What do you wish you'd named your dog? What did you almost choose?

Or, what were some names you considered but then decided they didn't fit? I love name stories!

I had a decent list of names before I got Rowan, and I was pretty set on using Ozzy. Then I met him, and once I knew he was for me, I realized that he just... isn't an Ozzy. I still like the name a lot, but I'm also kind of glad I didn't use it since it's common(ish) and I like weird names "Rowan" wasn't even on my list but I found it while searching for the perfect name and, well, it was perfect. It means "little redhead." I found the list on my old Livejournal and I guess I was also considering Bo, Kavick, Toki, Archon, Boslo and Sawyer (before finding him.) One of his nicknames is "Bo Dog" for whatever reason so I guess that one stuck!

I was reaaaaally tempted to name Riff "Hobbes". I think it would've fit him pretty well, but I don't regret choosing Riff, which fits him like a glove He's a troublemaking hooligan, like the character he's named after. I didn't really have a list of potential boy names because I had been looking for a female, and none of the ones I liked for girls were really unisex. He has long white whiskers so I think Catfish would've been a great goofy name for him, too. I joke that I should've named him Skippy because he's such an upbeat goober, it would've fit too.

Did you go through various names before settling on one? Are there any names you wished you'd used instead of the one you did?

Gage came with Gage, we tossed a few different names around but it means oath or pledge and being his 3rd home in 3 weeks i decided that he was due a pledge that we would be his final home.

Diesel came to us with Buddy, I had a dog as a child named Buddy (named after the German Shepherd in the disney movie about the first guide dog LOL) and no way could i have another dog named that. Hubby has always wanted a dog named Diesel so Diesel he became. I wish we had given him a better name, but walking him and Gage together poeple always assume the big dog is named Diesel LOL.

Bristol I named, I had picked a female pup out of the litter if there was one. I had 2 names picked Bristol and Calliegh, Bristol was chosen because she was born backwards and with 2 brothers so she needed the tougher sounding name LOL.

Bayleigh was Angel when her previous owner surrendered her to the shelter. But I was taking her home to foster and my cat is named Angel and my director pressured me to come up with a new name quickly so I blurted out Gremlin. I love the name and she does look like a gremlin. No one else liked it but she was my foster so I named her. Little did I know that three days later I was going to make it official and keep her. Like I said, no one else liked the name Gremlin so I changed it to Bayleigh. Not sure why I chose that name other than I like it. I usually put a lot more thought into a name.

I really wish I would have kept Gremlin. She's my dog but I let the others talk me out of it. Guess it sounds to boyish. Oh well...

I almost named Pip, "Flower." His name at the foster was "Freckles" and I knew I wanted to change it, I was brainstorming black and white things and thought of the skunk in Bambi. My husband really, really didn't like it and so I dropped it. Sometimes I kind of regret it, but Pip suits him so well that it's hard to imagine him with a different name. (Ultimately we chose "Pip" as an obscure version of "Spot.")

Squash came with his name and there was no question about changing it.

Maisy, I just knew I wanted a girly name and sifted through baby name lists until I found one I liked.

Neat thread idea .

Zoie was almost Lilly. It wouldn't have suited her, she's not overly feminine .
Skye was named "Shy" previously...I hated that name, but figured Skye was close enough she would still recognize it. A guy was staying with me at the time and wanted me to name her Domino for the spot on her butt...err, no.
Romeo I had a tough time, I think I was considering Titan as well, but he was way too much of a love for that name .
The other dogs we settled on one name pretty quickly, or kept the previous owners' name.

Lola was almost Blue. Judge was originally Ozai. Them Bosch.

I wish LoLa would have been Blue. I love Judge's name.

I've never been 100% about Tess' name, but I didn't really have anything else picked out. I chose it fairly early on, she was just a few weeks old, and I didn't really know her yet. Later, a friend said I should have named her "Lefty", for her white left front paw, and I think I'd have liked that, that was cute. But she was an adolescent by then, and already knew her name. Maybe I should have changed it, I don't know.

I had a lot of potential boy puppy names, but when I settled on "Pirate", I was totally happy with it, and I never really considered anything else. Of all the dog names I've used, I think it's my favorite.

