Will you help me name my dog?

Hasso

Out of those options i’d go for Oscar.

Apparently dogs like two-syllables, ending in “y” and starting with a crisp consonant. That makes “Zuni” the best objective choice.

The dog looks very sweet and energetic. Since he is Swiss, I would skip the Swahili, Latin, Greek, Nigerian and Sioux.

I can see how your list would change to “Raffy,” “Massy,” “Xersy,” “Odie,” “Orrie,” or “Bluttie” when you are actually chatting with himself. It seems an oddly powerful compulsion.

My cat arrived labeled “Milo”, I call him “Miley” half the time.

In Swiss-German (Schweizerdeutsch) “chocolate” becomes “Schoggi.’ Will your doggie have a lot of brown fur? You could call him “Shaggy” when he needs a trim.

I usually favored a two syllable word for the formal name that I could also shorten to one syllable for playing, etc. Then if they misbehaved I’d used the long version and they would get the point in a hurry. I like Bluto, John Belushi’s character in Animal House.

The more I say Massimo in my head the more I like it. What odd names to choose from, though! I also like Oda a bit, but I’m not a big fan of OdaKota. Oscar is a good classic dog name. When I looked at the picture of those dogs, the first name that popped into my head (before reading yours) was Rocky. Or Roxy for a girl.

Unrelated semi-embarrassing dog story: My dog’s name is Daisy, but her nickname is Daisy Waisy (how cheesy, I know). Our last name is Reed, so we call her Daisy Waisy Weed from time to time. Every morning when I give her her liver-flavored hip dysplasia medication she loves, I sing, “Daisy, Waisy, Waisy Waisy Weed. I’m gonna give you, give you a treat.” I’ve done it so much, I’ll start singing it while she’s in another room and she comes running for her treat. Thankfully, I’m alone in the house when I do this. My husband thinks I’m a huge goofball, but that’s my baby girl, so he can suck it.

In German, a searcher is “forscher” and a rescuer is “retter.” They have possibilties. So does “Sucher”...a seeker, peonounced “sooker.”

Zuri is similar to Zürich, so that has a Swiss ring to it. That gets my vote.

My vote is for Zuri.

I like OdaKota, too.

@livelaughlove21 Hahaha! Is that to the tune of bicycle built for two?
I like Oda, too, and I can see me asking him to show me his “O face.” I doubt I’d call him OdaKota that often, it would just go on his papers. Not only does it mean friend, but I used to think I’d have a dog named Dakota, but it’s so played out and common anymore. So it’s kind of a variation on that, but fun to say. I like to pick out unique names that fit the dog. My rottie’s name was Ashanti, which is powerful protector in Swahili, but I just called her Asha.

@gailcalled Thanks! I had problems finding a good strong German name that didn’t sound harsh, but I like Sucher. It’s going on the list!

Cosmo, Cagney, Tango, Indiana Bones, Sir Prancealot, Boo Radley, Buddy Love, Brodii, Takoda, (Native American “friend of all”), Maksim, Noodle Caboodly Strudle Mc Fly, Porter Von Lichten Shnout, Sergeant Pepper.

Of yours I would pick OdaKoda which means “friend” and is very similar to Takoda which I like the most of the ones I put up, though Noodle Caboodly Strudle Mc Fly is a close second for me.

@Cruiser You will now be my official dog name consultant. Indiana Bones… Awesome. Are you making these up?

Friends have an elegant pit bull named officially “Boyd” (meaning “yellow” in Gaelic, which does describe him “Butterscotch” would be a better description but insulting for such a manly dog.) Everyone calls him “Boydy.”

(Wandering far afield here, I know. Sorry.)

@GloPro Ha! No! I had to turn that clip off at 26 seconds – too corny even for me. :) I’m trying to think of a song with the same tune as Daisy’s song…can’t think of one.

I’d stick with a Swiss theme…
How about ” Ricola!” lol
“Nico” is cute, swiss in origin.
Google Swiss names for boys.

@GloPro I made a few up and copped the rest from a dog name website. Noodle Caboodly Strudle Mc Fly was the name of a guinea pig whose colors were strudely! lol.

My first dog was Chuka (actually my ex wifes brother’s dog we inherited) then we got “Lucky” White Shepherd we found near death in the woods, our current dog is Sadie, which means Princess…I had nothing to do with picking the name other than vetoing the other choices. We have Harley the Blue Harlequin Rabbit and Roadie the turtle who I found sunning in the middle of a busy street by my house. We had 2 other rabbits Einstein and Trixter.

