What's in a name?

[Cairns2]

Would any of you like to share how you chose your Cairn's name?

There are some very clever names in this forum!

My first Cairn, Andy, was named after St. Andrew's Country Club

Eric is named after Eric Clapton

We chose Emma since we were still healing after Andy's death and Emma means "healer of the universe".

[bubba]

We were driving down the freeway when I saw a mini cooper and I made the comment that if I ever get another cairn, it's name will be Cooper. At that time, my husband had no clue I was actively searching for one! A short time later, I finally found Cooper down in Turner, Oregon and when we saw him, I thought Turner would make a good name. My husband said 'You can call him Turner if you want, but I'm calling him Cooper!'......that is how he got his name.

When I knew we were getting Yoda, who is a schnoodle, I was naming off different names and I wanted to name him Umi, which is Hawaiian for whiskers, and I thought very fitting a name for him. Then I made mention of the name Yoda and my husband thought Yoda the schnoodle sounded hysterically funny, so that name stuck.

I remember when we got our first cairn it was the day after I had taken the girls to see the Disney film Cinderella. Of course, the older one who was six at the time, had to name him after Cinderella's dog whose name was Pluto.

pat.

[kayharley]

Winnie/Winifred was first called Abby (after Abby Cunningham from Knot's Landing) But Abby was a naughty girl. At the time we were watching Wonder Years and Winnie Cooper was on the screen...that did it.

Madison came from nowhere. I remembered the name from the movie "Splash" and of course Madison Ave. in N.Y. but it just popped into my head and that was that.

Elliott came from a long list of pet names that I have here in my desk. I picked it out even before I saw him although I did toy with the name Murphy. My mother calls him Truman which gave me an idea for naming my future Cairn's (yes, there will be more) after Presidents.

[Scully'sMom]

My first Cairn's name was Ginger. I distinctly remember having her blocked in the kitchen and she was running all around. My dad said, "Those little toenails sound like she's tap dancing like Ginger Rogers." Ginger it became.

As far as Scully - well, it's not too original I guess. I've worked for the FBI for almost 33 years and before I met my husband, his favorite show was X-Files which to this day I've never seen. I always remembered him talking about Agent Scully. The rest is history. The vet's office actually put Special Agent Scully on her file.

[Anna_525]

Alfie was originally named Elfy by his former owners. He was a 'gift' from one of Santa's elves. His former mommy asked me not to re-name him for sentimental reasons, but my children did not like the name Elfy. We made a compromise and ended up with Alfie.

[Bekah]

Liddy is named after Lititz, PA where she was born on an Amish farm. We had been throwing around names, but as we were leaving the farm my dad suggested "Liddy" and it just seemed to fit.

A friend of mine likes to come up with dog names to pass the time. One of her favorites is "Pejo" which is the name of a bottled water company in Italy. I like the name "Argos" because it is the name of Odysseus' dog in The Odyssey. When Odysseus returns from the Trojan War, Argos is the first to recognize him.

[Tuff&Tippy]

Tippy got her name from her breeder, I was looking on line and found her and through all the emails I just decided to keep her name. When I was a very little girl my brother had a German Shepard named Tippy because of the clicking sound her toes made on the floor, so because she was officially the first dog I ever knew I thought it a good name for my first internet pup.

Tuff started out as Moe~~his daddy is Moe Diddley~~ but because we kept having to say "No" to him I thought it sounded to much like his name and would confuse him to much, I wanted to call him Weee Boss because he has such an attitude, by DH didn't like that name because he prefers simple names and it is easier when you want to call them. So he got Tuff when my DH was taking him out to potty at night, and we have two big Owls near by, he could hear them WHoooing(?)--Is that a word?-- so he would run out about 20 ft and bark then turn around and bolt back between my DH's feet. My DH thought it was cute and said Oh your so Tuff....

Tuff

[theresa]

Sherman was named by my astute 4-year old. On leaving a PetsMart Adoption Day without a pet in hand, he matter of factly told us "one day, we'll get a puppy and we'll name him Sherman . . . "

And so we named Sherman just that when we got him 6 months later!