Arnold was almost Noah. Shamoo came as Taboo, Shamoo was a mean tease of her weight but it was too perfect and I'm thrilled it stuck.

Backup was almost Jude but Backup was too perfect to pass up. Sloan was always Sloan, it means fighter in Gaelic and Lordy was she a nasty pup.

Gavroche came with the name "Ralphie" and I briefly considered keeping it. I had a list eventually narrowed down to a few characters from Les Mis - I believe I had Grantaire, Enjolros, Courfeyrac, and Feuilly in the runnning. It eventually came down to what name was easier to quickly pronounce :rofl1: It totally fits him, though. I'm glad I went with Gavroche.

Logan came with his name. At the time, I really wanted my next male dog to be named Fiyero. I suppose I could have changed Logan's name, but he was already used to it (he was a year old when I got him) and it's really a fantastic name for him, especially when you take his registered name into consideration! So, if anything, I'm glad I kept his name. Many SD handlers use a pseudonym for their SDs in public so they aren't as easy to distract if someone asks their name and then uses it. I do occasionally play around with pseudonyms for him, but I'm terrible about remembering to use said pseudonyms, so I usually don't bother. In the cases I have tried to use a pseudonym, it's felt really awkward and wrong lol.

I have TONS of names for future dogs. In the lead right now is Ianto or Aggedor for a male, and Elphaba or River for a female.

Circus' name is perfect and I'd never change it -- it just suits her so well!

Lugia (hard "g"), well, I love her name but I regret naming her that. People get so confused when I tell them her name ("Rukia? Luigi? Yugioh? Loogey?") I also hate that "loogie" is slang for a glob of spit, cuz I didn't even become aware of that until after I named her and had tags made. Really wish that I had named her "Veela", a pretty name for a pretty dog.

I honestly can't remember what other names I had on the list for Ivan. The first time I saw him, Ivan just popped into my head. And unfortunately its a fitting name( Ivan the terrible).

I almost named Hudson, Tennant and just called him Ten

I was SO CLOSE to naming Kimma Sonya Blade. I kind of wish I did sometimes But I will one day have a dog named Sonya Blade. One day.

Pen and Bubbles came with their names and they suit them so well. Especially Bubbles. We just call her Bubby mostly.

Jari (Yar-ee) was almost Into (Een-toe). I'm glad we went with Jari though.

Naming dogs is the worst. I love it, but I like eclectic names that Josh hates. :rofl1:

Harlow was just a name I heard in passing that I liked, but I wasn't originally planning on calling her. I wanted to name her Nub or Smudge. Josh declined both, so Harlow it was. Grace was in the running as well, but was too common for my liking.

Rider was going to be LeDoux or Skoal. He came with the name Gunner, which I didn't care for at all. LeDoux just didn't fit him, and nobody seemed to like Skoal (I DID! I should have just stuck with it.) After that, I REALLY wanted to name him Preacher, as he screamed about everything... but Josh said he would call him dog. So, Rider was suggested in a name thread for him and I just went with that. I don't know that I'm glad I chose it. I still wish his name was Preacher or Skoal.

I've got several future names (especially for boys). The majority are not liked by Josh, but I may not care as much. HE CAN DEAL. Lol.

Mackenzy came named from the rescue. I liked it, and still like it.

Keeva was suggested by Milo'smommy on here and I love it. It has a nice sound, it's easy to call, and it's different without being too confusing. The meaning does not fit her, though, as it means "peaceful" and "gentle." Someone told me not to name her something I didn't want her to grow into... yeah, well, I'm still waiting for her grow into THAT. :lol-sign:

Blossom was actually originally named "Lady" by her first family, so I'd say Blossom was an improvement. The shelter volunteers named her that. I had every intention of changing it and then just... didn't. LOL. Nothing else really stuck. Bunny would have been cute, esp with her wonky ears when I got her, but it sounded a bit... stripper-y. I liked Astrid a lot too, but then I couldn't stop thinking of The Office, and Michael calling the baby "Astird" ("ass-turd") instead. So Blossom it is, no matter how dumb it sound during bitework. She IS both very feminine AND dorky at the same time, so it kinda works for her anyway.

