How did you name your Cairn?

[Hagar]

I haven't seen this topic in a while, and since there are a lot of new members it should be a fun topic.

How did you pick his/her name?

When I first got Renny, I had another name picked out, but the more I thought about it, the less I liked it. So, after a couple of weeks of a name that I liked less and less, I figured I had to find a more appropriate name for him.

Since the Cairn originated in Scotland, I decided to try to find a Scottish name. I actually know very little about Scotland, and started searching the web for a Scottish name that would fit. I learned that three languages are spoken in Scotland. Scottish, Gaelic, and English. What little I could find out about the actual Scottish language seemed to show that it was used by very few Scots, and that Gaelic was more common.

After some more checking around, I came up with a list similar to what you'd find in a "Names for Baby" type of book and found a list of Boys names based on the Gaelic language. The list had quite a few names along with the meaning of the name. After narrowing the list down to about six or seven names, I settled on "Renny". The name means "small but mighty" and since a Cairn is strong for their size, the name just fit perfectly. It is different without being too "strange".

So, how did you name your Cairn?

[Duncan's Mom]

Duncan's registered name is AuSable Forks's Duncan McDonut. Duncan is a scottish name and I love coffee (and donuts) especially Dunkin Donuts coffee. He is originally from the AuSable Forks, NY area - beautiful in the Fall. So.....Duncan he became and it fits him well. The only thing is, it gets shortened to Dunky sometimes.

[Thistle]

I named Thistle because the thistle is the national flower of Scotland.

[oscar's mom]

Oscar Matthau Klugman, came about, because DH kept saying "look at him, he's so furry and messy." The first thing that popped into my mind was, my cat is a neat freak, like Flex of the Odd Couple; and this little guy is going to me messy like Oscar of the Odd Couple. Matthau Klugman of coarse to pay homage to the orginal actors that played the character.

I have to say the name fits him. Everyone that meets him, loves his name!

[Sandysmom]

My husband named him Sandy because his hair reminded him of the sand at the beach. We also got him from the beach area and we love the beach.

[LilyGrace25]

We picked Grace because it is one of my favorite names. Lily had a name when we got her which worked out great...we ended up with "Lil & Grace" one of our favorite TV shows!

Lynn

[Tracy A.]

My husband and I picked our names months before we got the boys. Our names were developed out of trying to go against the grain in my family. My parents bred German Sheps for awhile and always named their dogs after gods/goddesses... So Hubby and I were talking about our 'future dogs' and he was talking about how the dogs would be his drive-thru buddies... I replied- we haven't even got the dogs yet and they look like stuffed little Sausages with legs... He replied- Little Brattwurst will love me just the same....

[goforette]

My husband and I are big race fans so we decided to try to find race related names - so we have one named after car parts (Hollie Edelbrock) and the other is named after two tracks (Brystal Sonoma) although we decided to change the spelling of Bristol to Brystal since she was a little girl - and they really are little race devils. I wonder what we'll wind up naming our children..... HA!

[cairnsby3]

Good Question!! Spike was named because of a boyfriend that had dumped me. He always talked about dogs should be named Spike, so my Spike replaced him. I got Spring after my mother had passed away, I got her in the spring and I wanted a name that was uplifting and also a good agility dog name. Shiner, I know some people with a horse named Shiner and I always liked the name.

[kjwarnold]

Packy is really Greenwood Packer (instead of Green Bay) because DH is from Milwaukee and his mother's maiden name is Greenwood. He wanted to name the poor puppy something like Godzilla but I prevailed with the family linkage and thought we could call him Packy. Plus the name Packy just fits him somehow. It took us a week or so to settle on a name because we wanted something that was him. I like it because he can be my Packrat (he hides bones), Packet, Pack, etc. He knows them all!

[Kirby's Mom]

We're MN Twins fans, and Kirby came home the same week that Kirby Puckett passed. She's a girl, but a spunky name like Kirby just seems to fit!

She's also frequently referred to as "Toto" by friends and neighbors, because she is the spitting image.

[Shorefeet]

We named Bailey after the Bailey family in the movie "It's a Wonderful Life." It's our family's favorite all time movie.

