.    We don’t want children to face stigma and many adults go by a derivative of their formal name.  I am thoughtful in selecting a performance dog’s name as it will be used with commands.  Many an animal is observed in color, size, behavior, origin, or other feature when being named.  The caution of “be careful what you name them” often turns out to have merit, even though I’ve seen more than one oxymoronic/opposite/juxtapositional  creature with a name that doesn’t match!

Meet “Chromaspex” my new etched Appy!  (Shannen Regan created him, Sara and I derived the name)

Stock breed names and words offer lots of interesting ideas, and as a punster, I often enjoy a good play on words.  My friends that are animal folks and I have great fun planning and assigning names, whether it’s a litter theme or a new show model.

The joy in naming animals (or models) is that there is much more freedom and room for creativity.  One can get wild with the spelling without worry.  Things that might be inappropriate for a kid would be fine for a cat, for example.  I still believe fun names can hold dignity and usually stay away from the raunchy or disgusting.  I mainly consider how a name will be used.

I am not big on “human” names for my animals as a personal preference, even though some of them have had boy/girl names.  I enjoy researching foreign words and meanings and try to keep names purposeful and uncomplicated whenever possible.

Stories behind names are often interesting and I enjoy the many variations.  In my daily working life, I am responsible for many names, and even duplicates eventually have some identifier that help me differentiate.  I find so much pleasure in language and sound, the possibilities are as endless as the universe.  Amongst my current projects, cataloging my collection is one that takes some time and effort, but I hope the Name Game will make it less tedious!

What are some of your favorite names?