How did your Staffy get his/her name?

My doggy was already called Rupert when I adopted him. He seems very Rupert-y to me now. I am really interested in how people choose their dog's names. Often there's a really interesting/lovely story behind it.

Bandit (my old boy) was actually called Neville by his breeder because she thought his overall character seemed to be very 'English'.

There was no way I was going to go over the park & call for Neville, so when he started to steal my oh's socks we called him Bandit. there was also a Bandit's Brintiga in his pedigree so it sounded right.

Dempsey was called Spider by the breeder's children - no way was that going to stay! So Dempsey was chosen by my oh, after the Heavyweight boxer. It just so happened (total coincidence) that the registered name chosen by the breeder was Frachadem Thrilla in Manila after the famous Muhammed Ali/Joe Frazier fight. He had no idea that we'd decided to call him Dempsey after a boxer!

No interesting story here I'm afraid, it's the name the recsue gave her as she was from the pound, I love it though and it totally suits her

Nothing interesting here!

Scrumpy my first, after cider lol, firstly she was called princess (shakes head and sighs lol) , & Moo was Missy when I rescued her but got shortened to Moo

My pooch was already named from the shelter. Not sure if it was written on the note that was tied with Shéara when he was tied outside or if the staff had come up with it. Presuming its come from Alan Sheara the Newcastle football player, black and white.

Ledger was a George at rescue but it really didn't suit him, his profile pic had him grinning the biggest staffy grin with a mischievous look in his eye he reminded me of the Joker so a logical progression to name him after Heath Ledger

With Pippa (and with my mom's dalmatian Bruno before her) we let the dogs pick their own name. Bruno was Pongo in rescue (predictable?!!) and we spotted Pippa the day she came in to rescue and showed interest so they didn't name her (poor baby!).

We came up with a shortlist (or, to be fair, a long list) of names we liked. When we picked up the dog, we crossed most of them off, leaving 2 or 3 that still suited her and we really loved. Then we wrote each name on a separate post-it note, put them on the floor and put a dog treat on each. Point the dog in the direction of the biscuit post-its- the first biscuit she ate was the name we gave her. No turning back, she picked it, it's hers!

Aww Stef, thats really sweet

Zeta - was registered as Lady Zeta so we called her Zeta.
Rio - was registered as Studbriar Ain't Misbehaving, so we puzzled over what to call her, then heard the song "her name is Rio" so called her that.
Trigger - was named after the character in Only Fools and Horses.
Kuchar - named after a golfer! Someone the other day called him "Nutty" which suits him much better, but it's too late now!

I was thinking of names while speaking to my friend, who loves The Avengers, so Thor popped into my head. But then so did Loki, and I figured not only was Loki an easier name for a dog to understand, but it's the mischievous trickster figure. As soon as I interacted with Loki, I knew he was a Loki so playful and mad. He lived up to his name, I think the name influenced him to behave badly

Sophie was called Ginger at the rescue and my partner didn't like it. So he was just rattling off names at her, getting no reaction at all and then when he said 'Sophie', she lifted her head up... and sneezed. So that was that.

When I went to pick Taco up we were thinking that we might call him Nismo (my partner is a Nissan fan) but my partner had some hesitation because people who don't understand what nismo is put nismo stickers on their non nismo cars.
Yeah, I thought he was being a sook about it too.
Anyway, when I picked Taco up he was too small for the harness that I'd gotten for him (it was the smallest one I could get and he was the runt of the litter). I couldn't just let him run around on the seat or leave him unrestrained, so I folded him up in his round flat puppy bed and seat belted him in. He slept the whole way home and didn't move. When I pulled up in the driveway my partner came out of the garage to greet us, takes one look at the car and goes "It's a puppy taco!". The name has stuck, as much as David wanted to change it.
It works though because sometimes Sophie will roll herself up in a blanket like a burrito, so we've got BurritoSophie and TacoTobedetermined.

My son and hubby are Liverpool suporters, so Kenny Douglish I was told it had to be

Doug was called Jock in the rescue but as I am English "Jock" did not seem an approprate name for me to be calling in the park, as much as my OH wanted to keep it! OH has also always wanted a dog called Doug. Doug in a Scottish accent sounds like Dog so he is Doug the Dog

We do get alot of laughs when we tell people his name which Doug just loves as people relax around him and he gets a stroke!