Names are hard for me!

Frag was being called "middle man" by the crappy breeder that my ex bought him from. We brainstormed names the whole car ride home. We knew he had to be named something German or military related because my ex was planning on enlisting at the time and was very into military history. Frag came out as a type of grenade via ex's little brother as it was his handle on xbox live. That stuck instantly and he was Frag from day one.

I adopted a little rat terrier from a place where I worked who was currently named "snookie" and that did not fly at all. I spent days trying to figure out a name and finally settled on Bailey. I didn't want a girly name, but I couldn't come up with clever female names, so... I wish I would have come up with a better female name, really.

When I adopted Sir I "knew" I wanted to name a dog Chernobyl, and he fit the bill, so that is what's on all of his adoption papers. That lasted about 5 months and after doing training classes and the whole bit, it got very old. Three syllables will never happen again unless there's a really easy shortened version. "Chern" was just not cutting it and we ended up caling him "Sir" more than anything. So that stuck AND followed our military theme (current boyfriend was a marine..) so it worked out well.

Recon came along soon after Sir's name change I believe and I knew I had to stick with military names at that point. Recon was the perfect name I thought, and I don't regret his one bit!

Tug, a little foster pit mix pup that I raised a few months ago and adopted out came in as "spot" and I thought it was dumb as hell, to be honest. He had a ton of drive and the first thing he did when he came into the house to meet everyone was start playing tug with a fleece rope, so that was the PERFECT name for him and it stuck.. his adopter even kept it.

Mom named all of the animals. Neko our first cat was hard to name, I think we considered Andy and a few others, we had never named a dog or cat before as Max had come with his name. I'm glad she picked out Neko, I don't tend to like really human (or at least not common in the US) names for pets, and we later found out Neko actually means cat, so that works. I don't really like Willie's name and sort of wish we went with something else. We were told we were getting a girl kitten and so mom picked out the name Lily which I did really like. After a couple of weeks we figured out we had a boy but he already knew his name so we decided to go with something that sounded the same and Willie was the best out of those.

Mom picked out Charlie for Tucker originally. The first dog she had called to adopt was a spaniel mix named Charles so I think that's where she got it from (his foster parents kept him). I liked it because it was a character on Lost lol. However after we applied for Tucker (his name was Beans) she decided he didn't look like a Charlie and picked Tucker. Tucker is a great fit for him, I can't think of anything I'd rather have named him.

Working at daycare I've realized there are a lot of names I can never call my dog because I shorten all of them and what I shorten them to sounds stupid a lot of the time. It's nice to be able to try out a lot of names at work and see what sounds good. Plus you figure out which names are ridiculously common.

Buzz was going to be Domino or Buzz. Buzz stuck (Buzz Lightyear, Buzzword, Buzzard, and a few other creative variations). Unfortunately, his registered name encompasses both and he simply became "Sir Buzz Dominio."

Bailey was Bailey from before the time she was born. I couldn't decide how to spell it at first, but I am a proponent of "normal/easy" spellings at heart, so Bailey it is.

Shadow has always been Shadow.

Copper came in as Pearl, which just... was horrible. She was 1.5, not 15. The people who were supposed to adopt her after I was done training her decided on Copper from The Fox and The Hound, so it stuck.

Bloo came as Blue, and it stuck. I just thought she needed a dorkier spelling, because she's a dork.

Embyr was initially Puppy Lightning, which I didn't like for an adult name. Cute baby name, not something I can yell out during agility. I wanted to name her Echo, my mother thought it was too close to Shadow. I wanted to name her Juice, and sometimes I still wish I did. A future dog WILL be named Juice, **** it.

Deke was initially Hershey from ROAR's chocolate litter, but... Hershey is just too generic. I didn't choose the name Deke, Seth did. I was hoping for Major... oh well.

I like Crossbone's name!!!!

I got to pick the dog & Ken got to pick the name. Crossbone was the only suggestion he gave and I was actually hoping to name him Sir Cody Crossbone and continue calling him Cody. Ken was adamant we call him Crossbone & eentually it grew on me and I can't imagine a different name now.