What’s In A Name? How to name your puppy
We have found that when you meet strangers on the street their first question is usually “what breed is that?” which is quickly followed by “what’s their name?” Just like humans, your name is one of your biggest identifiers. We wanted our dog to have a meaningful name for us and also something that would be unique. There’s nothing wrong with choosing popular names (they’re popular for a reason) but Ryan and Jess found themselves gravitating towards some names you don’t hear everyday.
While many dog owners know exactly which dog they’re getting when they start their name search, Ryan and Jess did not. We had to wait for other people to make the decisions. Adelaide was one of three possible iggy female puppies that we could have received. Ryan and Jess got the opportunity to visit the breeder a month before and meet all three girls (plus four boys too). One girl was classified as blue fawn (think blue-eyed deer), red (think reddish light brown) and seal (think dark brown with chocolate undertones when in the light). We fell in love with all three and didn’t know what that meant for our decision making.
Ultimately the decision was left up to the breeder and another family, but we wanted to prepare by picking names that could go with each pup.
Things we considered:
1. Unique names — both in popularity and also unique to us personally.
2. Meaningful on multiple levels.
3. Names that matched the colour and personality of each pup.
4. Names that could potentially be shortened to a nickname.
When searching for unique names, we wanted something unique both in everyday life but also unique to us (we didn’t want to recycle a name of a previous pet or human in our lives). Perhaps watching the entire series of Downton Abbey prior to getting our puppy had an influence on this decision, but we fell in love with old fashioned lady names! Google is a great place to start when looking for those classic names you don’t hear everyday. Recent trends have shown that more parents are choosing antiquated names for their babies so we’ve read many long lists. This sparked the imagination and we found ourselves gravitating between 5–6 names.
We used google to help us find more names that had meaning for us. With mom and dad being musical theatre actors, it didn’t take long before they had read every list on the internet of Broadway inspired names. When certain names fell in both categories “old-fashioned” and “Broadway” inspired, they became our top picks.
The following were our top picks until the very end:
- Edith (Edie)
- Adelaide (Addy)
- Brooklyn
- Marion
- Ingrid
- Ethel
- Eleanor
When matching up a name to a pup, we started to split the names between the different girls. The fawn and/or red-brown girls were potentially going to be named Edith. They both seemed lady-like and dainty. The red-brown girl was the tiniest (runt of the litter) and was so sweet when she fell asleep in mom’s arms on their first visit. Edith was definitely an inspiration from Downton Abbey but we also thought about the name because of Grey Gardens the musical (little Edie).
The seal girl was going to be Brooklyn or Adelaide. These names felt more spunky because this girl seemed to be a little rambunctious. Brooklyn was a top pick but we realized that should we ever live in Brooklyn someday, maybe that wouldn’t be the easiest name. The name, Adelaide, started to come into place for many reasons. Originally it was for Adelaide from Guys and Dolls (a show mom has performed in). Adelaide is also the name of the street where mom works in Toronto. One of Ryan’s favorite podcasters, Brady Haran, is from Adelaide, Australia. On top of that, with Adelaide being in Australia, it only seems fitting to name a dog after it because Italian greyhounds look and jump like little baby kangaroos.
So we settled on two. Edith and Adelaide. Meeting our 4th criteria, these names could both be shortened. We didn’t know anyone with these names, so it felt unique. All we had to do was wait to find out which fur baby would be ours. When the day came, we felt a connection to all three puppies but felt so happy to finally get permission to love our little Adelaide.
The verdict is out on whether we will keep calling her Adelaide or start rocking the hip and cool nickname, “Addy”. Stay tuned as we learn more about our spunky little girl.
We also had a podcast episode of The Iggy Parents where we talked about how other dog parents picked names for their Italian greyhounds. Find us on Instagram, YouTube, and our website.