Bachus was originally going to be Reuben until I was trawling through the alphabetically listed suggestions on this forum. It then became a toss-up between Bacchus and Cicero. We settled on Bacchus ( the Roman God of wine and frivolity). Can't imagine him as anything else now.

Louby was named by her previous owners, no idea where they got it from, not heard it before, could be Louby Lou...maybe she was Ruby, but their little un couldnt say their R's? Its not a bad name, we wouldnt have changed it with her being 6 months old at the time. My hubby wants a dog to be called Jinky (after Celtic legend) or Bintang (after a beer we drank in Indonesia when we went travelling)...i like Jinky.

My son wanted may, my daughter wanted darcy, so we compromised hence darcy-may

Just asked previous owner where Louby's name came from (we are loosely in touch on FB), their son has a disability and his speech isnt very good, they taught him to say his sisters name, Lacey, and they chose Louby as its kind of the same sounding name as Lacey - alot of thought went in to her name, shame more thought wasnt put into looking after her!!!

Rocky was already named when we adopted him from a rescue centre, didn't want to give him any more confusion so stuck with his name although he is a lover not a fighter, and he doesn't like boxers anyway.

I already have a list of names I like.

I dont have a staffie yet, but my blue female staffie will be named Gia and eventually I´ll have a red/fawn or pied staffie, named Cali.

Gia, because I just always looooooved the name. Plus I love the movie, Gia, played by Angelina Jolie

and Cali, means beautiful. Also, I am from California

If I ever get a boy, his name will be Cai or Cairo, or Bruno -- not sure yet.

also, if the name fits them I´ll stick to it, if not, theyll just get a completely different name. lol

we were stuck foe a name when we got sash,then a friend came round to visit her and said she's a sasha,so sasha she became!

When we were considering names we had loads, blaze, steel, monty, the list continues, although we never settled on one... But when we went to view Otis the children had already named him, we loved the name so much and decided to keep it

Jenson was named by my hubby he's a mahoosive F1 fan and out of the blue we were talking names and he mentioned Jenson (after jenson button) it just seemed to fit plus im a huge Supernatural fan so hubby thinks its after button but really in my mind its after Jenson Ackles - dean in supernatural my fantasy husband

I'm a huge horror movie fan and my favorites ever are house of 1000 corpses and the devils rejects both by rob zombie, one of the main characters in it is called Otis B Driftwood after a Groucho Marx character and I just thought it was a perfect name for a puppy. He just really suits his name now. X

Caryll wrote:There was no way I was going to go over the park & call for Neville

That made me laugh. Bandit is very nice name. I bet Bandit is grateful for it.

Ledger - I would never have guessed that but now you mention it, I can see the similarity...

Dog Taco is totally brilliant.

Scrumpy is a name that is much, much better suited to a Staffy than a cider. It just sounds like everything that is brilliant about Staffies. What colour was he?

Sheara - that hadn't crossed my mind. I was thinking about She-Ra the cartoon warrior that used to be on tv in the 1990s. One of my favourites.

Kenny Douglish - of course!

Rio - I like it even more now I know he's a Duran Duran dog.

Bacchus is great and he looks like a Bacchus too. I love his white and tan coat.

Bintang is a good name.

I have always loved Otis. It is so sweet and perfect for a dog. I can only think of Otis Redding. But I often call my Staff my little otter because somehow he reminds me of one so perhaps your kids were inspired by wildlife? Is he pronounced Ottis or Oatis? And Scottish Otis?

I really love all these stories. The names make so much sense when you know where they came from. And it says so much about how attached we all are to our dogs. They are wonderful. More please!

Oh, how can I forget the name Samba!! Im debating between samba and gia whenever I get my first girl staffie.

Samba, because I love Brazil - their culture, music, language, etc. I plan on living there in the future.

It's pronounced oatis x

Some great stories there

My 4 year and my OH named her Bella, which is apparently short for 'Tinkerbell'.

Vinnie named after Vinnie Jones. Not because he is a hard nut just Leeds United fans here....................... I know sad eh!

