39 Dog Names and Why Families Chose Them!

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This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Iams. All opinions are 100% mine.

How Does Your Family Choose Dog Names?

Do you have dog family members?  If so, how did you choose their names?  Do you pick them based on the dog’s features?  On a meaningful moment in your life when you got your dog?  Or just on a whim?  Inspired by B-Inspired Mama sponsor, Iams®, I polled my blogging mama friends and friends over at B-Inspired Mama on Facebook to see what their dogs’ names are and how they chose them.  It’s so fun to hear their stories and the obvious love they have for their dogs.  Let’s check ’em out…

39 Dog Names and Why Families Chose Them!

Dog Names Inspired by Culture or Place

• Evangeline – “[Our second dog] is a girl named Evangeline (“Evie”) and I picked that because it’s a very Louisiana name.” Erica of eLeMeNO-P Kids
• Jaques – “Our dog is named Jaques. We gave him a French name since he is a French breed: Papillon. The kids pronounce it ‘Jack’ though.” Jennifer of The Life of Jennifer Dawn
• Cocoa – “We had a dog named Cocoa, because the street name she came from was Cocopah.” Clarissa of Munchkins and Moms

Dog Names That Mean Something Else

• Stella – “We are adopting a new Yellow Lab puppy this weekend whose name will be Stella! Stella means ‘star’, and we expect her to be our little star. Plus we thought that the names Cooper and Stella were awesome together!” Alicia of Vibrant Homeschooling
• Kelby – “Awesome! Our black lab’s name in Kelby. That means ‘my dog’ in Arabic. I used to be an Arabic linguist and I always thought it would be clever to name a dog that.” Sara of Sunshine Whispers

Dog Names Inspired by Food

• Sprinkles – “[One of our dogs] is a girl named Sprinkles, and I picked it because I love cupcakes with sprinkles and thought it was fun.” Erica of eLeMeNO-P Kids
• Olive – Our Border Collie-Sheltie mix is mostly black with some white patches.  So we named her Olive, like a black olive.

Dog Names Inspired by TV, Movies, or Popular Culture

• Kaylee & Petra – “Our dogs are named Kaylee and Petra, each after a favorite character from a Sci Fi series; Kaylee, the lovable mechanic from ‘Firefly’, and Petra, the strong-willed and intelligent commander from ‘Ender’s Game.’ We chose names based on what we felt like their personalities would be, and they definitely fit!” Arena of The Nerd’s Wife
• Harley – “Our (passed) dog was called Harley. He was a rescue and had been named after the motorcycle. When we got him he had a Harley Davidson collar which we kept on him. I don’t seem like the Harley Davidson-type so we always got quizzical looks on that one!” Jennifer of Study at Home Mama
• Miss Bowden – “Our Belgian Shepherd’s name is Miss Bowden. I rescued her in Southern California from a man who would venture into Baja California to rescue lions . . He discovered my sweet fur baby. I named her after my favorite football coach, Bobby Bowden, from Florida State University.” Becca of I Really Love Chocolate
• Touchdown – “Our dog is a Black Labrador named Touchdown. I always wanted a dog named Touchdown. He goes crazy during football season (that is, if our team is winning)!” Meeghan of Mrs. Karle’s Sight and Sound Reading
• Brandy – “My husband’s family call dogs after alcohol, so [one of our new puppies] was called Brandy!” George of Craftulate
• Krull the Warrior King – “Our dog recently passed away. His name was Krull the Warrior King. He was a 9 lb chihuahua, so the name was adorable on him! I named him that after my favorite movie from years ago, ‘How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days’.” Blayne of House of Burke
• Sookie – “We rescued our dog from Mexico and named her Sookie after the True Blood character. We thought it was a sweet name and it wouldn’t make us sound crazy when we called her while at the park.” Shelley of STEAM Powered Family
• Kang the Conqueror – “My son named our dog Kang the Conqueror after a Marvel character. He is obsessed with super heros!” Nicole of Mom Approved Reviews and News
• Penny – “Our dog’s name is Penny. We named her after Penny Pinchers, our local thrift store which we frequent a LOT!” Rebecca of Hip Homeschooling
• Cedric Marshall – “‘Cedric”‘was NOT even close to our list of names for my little [Rottweiler] pup…trust me! But, he refused to answer ANY name we had chosen, so far. Then, one afternoon, we were sitting on the back deck, talking about an event in the one Harry Potter book; the subject of ‘Cedric Diggory’ came up, and he suddenly popped his little head up at the name! So, I walked across the deck and said ‘Come here, Cedric!’, and he came toddling over! I was NOT happy at first but, he was happiest with that one, so it stayed. Then, came the task of finding a middle name that sounded decent with it…” DianeMargaret

