Sunday, January 11, 2015

On Naming our Dog

Mr. Lock and I don't really have serious discussions about baby names.  We have always been the type to jokingly say we'd name our kids "Ektorp", after the name of our IKEA couch.  That's the sort of way we discuss naming future offspring.  In very silly ways.

Now that we're married, and are settled into our home, we sometimes toss around more realistic names which can be very fun.  I've always been name obsessed, so I enjoy these moments very much.

While we aren't needing to name an actual human baby yet in our lives, we have made the choice to add a puppy to our home.  I've mentioned this briefly in a couple of past posts.  My best friend being a veterinarian, and my love for my parents' dog, has really led me to wanting to be a dog owner.  I appreciate the company of a dog for times when I am home alone (even though I am 29.5 years old, I am still not a huge fan of being home alone), and I am a pet lover.  I'm a caregiver, I have a lot of love to give, and having a pet feels right to me.  Mr. Lock is on the same page, he is really excited to own a dog of his own, and he is looking forward to teaching our dog to catch a Frisbee, and to playing with it at the park near our home.  Getting outside and enjoying the fresh air is so much more common with a dog in your life, so we are both looking forward to that.

This is really our first serious naming decision!  This is good practice before we have to agree on the name of a tiny human.  We have thrown around a variety of options.  We did agree on a name if we end up with a male puppy -- we like the name Gryphon.  We are old time friends from the University of Guelph, and Guelph's mascot is the Gryphon.  The breeder we are getting our puppy from also happens to be in Guelph!  So it seems meant to be, and we think the name is super cute for a boy dog.  So, boy dog = Gryphon.  Done.

The thing is, we will actually most likely be choosing a female dog.  My family has always had female dogs (including my aunts and uncles in that), and of the Wheaten Terriers I have known before, the female ones were of a calmer temperament.  I think I'd prefer a female.  In the litter, there were 3 females and 2 males born so we will have to see which dog just seems to be "ours" once we get to pick our puppy at the end of January.

Female dog names seem harder for Mr. Lock and I to agree on!  We have a few categories of names we are considering.

First Category: Winter/Christmas names

The puppies were born December 7th, and finding that out felt like a special Christmas gift!  We have been toying with the idea of giving her a winter/Christmas name to commemorate her birthday.  Some names in the running have been Holly, Ivy, or Clementine.  Of those three, Mr. Lock and I really only agreed on Holly.

Second Category:  Irish names

The soft-coated wheaten terrier was originally an Irish breed.  We think it could be fun to go with an Irish name for our pup.  We were looking at some of the names that have a fun/unique Gaelic spelling.  We don't want to pick a name that could be a future child's name for ourselves or our friends, so that's why we are choosing names that could be unique/different. We think that works best for a dog.  Our favourite Irish name right now is Caoimhe - which is pronounced "Keeva".  We would spell the dog's name Keeva; but for ourselves we would enjoy the unique Gaelic spelling, haha.

Third Category: A play on "Wheaten"

Wheaten terriers start out with caramel-coloured fur, which fades to a blond "wheat" colour over two years.  It could be cute to name the dog something that goes with this theme.  Maybe a grain name like Barley.  We also have been considering the name "Willow" -- which alludes to the actor Wil Wheaton.  Many years ago, when he was first on The Big Bang Theory, the character Sheldon said the line "Fetch me Wil Wheaton!".  This always made me laugh, and knowing that wheaten terriers were a dog breed I liked, I used to joke that I'd name my dog Willow, call her Will Wheaten, and then when you said that line, the word "fetch" would be so funny since it is also a dog term.  The joke has lost its lustre after this many years, but sometimes I still go back to liking the name Willow since I was thinking about it for years.

I think the front-runner right now is Keeva, to be honest.  It is really growing on both of us, we seem to agree on it.  We like that it isn't a potential baby name for ourselves or our friends.  So, we may go with:

Boy:  Gryphon
Girl: Keeva

However, we are also waiting to see what name jumps out at us after we actually pick which puppy will be ours.  We may meet her (or him, keeping my mind open), and feel like one name works better than others.

I'm really excited, and am enjoying this whole process leading up to bringing our puppy home!  It's an exciting way to expand our family, and prepare us for the responsibility of parenting one day.  I'll probably be one of those crazy puppy parents who will start sharing a ton of photos of our dog.  I think it will actually make for some very cute blog fodder!

1 comment:

  1. OMG love that you thought of Gryphon for a boy's name! Keeva is very cute too! ;) SO much fun!

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