We wanted a name easy to pronounce in English and Japanese. Suki means loving one in Japanese so we thought it was a good fit

Nothing special for my Zac we just wrote a list of names and picked the one we liked same with little Ava although we did want a short name with only 3 letters.

Obi on the other hand comes from Hollyoaks the character OB (max's friend) not Star wars lol. When we first saw his picture we thought he looked like a really cheeky chappie so we ran threw names of funny cheeky people and my husband came up with Obi.

Diesel is named after Vin Diesel - when I met my oh before we started datin I used to slag him all the time for likin fast&furious movies...
Leroy was Bruce when we got him but well thats a spaniel name (both my grandas spaniels were called bruce) so when we brought him home an took him out an tried to guess his name Leroy came to me an it stuck!

Diesel is named after Vin Diesel - when I met my oh before we started datin I used to slag him all the time for likin fast&furious movies...
Leroy was Bruce when we got him but well thats a spaniel name (both my grandas spaniels were called bruce) so when we brought him home an took him out an tried to guess his name Leroy came to me an it stuck!

Chloe is named after Chloe in '24' because she pulls the same faces

The pup we were going to have from the litter (only two boys in the litter) was going to be called Jay, but then the person who had the pick of the litter (Max) messed the breeder about, so she said we could have the pick ... and Eastenders happened to be on one night during the "thinkin of names" period, and I heard the name Max and thought ... thats the one for me

So he's named after a ginger tw@t on a soap

I love these stories. Every time I think I can guess why a dog has a certain name I get it wrong.

inez maria wrote:Vinnie named after Vinnie Jones. Not because he is a hard nut just Leeds United fans here....................... I know sad eh!

Ahhh Inez, my youngest brother is also a Leeds United fan, your not the only one

Otissmummy wrote:I'm a huge horror movie fan and my favorites ever are house of 1000 corpses and the devils rejects both by rob zombie, one of the main characters in it is called Otis B Driftwood after a Groucho Marx character and I just thought it was a perfect name for a puppy. He just really suits his name now. X

Rob Zombine is a genius

Biscuit was a stray, the kennel girls came up with "Cookie" as she was the colour of cookie dough.. she wasn't very friendly when she was first in kennels and it soon changed to "the cookie monster" as she started to come around we realised we already had another staffie bitch in kennels named "Cookie" so my manager decided to go with "Biscuit" and I decided not to change it when I took her on. Planning on rescuing another soon, who's going to be called "Hetfield" after James Hetfield from Metallica.. OH's choice but as long as it suits I think it's a pretty good staffie name

Chiquito means 'little boy' in Spanish and .... he is my little boy

I always called him Travieso when he was a little puppy, and being that it suits him so well it has kind of stuck as his second name


(Chiquito Travieso = little boy troublemaker/mischievous little boy)

Lily was called KYA in the rescue after a car that was parked outside - had to change that, not becasue I didn't like the name but it just sounded like it was given without much thought. I have a favourite book called The Secret Life of Bees and the central character is called Lily, which just happened to be my lovely mother-in-laws name (RIP). So Lily she is!

I think Lily is better than KYA.

What if there'd been a Ford Mondeo parked outside?

Rupertsbooks wrote:I think Lily is better than KYA.

What if there'd been a Ford Mondeo parked outside?

yes Lily is far better!

Bacon - When I got the newborn pictures from my breeder he looked like a chubby little pig especially because I could see his pink skin under his white fur. So, that settled the pig themed name and Bacon seemed to be the most interesting.

He's glad I picked that to be his name. And it sounds even better when I call for him in public. We get a lot of confused looks when I tell people his name.

Fun post, nice to hear about all the names.

Love this post - the stories are great

"Rupertsbooks wrote:
I think Lily is better than KYA.

What if there'd been a Ford Mondeo parked outside?"

Janey wrote:
"yes Lily is far better!"

You do understand that if she had been called Audi or Alpha Romeo I would have kept it!

We sat for good 2days looking through the internet 
for names I wanted poppy I was set on that name but on picking her up I looked at her and it didn't suit her , so traveling home I went back on Google and came across Lola as soon as soon as I had said it she looked at me and licked me so the name stuck 

My oh is South African so our boy is named after Jock the Bushveld

Being an aussie he will gets some funny looks at the park when we call out 'Jock'