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Sunday, July 4, 2010

What's In A Name?

A while back, our friend Frankie Furter challenged everyone to share the story of how they got their name on July 4 as a fun way to enjoy a laid back holiday.  So, in the spirit of Frankie's idea, we're sharing the history of our names.  At least, as much of it as we can.

Greyhounds are a little different than a lot of dogs, because most of them come to their homes as retired racers who already have names.  Some of the names are rather funny and clever.  Many times they have kennel names that have something to do with their racing names, and other times, they have kennel names that have nothing to do with their racing names.  CKB Tom Koon, you know who you are! 

Some racing owners always give their dogs some initials before their names that stand for something personal to them.  For example Treat's owners always named the dogs Adios and then something, so her name was Adios Treat.  Hawk's owner always names the dogs Stat US and then a name.  His litter all had team mascot names.  It also happens that sometimes they don't give a prefix of any kind to the names, too.  Anyhow, now that there's a little background behind us, I'll explain how our current girls got their names. 

Lilac's official name is WW Line.  It appears that her owners really liked trains, because there are a lot of train references in their dogs' names.  She was known as Line when we got her as a foster.  During the time when we had her as a foster, a very good friend of ours had a greyhound who was a lot like her in temperment and she went through a prolonged illness and eventually passed away just before we made Lilac officially ours.  Her signature color was purple.  When we first got her, she was into everything, in the sneakiest of ways.  We had to say her name A LOT!  We decided to alter her original name slightly and make it something easier to say so that we could try to train her.  So, in a nod to our friend's dog, we changed it to Lilac, which still had a bit of the sound of the name she'd had but was easier to say in a training sort of way.  Seven years later, we still say her name a lot and she still ignores us just as much.  Interestingly, in both of the litters of puppies she had there is also a dog named Line.  We think Lilac just suits her, though.  I often think of the poem "When I Am An Old Lady, I Shall Wear Purple" when I think of Lilac, too, so it just sort of seems to fit her.  Lilac's name is the only one that we have changed after she came to live with us.

Blueberry's racing name was Reward Terry.  Before she lived with us, she spent a few months as the companion to a crazy cat lady.  She'd been called Terry at the track, but they had someone in their family named Terry and they didn't want to have confusion.  Greyhounds who are grey are actually rather rare, and the color is known as blue within the breed.  They thought it would be fun to combine a reference to her color and make a rhyme with her name, so they changed her name to Blueberry.  The first four months that Blue lived with us, we were supposed to be petsitting her, with the plan that she was returning to the woman who'd first had her.  So, of course we were calling her Blueberry.  By the time she was officially ours, we were very used to calling her Blueberry and honestly, I couldn't pick a better name for her.  It just really sums up her personality.  She's funny, sweet and often a surprise. 

Bunny's racing name was Bank On Benefit.  She was called Bunny at the farm long before she had an official name.  At first, I thought that it might have been a play on Benefit, but I learned that she was called Bunny from the time she was little.  Interestingly, there was a mix up when her litter left the farm and went to schooling, and the names that they were supposed to have got somewhat mixed up.  So, it's possible she was meant to be Bank On Bling.  Since greyhounds are usually trained to chase mechanical rabbits on the track (who have their own names, but that's a post for another day) I really loved the irony of her being named Bunny.  She's also very petite for a greyhound.  Often people ask if she's a whippet, but she's a bit too big for that.  Still, because of her size and her nature, Bunny really is a perfect name for her. 

I know that a lot of greyhound adopters change their dogs' names when they first adopt them, but I've always been partial to keeping part of them.  I feel like it's a part of their history, I suppose.  If I had one who came with a really embarrassing name, that would be a different story, though!  However, now you know a little bit about our girls' history.
We'd like to wish all our friends in the United States a Happy Independence Day, as well!  Here's our own version of red, white and Blueberry!

Now it appears that I need to add an extra name explanation.  Morgan's official name is Morgan Annalise von Owen.  Her mother's name was Annalise, so that was given to her as a middle name, and I understand that her family just chose Morgan as her first name because they liked it.  While Morgan would not be my first pick for a dog's name, she knows it and is comfortable with it.  After all the changes that have happened in her life, we didn't want to put her through learning a new name on top of it.  Finding out about Bunny's name is what lead her to our lives, so we are glad to have participated in this fun exercise on many levels!

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35 comments:

  1. Furry khool!

    They are sooooo what woo khall them!

    Happy FoURth of WOO-ly!