Dog Names Inspired by History or Literature

• Dante – “Mine is named Dante, after The Divine Comedy (Inferno). I always said my husband’s 8th circle of hell would be a big black hairy dog.” Shannon of BentoLunch.net
• Dino – “[Our German Shepherd-Pitbull mix is] named Dino; the girls and I choose it because when he first got to us he sounded like Dino from the Flintstones.
• Odysseus – “Ody – short for Odysseus. We inherited him with that name, but it’s kind of appropriate because he traveled through three different families before ending up with us for good.” Laura of Peace but Not Quiet
• Sir Arthur Conan Farr – “Our dog’s name is Sir Arthur Conan Farr, but we just call him Arthur. Our family loves reading, and my mother, who passed away a few years before we got Arthur, passed on her love of reading mysteries to us all. So Arthur was the perfect name for a boy, and Agatha (for Agatha Christie) was our backup girl dog name. He has a lovely moustache which makes him the perfect Arthur.” Jennifer of Kitchen Counter Chronicles
• Newton – “My husband named our dog after Sir Issac Newton, because he thought our son (whose favorite subject is science) would appreciate the name. We call the dog ‘Newton’ for short.” Caitlyn

Dog Names Inspired by Color

• Rusty – “We used to have a dog called Rusty because he was a rusty color.” Maggy of Red Ted Art

Human-Like Dog Names

• Lucy – “Our dog’s name is Lucy. I was afraid my boys would pick some ridiculous name that I would have to hear for years. So my husband and I chose the name before picking up our Boston Terrier. On the drive to get her, we played the song ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ for the boys. It’s fitting!” Jennifer of The Jenny Evolution
• Maggie & Hailey – “Our older dog’s name is Maggie and we picked that the same way we picked names for our kids, we just picked ones we liked! Our younger dog is Hailey and that is the name she came to us from the shelter with.” Vicki of Simply Vicki
• Lexi – “Our dog’s name is Lexi. My 6 year old wanted to name her Softie. My husband came up with Lexi, and since he was still so torn up about losing our previous dog, we went with his choice. (Plus, I just couldn’t go with Softie.)” Christina of There’s Just One Mommy
• Lily – “I named our dog Lily before we had children as I’ve always loved the name, but knew we could never name a child that as it almost rhymed with our last name.” Kate of Kitchen Floor Crafts
• JJ – “We just rescued a puppy and he was named Jack Jack when we got him. My husband has always wanted a dog name Joaquin Joiner (my husband’s last name) so he could call him JJ. It took us a few hours to realize that JJ is short for Jack Jack and it seemed meant to be, so JJ has stuck.” Katie of Happily Ever Mom
• Thatcher – “Our dog is Thatcher. We named him that because he seemed to be an old soul…and it fits him perfectly!” Melissa of Fireflies and Mud Pies

Keep or Adapt The Dog’s Original Name

• Apache – “Our German Shepherd’s name is Apache. We adopted her from a shelter, and she was afraid of everyone at first, but we wanted to give her a strong name. The only downside is that most people assume she’s a male dog.” Donella at Glue Sticks and Gumdrops
• Ivan – “We JUST got a dog two weeks ago. He is a one year old German Sheppard. He already knew his name – Ibaneze. We decided to shorten it to Ivan. Since my husband is Russian, we thought Ivan was a good strong name.” Amanda of The Educators’ Spin On It
• Pepper – “My friend named my dog Pepper on the night I rescued her. She was really sick so I brought her home to bring her back to health before I made the decision to adopt her. He came over to see her and was trying to get her to come to him, ‘Come here little doggie, come on, come here… come here Pepper.’ The name stuck like glue. She’s a little black and white spotted poodle mix. I was able to nurse her back to health so my now husband and I adopted her and gave her a forever home.” Nell of Rhythms of Play
• Cooper – “Our dog’s name is Cooper! He was given that name when we rescued him. But, oh, it fits! He is a lazy, sweet, lovable Yellow Lab.” Alicia of Vibrant Homeschooling

Let the Kids Help Pick the Dog Names

• Princess BB –  “[Our second dog is] Princess BB; my husband named her, and it’s a really inappropriate name but she answers to it. My girls added the princess to it to pretty it up.” Natasha of Tiny Tots Adventures
• Bingo – “My 4 year old named one [of our puppies] Bingo, after the kids song.” George of Craftulate
• Snowflake – “Our maltese poodle is called Snowflake. The kids named her just over a year ago in the height of Frozen-mania, when she was still in her mummy’s tummy. She’s tiny, white and fluffy, so the name suits her well.” Danya of Danya Banya

Pick a Name Just Because!

• Jersey – “Our dog’s name is Jersey. We picked that name because it was the ONLY name my husband and I agreed on.” Erin of Putting Socks on Chickens

Meet Our Olive

We’ve introduced our Olive once before here at B-Inspired Mama.  She’s been with us for almost two years, and has grown up from a puppy alongside our little J.C who is three years old.  She’s a sweet Border Collie-Sheltie Mix who loves to play with the kids, “wrestle” J.C, and “herd” rabbits in the yard since she has no sheep.

We’re excited to have been invited by Iams® to make the switch to Iams quality dog food for her to see if it makes any visible differences in her health and her adventures.   We’ll watch for will be a shinier coat, healthier skin, higher energy levels and healthier digestion.  So over the next few weeks, we’ll be following her vet’s safety rules for gradually changing her food to Iams® quality dog food.  Then we’ll check back in to see if there are any Iams Visible Differences to share with you.  Want to take the Iams Visible Difference Challenge, too?  Click here – Iams Visible Differences – to get a $5 coupon!

What would you like to learn about dogs in our follow-up posts about Olive?  Let me know in the comments below!

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This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Iams. All opinions are 100% mine. Please see my disclosure policy.

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