~ t

[Teri9672]

Tabitha.... My husband liked the name for a little girl, so I decided to name my first Dog Tabitha incase we ever had a daughter I woulnd't have to name her Tabitha. LOL

side note my name is Teri and hubby is Tim, so we stuck with the "T" theme

Teona.... just tried to come up with an original "T" name. We had just seen a movie with Tea Leoni and liked her name. We just put her first and last name together sorta

[Angus'mum]

We knew we wanted a scottish name for our puppy. I vetoed my husband's suggestion of "Connor MacLeod of the clan MacLeod" (some of you will get that) and suggested "Angus". Apparently I had a great-uncle named Angus from Nova Scotia. I thought maybe we'd name him Angus and just call him "Gus", but our 3 year old daughter informed us on the way home from the breeder that his name was Angus and we will call him Angus.

Mickey

[TheScotts]

Bwahahaha! Dh named our boy Connor just for that reason, the silly Highlander movie!

I named my girl Elsa after three things magical to me as a child: the lion in Born Free; a horse I had when I was little, and a beautiful little village in Illinois where I had the time of my life as a kid and got to attend a two room school house (one teacher for grades 6-8and one for kindergarten- grade 5.)

[bradl]

Barley was named as a nod to food and drink. Her registered name is Tu Schu's Untied CD ME (everyone mistakes Untied as 'United' - which makes no sense in regard to shoes). Her breeder's name was Schuler and Barley loved shoelaces and would pounce on them as a wee pup, hence the registered name.

Haggis was named in keeping with the food and drink theme - as a savory fellow it seemed to fit. His registered name is Ch Joywood's Thrill of the Chase CD ME - his father's name was Paperchase so the registered name is homage to him.

Echo is a Haggis daughter and was so very much like him as a pup that Echo seemed appropriate. (She was briefly known as Hagatha as a wee pup, and we still call her Haggis Junior sometimes.) Her registered name is Robinsend Bit of a Thrill SE in reference to her sire.

Stella (occasionally called Frances after the cute badger of the same name) was sort of derived from her registered name, Robinsend Still Echoing JE - itself a reference to her sire and dam, Stiller and Echo.

Naming dogs is fun. I love hearing how dogs get their names. So many times they practically name themselves.

[savannahsmom35]

Savannah doesn't have a really special story like the rest of you. I knew that I wanted something that would sound like a girl so that I wouldn't have to hear "Is it a boy or a girl?" (didn't work by the way, people still ask). I also wanted something that looked like it would fit her. My dh and I went to Cracker Barrell to eat and discuss names. Other names that were considered: Dixie, Hailey, Daisy, Mitzi, and Casey. As we were driving home, my dh said, "What about Savannah?". As soon as I heard it, I knew that was it.

[hallswel]

I just love this, kinda lets you peep into others minds.

Rebel was originally going to be Mac short for McCormick (My favorite Uncle who loved dogs) but I was watching a movie about the Scottish Rebels and how they helped the needy so he became Rebel McCormick. Rebel really fit him, always rebelling and going the other direction. His nick name is Rebi

Then we got our pug and his breeder had named him Peachtree Blue Star and we said we wanted to use Hammurabi, the person credited for the first laws (eye of an eye) my husbands dog and he is a cop. She like it and he became Peachtree Hammurabi Star. We wanted something that would also be cute with Rebi so Robi worked.

Now the new puppy (who I get on Aug. 16) is Brigadoon

[AllAboutPetey]

One of my DD's (now grown) books as children was "The Puppy Who Wanted a Boy" about Petey the puppy who is "very lonely and yearns for a little boy to play with and be his friend". They were little girls, but they loved it anyway, so Petey it was. My first choice was Fezziwig (I'm a Dickens fan) to be called "Fez" (I'm also a fan of That 70's show). DH liked Conan, which means "wee doggie". But, we all agreed to Petey.

Belle is named after the main character in Beauty in the Beast, another of our favorites. It means "beautiful", and that she is!