    Hugz&Khysses,
    Khyra

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  2. Bank on Benefit is a great, and rather fun, name for a racing greyhound. Almost as much fun as red, white and blueberry! Hope you're all having a great day.

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  3. Happy 4th of July!

    Those photos are fab!

    Murray's Mom has always loved Jenny Joseph's 'When I am old, I shall wear purple as well'. Bank on Benefit was a superb name - we were trying to name a horse recently and it would have been a great name for the horse as well!

    Have a great day!

    best wishes
    Clive and the NSLM

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  4. Most clever names. I think it is OK to take a familiar sound and then make it into a name that is more suitable yet recognizable to your pup.

    Of course I had figured Bunny was named thusly for always chasing rabbits.

    Slobbers,
    Mango

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  5. Woof! Woof! GREAT PHOTOS. Love it!!! Enjoyed getting to you more. Thanks for sharing. Lots of Golden Woofs, Sugar

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  6. I enjoyed learning how they got their names. It was very interesting. The pictures are beautiful. Did they have fun with all their company yesterday?

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  7. I always learn something from your posts! I didn't know about how greyhounds were named. I prefer Bunny over Bank on Benefit, but maybe that's because I have always known you as Bunny!

    How long do most greyhounds race and at what age do they retire? You are the first greyhound I have known - though there is a little Italian greyhound in our neighborhood, but she is not interested in talking to me.

    Your pal, Pip

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  8. Not only do they have to adjust to a new home, but they have to learn a new name. Greyhounds are inspiring.

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  9. Those are pawsome pics of you guys! And we learned something new about greyhound names today. You all make a very handsome family - Gracie and Aspen are partial to Morgan :) And Mom says that Morgan is one of her favorite names! We like all names as long as the word "treat" is somewhere in there!
    The Road Dogs

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  10. Alien is right! Greyhounds ARE inspiring. I think I missed the Bunny's name / finding Morgan connection! Did you do a post about that?? I'll go back and look in case I missed it while I was away.

    Happy 4th! Very patriotic photos!

    Wags,
    Zona

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  11. Those are very interesting stories, each one. I assumed that because Lilac and Blueberry are both sort of things in nature and also can be colors that you'd picked both names. I wasn't so sure about Bunny. Anway, I see I was wrong, but they do all seem to suit the girls pawfectly. I think Morgan is a good name for a serious type dog like a GSD. It's just that I'd expect Morgan to be a boy, but there's really nothing wrong with it for a girl. After all, there was a female Morgan in the Arthurian legends named Morgan. At least she was named Morgan in some of them. Did you notice, though, that it appears that it's Morgan who has the Bunny ears?

    wags, Lola

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  12. Very cool to learn. Don't remember the history of their names.

    The hu-dad is very curious that the mechanical rabbit has a name. That should be a great post.

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  13. That's ever so much interesting abouts all their names and I think they're all practically perfect for them. I LUVS that Bunny mighta been Bank On Bling cuz when I thinks about "bling," I thinks about Bunny!

    Wiggles & Wags,
    Mayzie

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  14. Rider and Lilly GreyhoundJuly 4, 2010 at 11:10 AM

    Hi Bunny, Blueberry, Lilac, and Morgan! Rider's racing name was "Nicole's Rider" - His mom was Nicole and his dad was Rider! So Rider was named after both mom and dad. Lilly's racing name was "R's Luckyeyes". Lucky didn't fit her - she needed a very sweet feminine girlie name - and Lilly started with the same letter - she even seemed to like it better than Lucky!

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  15. Love the story on the names. We also like to 'keep'their racing name or track names. Glitter's racing name was "Glitter Space". Glitter fit her to a tee! My hubby didn't like the name Glitter cuz it reminded him of the Mariah Carey movie Glitter and he does not like Mariah Carey. Glitter had her name before Mariah's movie so I like to think Mariah stole Glitter's name for her movie:)
    Gator's racing name was "Papa Conch". We believe he was called Gator cuz when he opened his mouth he had LOTS of teeth and he looked like an alligator :)
    Gigi came to us directly from a farm in OK and had been called Ginger. Her racing name (although she never raced except 2 schooling races) was "Myokie Ginger" (everyone in her litter had the 1st name of Myokie). We already had Glitter & Gator and I thought Ginger sounded too close to those names (especially when it came to training her) so I came up with Gigi. Still sounded close to Ginger but did not sound so close to Glitter & Gator. While we had all 3 greys, I did stumble over the names from time to time and many times referred to them as the "3 G's".