<and it beat out my daughter wanting to call her Tinkerbell...>

[Biotrooper]

Well...Dale came with her name (Champion Nightfalls Happy Trails) - Dale Evans. We thought it was a cute and unique name so we kept it. Bailey (Champion Nightfalls Evermore O' Windway) was Betty. We changed it to Bailey because it sounded more Irish given her registered name but was close enough to Betty that she would not get too confused. She took to it right away. Colby (Nightfalls Colby Jack) was supposed to be Nightfalls Striker Lee or Lee. We picked Colby from a list of Scottish boy's names online....it was a C (so we have the BCD thing) and it seemed to fit him.

[kayharley]

It seems appropriate that I start with Remy aka Remington.

One of my favorite sport figures ever.....Jerry Remy, 2nd baseman for the Boston Red Sox during the late 70's & 80's. Also, Pierce Brosman who played Remington Steele, another heartthrob

Winnie was named after Winnie Cooper, a character from the TV show The Wonder Years and Madison got her name from a famous avenue in NYC....I also remember that name from the movie Splash.

Great topic!

[Indie & Sophie's Mom]

Started out we were only going to get one dog so we had a drawing for her name. Each member of the family (there's 5 of us) got to put our chosen name in a bowl. The first name drawn would be the first name and the 2nd name drawn would be the middle name. My husband's name was drawn first. He has always loved the name Indiana for a girl.... he's a big fan of the Indiana Jones movies...so we named her Indiana Peyton (Peyton for Peyton Manning one of my son's favorite football players). She goes by the name "Indie".

We decided at the last minute to get Indie's sister so we had to come up with a name fast. I have always loved Sophia Loren in movies and everyone in the family liked the name, so that one was easy. We call her "Sophie".

I agree, great topic.

[bradl]

Barley - we thought a Scottish name would be ideal, but settled for Scotch ingredient. Barley's a girl, but we've met a few Barley-boys as well. Given her penchant for attacking shoelaces as a wee pup, and given the breeder's affix Tu Schu's, her registered name is Tu Schu's Untied. (Which everyone mispronounces as "united" - missing the joke entirely )

Haggis - a fitting name for a Scottish savory. (Warning - link plays sound.) We liked having a food theme, and thought Haggis a natural accompaniment to Barley. His father was Pinetop Paper Chase (call name Chase), so we registered him as Joywood's Thrill of the Chase.

Echo - she was so much like her father Haggis that for a while we (jokingly) called her Hagatha. When it came time to get serious, we thought that the name Echo reflected (heh) that similarity. To reference who she was an echo of, we registered her as Robinsend Bit of a Thrill.

Stella - this was hard as we waffled for a while. For a time she was known - at a friend's urging - as Frances, for no other reason than she was as cute as the badger Frances in the children's book, Bread and Jam for Frances. But a desire to imbue her name with more meaning won out so we registered her with reference to both her mother (Echo) and father (Stiller) by naming her Robinsend Still Echoing. Stella as a call-name seemed to derive more easily from Still Echoing than Frances, plus we knew that we'd spend a lifetime on the deck, bellowing out into the backyard, "STELLLLLLLLAAAAAAA" so we rolled with that.

(See also, What's in a name)

[kjwarnold]

Hey, Brad! We really like Hagatha here! ROFLOL!

[mrskti]

Well we had quite the adventure getting to Ellie and Dori. We live most of the time in IL, the pups were 5 weeks old when i found them online. They were in Caryville, TN. THe main highway washed out 30 miles before we were to get off, the detour took us through the hills on TN, a real nightmare at 5 mph....if we were lucky. 4 hrs late, we finally arrived at the breader. He had them in a basket on the porch....it was pitch black out and we were shellshocked. We saw them for like 10 minutes, and then really needed to find a hotel. We told him we'd call him. I'm sure he thought, yeah right. We hardly could get up his so called driveway in our 4 whl drive, it was an incredible night. So, what else do you name a blonde from the hills of TN?? Ellie Mae......and Dori, I had her name picked out for a long time. I got the idea from Finding Nemo, Ellen Degeneres' part...Dory, but i changed the spelling. Her name is Dori aka Pudge of Keeneland farms. Pudge is from my grandaughter. We're not into fancy names like your'e suppose to do, i do what makes my grands happy. Ellie is also Elliezilla as my grandson calls her. So we did call him back and took two...their small!!!! Less than a stellar breeder, but like most people, after seeing those faces, how can you refuse them. Besides DH would have killed me after going through all that and not taking a dog!!!! When we went back 3 weeks later to get them, omg, there was a pot belly pig eating in the driveway, goats on the hillside, dogs....everywhere!!!! I felt a little sick inside, but then i just looked at it as a rescue. What could I do???? We love them as if they were perfect!!! LOL