[Marmielin]

I had to work the day Tink was brought home from the breeder - seldom that I work on Saturdays but because of a convention I was there. My grandaughter (age 5), who was previously allergic to dogs, went with my husband to pick up the puppy. By the time they returned home my grandaughter could hardly breathe (still allergic ) and was crying. She was sure we would have to take the puppy back because of her and was just devastated. On the drive home she decided we should name the puppy Tinkerbell because she loves Peter Pan. Tinkerbell would have been my tenth choice. But, because she had such a bad day and was so concerned about the whole event I couldn't say no. My dh said there was no way we weren't naming her Tinkerbell so that's the way it is. I call her Tink for short and can live with it that way. By the way, our grandaughter has no allergy problems at home with the pup, but we no longer let her ride in an enclosed car with Tink. Two hours in the enclosed car with the puppy right in her face was the culprit .

Lindab

[Cairns2]

What wonderful stories! Thank you all for sharing them and I hope there will be more coming. It's been nice strolling down memory lane and recalling when we first brought our Cairn babies home.

[Kathryn]

Our first cairn was Annie -- chosen because it is a good Scottish name, but also the name of my hudband's mother! She referred to Annie as her "granddog" and was totally in love with her. When we visited her out in California, Annie would crawl up on her chair and lay her head on Ann's shoulder. They took naps in the chair that way.

Our current cairn is Allie -- close to Annie but actually short for "Allegra." We took that from the musical term "allegro." Allie is all joy and motion and, as a pup, she was never still. The word fits her.

[Maggie15]

we were searching for a fun scottish name and although its quite common, really liked Maggie... her registered name is Maggie's Hot Toddy... my fiance likes her whiskey and a scottish drink at that!

a

[Scully'sMom]

These are all terrific names and I'm really enjoying hearing how you all came up with the names. This was a terrific discussion.

[Carolinasmom]

I started out searching online and found a site that listed tons of pet names. I came across Carolina and decided to choose it b/c we have relavites in North Carolina and we have vacationed at Atlantic Beach and love it there! I know it's a loooong name for a dog but I like it!

[Guest mrskti]

Well i had the name Dori picked out when we went to look at her, but after picking out two puppies, and the one I picked, Dori didnt work. So considering the hillbilly farm she was at, she had to be Ellie Mae. I wanted Daisy Mae for Dori, but a neighboor already had Daisy. So Dori is from "Finding Nemo" movie. So it's Ellie Mae and Dori Jo.

My grandson calls Ellie, Elliezilla. grandaughter calls Dori, Pudge.

[Apollo8it]

The agreement between my husband and me was I would get to select the pup and he would pick the name. Guess he was so certain I was going to select a male. Apollo is named after the speed skater, Apollo Ono. I picked Ichibon because in Japanese it means Number One! By chance, Apollo has a brother with a Greek god name.

My schnauzer got the name Milo from a baby book. I called my pregnant sister to see if she had a naming book, which she did, and asked her to read male German names to me. I was rather fond of Bismark until I heard Milo. The poodle I had while living at home was named Peppy Le Pew (inwhich I called him "Pew, Pew"), because he had white streaks in his tail. My father actually thought he got his tail into some paint! One a second note, my grandparents gave me an aerial picture of their, which is now my fathers farm, because I was the only grandchild who could name all the dogs they kept.

Since my dh has said that I can kept another Cairn after our move and I know I want a female, I am thinking of either a Greek Godess name or a Scottish name. I have time to decide. Suggestions I will welcome.

[toomanypaws]

I put a deposit down on Kiara and then told my dh. As he started looking at her pictures being sent to us from the breeder, he said that he'd like to name her and he picked out Kiara Joy. Joy was her mother's name.

Abbey was named by my dd being she's her dog. Dd wanted something old-fashioned so named her Abigail Lee.

With Hannah, I actually liked the name Tara, but thought that sounded too close to Kiara. Every time I looked up names, I kept coming back to Hannah Skye. Skye was chosen from the Isle of Skye.

[Brody'sMom]

For Brody we wanted a Scottish name and we really like Brody (also, and maybe more commonly, spelled Brodie). His Sire's name is Just Jack, so Brody is Just Brody. Mia came to us from another home, after the woman decided she just couldn't handle another dog, so she returned her to the breeder after calling her Mia for a few months. We considered other names, I wanted Fiona or Maisie, but in the end we stuck with Mia. She is also named after her sire, Here's lookin at ME'S. Mia is Lookin' at Mia.