I had another gorgeous Shepherd mix that I called Chopper and hi lived up to his name by chewing a huge hole in my Kitchen Wall. There was Minga the Huskey I had to get rid of after she attacked my wife and bit her up pretty good. Slither the Boa, Whisper and Jingles the parakeets,

@Cruiser… You are good with names! I had a Japanese fighting fish named Sushi Katana. I was pretty proud of that one.

Harley has the run of the house and Sadie doesn’t eat him? I liked the use of the word neener in a recent post…

Dogmeat

Though since it’s a Swiss I suppose you could name it something Switzerland related. I wonder how you say “friend to all, ally to none” in German or French. :P

@GloPro Harley is only allowed out of his cage when we are sitting in the family room but Harley is still quick on his feet and Sadie seems to know better than to make a rag doll out of the rabbit. In time I bet they will be cuddle buddies.

@Cruiser Yes, great names..I like “Roadie” the turtle. haha

Some of my old pets names over the years, feel free to steal one…

Timbre ( shepherd )
Ruckus ( hound )
Gadwicke, Biff, Marley, Groucho, Jerome. ( male cats )
Budge and Ruby ( horses )
Rhett ( rat ) haha
Charlie ( french lop rabbit )
Zanzibar, Zorro and Wild Bill ( roosters )
Marwyn ( goose. )

If you want German I like Wolfgang, wolfie for short.

@Coloma Oooh, fun.

My pets’ names have actually been pretty boring…

Smoky the Sleepy Cat (full name, Smoky for short) – meanest. cat. ever.
Mindi – cat, named after states she went through to get to us (Michigan, INDiana, Illinois)
Beefcake – cat, we didn’t name him but it fit him well
Lucy – black lab mix, now my parents’ dog
Beauty – cat, we didn’t name her, now my parents’ cat
Daisy I – got hit by a car before she turned 1 because a family member let her loose
Daisy II – current pup
Chloe – current cat

Next dog’s name…Stella. :)

We’ve also had multiple fish that I named. My favorite was a pair: an orange parrot goldfish named Iago and a tiger Oscar named Rajah (references to bird and tiger from Aladdin). Thankfully we no longer have fish, and never will again if I have anything to say about it.

The problem I see with OdaKota is that everyone will think it’s Dakota.

How about Chaver -pronounced Havere – which is friend in Hebrew?

I think Rafiki is nice and then you could shorten it to Raffi which is cool too.

Frodo Baggins is working great for me. I call him Mr. Baggins, the Bagginsee, Frofro and Fro (in addition to “naughty dog!”) My friend went to visit him last week when he was boarding at the vet’s and they called him Mr. Baggins!

OdaKota….Oh, Dakota….Oklahoma?

I only offered male names, the list of female pets is a long one. haha

xerxes! very distinct

he will learn his name in no time

Get a female and name her Swiss Miss.

@janbb OdaKota is pronounced splitting Oda/Kota and not Oh/Dakota, so I don’t think people would mix them up. Plus I would call him just Oda in everyday use. I agree that dogs respond well to two syllables ending in a vowel when learning commands and being trained.
@Coloma Jerome is a great name for a cat. I like Zanzibar, too, but then I’d always be singing Tenacious D songs (What’s your favorite dish? I’m not gonna cook it but I’ll order it from ZANZIBAR!!!)
@Juels That’s PERFECT!!! Too bad I already have a boy coming. I’ll get him a girlfriend in a few years and that will definitely be her name.
@livelaughlove21 Great fish names, very clever. I love fish… Why don’t you?

Eiger

The only problem with Zuri, everyone, is that my sister just blackballed it. Her children are Zoie, Zane, Zander, and Zola and she has claimed Zuri for future use if they want a 5th (whew! That’s a full house!)

Bluto is out, too. I didn’t realize that was Jim Belushi’s character. I thought it was the big beast in Labyrinth, but it turns out it’s Ludo, which I don’t care for as a name.

@thorninmud I like that, too. I went through all of the Swiss Alps the other day and missed that totally. It’s in the running.

Swen…or Jorgan ( pronounced Yorgan ). I love the name “Jorgan” and you can say it with an accent….” Yoooorgan>” lol

Matterhorn. Matt for short.

Yooorgan be in big trouble when you get in!!

@thorninmud Eiger translates to Ogre in English. I’ll have to ponder that, as I tend to pick names with meaning.

