What's in a Name?

Cayman

                                                                                            A name soon reflects

                                                                                               the soul within

                                                                                                  and then detects

                                                                                                     gifts beneath the skin.

Cheyenne Wink (Cayman), Boardwalk (Woody), Yankee Win (Yankee), Longlegged Hanna (Hanna), Ought To Be Rich (Rusty), Bold Kamikaze (Kazi), Kiowa Stop Matt (Kiowa), Fuzzys Bad Betty (Emma).  

Woody

These are the track names of all of my dogs.  Some silly, some simple, some thought provoking, so I began to contemplate the methods that breeders employ to name greyhound puppies.  I searched the internet but had a difficult time unearthing an answer to my inquiry.  Finally, though, I stumbled upon an explanation.  Yah!

When I think of the many greyhound puppies that are born each year, I have a hard time imagining how owners can come up with so many varied names.  Since most of the names seemed odd to me, I thought the breeders must sit behind the dog kennels drinking (alcohol) while they made up the names (and maybe drinking is still part of the process). However, there is a method to their madness.

Yankee

According to Bob Putnam in an article written in 2003 and published in the St. Petersburg Times, naming greyhounds can be a complicated business.  First of all, all racing greyhounds must be registered with the National Greyhound Association.  There are 27,000 names presented to the association every year.  Owners must submit a name plus two alternatives for each dog, and rules must be followed:

1. Names must be limited to 16 characters
2. The words The, Junior, or Senior are not allowed in the name
3. No roman numerals
4. No more than three initials
5. Once a name is registered, it is not allowed to be used again for a decade after the dog’s death and longer if a male dog’s semen has been frozen.

Can you imagine all the names that must be generated for just one litter of dogs?

Hanna Banana

Paul Caple of Capabal Kennels in St. Petersburg explains that most kennel owners use themes when naming their dogs.  Kennel owners employ these to aid them in creating names more easily and to assist in determining the litter the dog came from.  Ideas for naming dogs can come from anything - songs, beer, celebrities, comic books, sports, etc.  For example, one of my dogs was named Yankee Win.  I guess his owner was a big Yankee fan.  Another was named Boardwalk.  At the time, I thought the name odd, but after looking at his lineage, his mother was Passgoandcollect and his grandfather was Hondo Monopoly, the Monopoly gameboard being the inspiration.  

Rusty

For an annual fee of $10, an owner can acquire sole rights to a prefix for his dogs’ names.  For example, Greymeadow Kennel uses the prefix, Greys, in front of all the dogs’ names for its kennel.  My dogs, Cheyenne Wink, Kiowa Stop Matt, and Fuzzys Bad Betty fall into this category.  The prefixes Cheyenne, Kiowa, and Fuzzys have been used with other dogs so I am assuming (you know what that does) that these dogs came from particular kennels.

Kazi

The article, footnoted on the bottom of this post, sheds light onto the methods used in naming racing greyhounds, and it all makes much more sense to me now.  I hope it does to you also.  Still, when I adopt a new dog, the naming process seems daunting.  Luckily, my husband is good at selecting names.  I do try to keep part of their racing name though if I can, but sometimes circumstances dictate the outcome.  To illustrate, when we adopted Cheyenne Wink (1991), she came to us only with her kennel name of Lady.  If I had known then her track name, I would have certainly kept part of it.  And then, we adopted some dogs with names that were tough like Ought To Be Rich and Fuzzys Bad Betty.  Not much I could do there, so we thought of alternatives (Rusty and Emma).

Kiowa

If you have the same difficulty as I have and need some help in creating your dog’s name, there are tips out there to help you.  Pick a name that your dog can easily recognize and is one or two syllables.  Names should be easy to call out and should not be tongue twisters .  Avoid rhyming names with commands. If you decide on a longer name, what will its shortened version be?  Also, there are many sites on the internet with suggestions for dogs’ names.  If all else fails, you can use them for catalyst.

Emma

People use all kinds of inspiration to name their pets, from popular names to Zodiac signs, from thinking of a name prior to adopting the pet to waiting to experience what the animal is like.  Sometimes a name may just come to you like it was meant for your dog.  Whatever your method, your pet’s name becomes part of its persona and spirit.  Naming your dog a name that resonates with you and your greyhound will lead you both to feeling balanced and alive.  Happy Naming!

RESOURCES:

sptimes.com, St. Petersburg Times, June 25, 2003, Greyhound Name Game Challenges Creativity by Bob Putnam

greytarticles.wordpress.com, Greyhound Articles Online, Naming Your Greyhound by Lori Amato