I suspect that most families welcoming a new member will spend a good amount of time about figuring out who they will call them. Personally, I thought I had it all figured out ever since Beetho passed away.
Chopin: A few months after we all survived the terrible disaster of the 2000 bug, I moved to the big city and, given that we were forbidden to have a dog in the apartment, we settled for a little kitty. Beethoven was alive and well at the time. He had been given that name by the owner of his parents and while it was probably inspired by a movie with a giant St. Bernard, we took it as the composer. Thus, kitty was known as Mozart. I thought it would be pretty cool to continue this musical tradition and, after some thinking (and the fact that Bach and Tchaikovsky are just awful dog names), picked Chopin. From that day on, I looked forward to meeting Chopin. When I moved to Sweden, I was doing all I could to get Chopin, but things got in the way: at first we didn’t have our own place, then we moved to the third floor of an apartment buildings, etc. In consolation, I’d give any virtual dogs in games the name of Chopin. Then after many years of sighing and longing, we finally moved to a house. It was time to get Chopin!
Then I realised that… We always shorten names, no matter what, so it would be natural for Chopin to be abbreviated sometimes. Chopin was a very nice and fine name when pronounced in French. “Viens ici mon Chocho!” doesn’t sound too bad, right? Let’s try in English “Come here, Chop Chop”. In Swedish? “Kom här Shop Shop”. Ugh. ACK! My name was ruined! Enfer et damnation!
With my head low, I started thinking of a new name.
Doctor: I love Doctor Who and a dog named Doctor sounded pretty cool. It would also go well with my parent’s dog Mister B. Instead of “Play dead!” I could command him to “Regenerate!”. There was also the old Bugs Bunny quote of “What’s up, Doc?” upon which my dog would give me his paw. Niclas was not too fond of it and I fear that most of the fun jokes would have been lost upon most people.
Maple: Given that the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever has roots in the province of Nova Scotia in Canada, I thought Maple would be an awesome name. Maple trees can be red (the dog is red!) and it is an obvious symbol of Canada (just look at the flag if you are in doubts). Sadly, everyone I spoke to said it was a bitch name, so I had to give up my little Maple. Actually, I might just store it away because I still think it’s a great name.
Spirou: The red haired groom/journalist came up at some point as I love comic books. We seemed to be both quite taken by the name. However, it lasted only for 24 hours and we were back to wondering what to call the dog.
Bobby: Bobby would have been in honour of Greyfriars Bobby. I found that story so touching when we visited Scotland that I told myself I would name a dog Bobby one day. The problem is that I’m not too fond of the name and that Bobby is also a common nickname of Niclas’ middle name. It might have made things a little weird! You can read about Bobby’s devotion here: The tale of Greyfriars Bobby
Maximilien Le Woof: We were eating dinner and talking about names. Out of the blue, I said Max. Niclas looked at me and cheerfully said that it was a very good name. I was a bit unsure, but it did sound good. However, I couldn’t have a dog whose name is only Max. So I elaborated it. Max is short for Maximus, Maximilien… Wait a sec, that one sounds pretty good! It actually sounds a bit noble too. Then it needs a proper last name! Woof is doggish enough. De Woof? Von Woof? Le Woof? It was a bit of a tie between De and Le, but you know the result.
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