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  16. i am lovin' mr. frankie's name game! thanks for sharing about the ladies' names! it was cool to learn their racing names and how they wound up being lilac, blueberry, and bunny!
    i agree with miss mayzie, too, that it's totally awesome that miss bunny might have been bank on bling cuz she does love her some sparkle and pizazz! teehee. :)
    i think miss morgan's name works grrreat for her! mama immediately thought of morgan le fay like miss lola did. mama says it's a name befitting a serious dog like a german shepherd with beautiful darker coloring.
    happy independence day!!
    *woof*
    the booker man

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  17. Thank you sooo much
    IU loved leawning all about Gweyhounds and how they get theiw nameses.
    Even thought those wewe pawtly official names..you managed to somehow get them just pawfect they suit all youw sweeties to a tee..I love all theiw names even Mowgan Annaliese..somehow it wowks.

    I always thought you picked boobewwy and Bunny cause they wewe just wight but this makes it even bettew to leawn the backgwound.
    You have a most bootiful family
    That is a bootiful fouf of July pictoowe too..I'm off to have some boobewwies
    smoochie kisses
    ASTA

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  18. Such wonderful name stories!! We just loved learning all about how you got your names!!

    Smileys & Snuggles!
    Dory, Bilbo and Jacob

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  19. The name game is fun, isn't it? I hadn't realized Bunny was such a small girl, she and Tucker would probably hit it off! ;-)

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  20. Well, I haves NO idea how Bunny is considered small, however, that be coming from a doxies point of view...hehehe. I had a feeling her name had sumptin do with those mechanical unnies...hehehe.
    Now Lilac and Bluberry have perfect names too. I always referenced Lilac with da color and her age, which then takes you to her offspring and bein a similar shade of purple. I does have quite da way of thinking...hehehehe.
    Thank you fur sharing da info bout how Greyhounds get they names, that was sooooooo cool and interesting.
    Puddles

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  21. Great game and lots of fun finding out all about every pup's naming. We think Lilac so suits the elderly dame. And Bunny and Blueberry - we loved the stories. We are with you on the Morgan, but if she comes to Morgan, then so be it.

    Have a great day.

    Woos - Phantom, Thunder, and Ciara

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  22. We always loved your dogs names, even before the name game. It is nice to hear the stories of them all. Happy 4th to you all :)

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  23. Now we know more about their names since the beginning!
    I love their names!
    Happy Independence Day!
    Kisses and hugs
    Lorenza

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  24. Happy Independence Day to you all. We absolutely love your beautiful pics in today's post.
    Thanks for sharing the stories behind your names.
    When I grow old I will wear purple was one of our Gran's favourites - it seems to suit so well!
    love
    Martha and Bailey xx

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  25. How cool to hear where all the girls names came from!

    And I would love to read the promised post about the fake 'bunnies' that have their own names...I'm really curious about that, please do write about it!

    Happy 4th!

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  26. Great idea & photos! Happy Independence day

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  27. We think that all of the names are just PURRfect for all of you. Momma would love to have a greyhound but we get lots of snow and only have a 4' fence...sigh.

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  28. Great photos! And what cool names.

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  29. Interesting stories to the names... and Happy Independence Day!

    Licks, hero

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  30. OMD! Morgan is so totally my dubbull! They say efurryone has a twin somewheres and I do think Morgan be mine!

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  31. Of course I see your point of preserving part of their history by keeping part of their name. :) I love this. Now I can tease everyone from Annalise, to Blue Terry, to Bunny Whippet, and Lilac Line. Love this game!
    Twinkie

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  32. That was fun to learn about names. My boy named me Wall-E because he liked the movie. When I came to live with Gramma and Papa I got to keep the name because we all love my boy, Gavin. Gramma told me that she would have named me Toni, like the award. You know to go with Oscar and Emmy. Gramma says that we are all her special awards.

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  33. Very interesting, I didn't know any of that info on greyhounds names. And I had wondered where their names came from. This has been so much fun....sorry we are so late getting here. We just can't keep up anymore.
    Snuggles,
    Twix

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  34. I know im months laste on commenting but this was an amazing post!! I feel like I know the dogs better. What great names, im so jealous!

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  35. Everyone from Schotzy's kennel had JD before their name. All the puppies in her litter were named after currencies from around the world. There was JD Scheckle, JD Peso, and we got JD Zloti. Her call name, Schotzy, means "little treasure", and that's just what she is.

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