[Puddlesmama]

I havent had a pup in 17 years before Puddles came. I have thought over the time wishing I had time for a pup that when I was able to fit a dog into my life again that I would name him/ her Puddles..

When I found her, Her first thing she did was run up to me flip over onto her back paws up and squirt a puddle at me! She was 8 weeks old at the time. And I instantly felt it was a calling. Since she came to live with us, When it rains..Whats the first thing she runs to? YEP! A puddle. She loves to swim in the pond..etc...the name has befitted her even before I got her. Now it is befitting her even more!

[JenJ]

Well, how boring is this?

The breeder had named our Cass, "Cassie." I had various other names picked out to "try on," from Savannah to Clio to Cricket; when my kids got home from school, all they could say was "CAAASSSIIEEE!" My littlest had been calling her Cassie all day, and when we had our *final* family council that weekend to name her, Cassie won.

I didn't want the BREEDER to name my dog, so I switched her name to Cassidy, because it has Scottish/Irish roots and at LEAST I felt like I had some say. A tiny bit. A miniscule amount. "Cassie," I now tell to anyone who will listen, "is her nickname." "Cassie Bear," "Cass-Cass," "Cassie-Pooch" and "Poochster" are all names of our little furball, too. No wonder she's confused! All told, I think the name fits.

I'm still working on a good AKC registration name. You all have fantastic ones! This is really a fun post!

[Elle]

What a really cool question! Margie was a rescue and was found with a smaller, younger Cairn who was named Bubba. They were fostered together but Margie was super responsible for the little guy and wouldn't play/eat/etc for watching out for him. The foster parents named her Marme after a character in the book Little Women. Marme always sounded too much like 'smarmy' to me so I wanted to change it. Margie is short for Marjorie which means 'cheeky' and of course she is cheeky! Cudos to the person suggesting this topic.

[pkcrossley]

Redmon is a family name. not scottish. irish (though originally norman). from county wexford. they were a bunch of ruffians. my dog is a ruffian.

[Barney's Mom]

We are big Andy Griffith Show fans, so we knew our dog's name had to be Andy, Barney, Otis or Floyd!! We settled on Barney because Barney Fife is such an ornery busy body, always gettting himself into a big mess and getting all flustered at just about anything. Well, that's our Barney dog to a T! But just like Barney Fife, our Barney has a sweet and gentle side!

[jodi0553]

Fun topic!

After Currey came home, I wanted to call him Colby and Andy wanted to call him Kodiak or Yoda. We were at a complete impasse for about 2 days till I got online and started looking up Scottish and Gaelic names. We narrowed down to about 10 that neither of us would veto. Then Andy wanted Kieran. The problem: I worked in a very small office building (only 12 full time employees) to which I was plannng to take the dog every day. One of the women I worked very closely with had a son by that name, and I just couldn't take him to work and say, hey, here's my dog, it has the same name as your kid! Curran was also on the short list and we settled on it out of compromise. Funny story, the next week at work I told Kieran's mom the story, and she laughed and told me that her neighbors have a son named Curran who is one of Kieran's favorite playmates.

In our long trials and tribulations with housebreaking, "the curranator urinator" has been a favorite nickname. Currey also works great because his name often gets mistaken for the homonym Curry, and I do agree that he is one spicy saucy little dog!

[Greg P]

We go to Maui

Kula, Kona and (Hilo) Hattie