People Underestimate the Value of a Good Ramble

Monday, June 6, 2011

What's In A Name?

Bambi
 The name dilemma isn't new to us.

When we got our first Maltese, Bambi, back in 1997, we hemmed and hawed for days, calling her puppy and baby, cause we just couldn't agree. I made up lists, consulted books, all sorts of craziness, just to name our dog. We then started with elimination, each person got to nix a certain number of names on the list in each round. Finally, we whittled it down to the name no one hated, Bambi. Seriously, that's what we called it, "the name no one hated." But after a while it was clear that the name suited her, cause she was a big baby. Although, at one point, we regretted not naming her Noodles, cause she loved pasta and if you so much as said the word noodles, her ears went up and she would tip her head to the side as if to ask, where??



Bella

Then came Bella. That  name was easier, I just picked it. I didn't want to go through what we'd gone through before. Plus, we'd picked her out right at birth, so we had several weeks while she was growing up to think about it. At birth, the breeder had named her Priscilla (she had one brother, Elvis), but we told her we would change that. I think we did pick something different at first, but by the time she came home, she was Bella.

And don't think we just call the dogs by their given names, either, cause we don't. Bambi was often Bambina or Bamberella or Bamberino or Bam-Bam. Sometimes she was Bama-lama-ding-dong.  Bella is often called Belle, Bellarina, Bella Ella Isabella, and Bella Buttonella, by various family members.

Since we've been calling the new dog Baby to differentiate her from Bella, I've realized that I often use the term Baby when I'm talking to Bella. So it leads to confusion. When I call the puppy, Bella often comes to see what I want and then I have to give her something or she thinks I'm crazy. No really, she does. And since the puppy is so eager to please, she generally comes no matter what I call her, so that she answers to Bella, too.

Little Noname
But to get back to the naming dilemma, it seems at this point like we're on a run of B names from Disney characters. So it makes sense for the new dog to be Bianca or Beauty. I found a list (you know how I love lists, right?) of every Disney character. There are a ton of other B names, but none that are that great. I even found a place that listed the names of all 101 Dalmatians. Seriously.  I like Bongo. But it's not popular with anyone else.

I also thought of Baloo. But then you just know at least half the people won't get it and you'll have to explain it to them and they won't care. Then everyone will end up calling her Blue anyway. My husband actually had a dog named Blue. OK, that was the whole story.

When I was a baby, my family had a black Cocker Spaniel named Beauty that I just dimly recall. So I like that name, too, but I think this puppy deserves her own name.

My family members outside of this house have taken to calling her Beauty. My mom wants Bianca, my husband likes Baby or Zuzu. I have no idea.

And by this point we may have just called her Baby long enough for that name to stick.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I too make lists for dog names. Other than Hampton who was a ham we agonized over pet names. Our kitty is named Karma b/c we found her. I wanted to name our shepherd Ambree but I'm weird like that. My sister chose Grace. Jordan was going to be a girl named Jelly but I liked the boy better so I picked a J name. We call him Beautiful Joe, Jo, Jory, Jury, Jo Jo, Butt Cheek, Scooby, Bear, Honey Bee, but all you have to do is burp and he'll come runnin. Grace is Gracie or Gracel. When I pick a name I shorten it to see if I'll like the short. I like Lisbon, but not Lizzy and I knew we'd be lazy and say Lizzie. Great subject for your blog!! Cate Gleason