Too bad he is a he. That eliminates Jungefrau. “Young boy” is “junge Junger” but that seems cumbersome. The diminutive is “Jünglein.” “Doggie” is “Hündchen.
’

Looking through famous Swiss people, I found a new favorite. Jules. ;)

@GloPro Well, I hate freshwater tanks filled with stinky fish that die randomly no matter how much money you spend on products to balance the pH and clear the water. We went through a couple of months where all of the water levels were perfect, but the water stayed this greenish murky color, even after cleaning it! And our goldfish would always get weird fungal infections and kill the rest of the fish. Ugh, such a huge hassle, no thanks! Other people must have an easier time, because I don’t see why anyone would do that just to have some koi and goldfish to look at. We were doing everything the guy at the fish store told us to do, and did our own research online, but to no avail. I finally got my husband to sell it a couple of years ago – good riddance!

I wouldn’t mind having a saltwater tank, but I’m not willing to pay the price. $50 for a clown fish that’s the size of my pinky fingernail? I’ll pass.

I am partial to Orion from your list (but the people in the vets will look at his name and call him “Or-eon”

How about Vör ?

I had a friend in college with a dog named “scheisskopf ”. That had meaning, and the name fit and German is one of the four official languages.

@GloPro I found a link to the Top 50 Swedish Dog Names

Zita was my fav choice. The meaning of Zita is “seeker” Male pronunciation is Z (I)ta.

@rojo I like Orion because it is one of the most easily recognized constellations, which were used in ancient times to navigate… And still are when on the water or orienteering. Being in Search and Rescue is all about being able to find your way.
It also means “hunter,” which I think suits a Search dog well.
I’m saying it out loud a lot to try to determine how easy it will be to instruct the dog. It isn’t the smoothest flowing name of my picks. But I like it.

Shatzie – the German for darling – is a nice name and doesn’t sound really feminine.

*Schatzie

@ragingloli Yeah – I wasn’t sure whether it had a c or not. Thanks.

they usually do.

Orion the Hunter has his own stellar dogs, “Sirius” and “Procyon.”

When I was a kid, we had a dachshund named Hagen (after the ferocious one-eyed black knight in Wagner’s Ring Cycle). Another similar character is Fafner, a warrior who morphs into a dragon. (Don’t ask me; ask Wagner.)

@janbb I like Schatzi, which kind of sounds like ‘shot ski,’ so all the lost tourists during ski season will probably like it, too. We pull the old shot skis out a lot in this town.
@rojo Vör is a girl’s name. She was a Norse goddess. Side note, I will be training him “on duty” using German commands. “Off duty” we will speak English. Not that he’d know the difference, but my rottie understood both English and French. My roommates spoke French to her, and she knew two words for several commands, in addition to silent hand signals.
@Cruiser Good looking out, but I believe that’s the Top 50 names in Sweden, not Swedish names. Unless I just never knew Elvis and Rocky are Swedish words…

Source

Important considerations when choosing Greater Swiss Mountain Dog Names.

“Your Greater Swiss Mountain dog’s name will be used hundreds of times every week – make sure you are quite happy with your choice!

Greater Swiss Mountain Dog Names should be short – preferably one or two syllables.

Dog names should not sound like any other within the family or close friends – total confusion will arise!

Dog names should not sound like any commands – even more confusion will arise!

One of the cute, exotic or cool boy or girl Puppy and Greater Swiss Mountain Dog Names may be great for a tiny puppy but will this suit a full grown dog? Check out the size comparison pictures relating to the breed of your puppy”

@gailcalled Uh-oh. Why would it be used hundreds of times a week? Will he be needing constant supervision? I’ve heard that they mature slowly, especially in potty training. He won’t go to official Search School until he’s 18 months.

I also agree that he needs a unique name. He needs to be able to recognize quickly he is being instructed. Names like Max or Buddy are out. The dog park and conformation events would be chaotic if there are multiple dogs with the same name!

Ask @janbb how many times a week she calls out “Frodo,” her new 7-month old puppy? If you count the number of times she uses it here and on facebook, that might average out to 210 times a week/30 times a day. That’s only 1.25 times an hour.

i am simply the messenger. The source link might have more detailed information.

How many people in your household? How vocerferous are they?

(Such a good question).

Yes, Frodo is addressed many times in many ways daily.

@janbb hahaha. I’m excited that I’ve been watching him grow since the day he was born and looking forward to the terrible puppy phase. That’s why they start out so damn cute. It’s easy to forgive them cause they’re so fluffy, then clumsy, and goofy!
@gailcalled Well, I learned a new word today. There are basically two of us, because my neighbor and I just treat each other’s homes as our own. The dog will be going everywhere with me so that he learns to adapt and is confident socializing. I am somewhat vocerferous, I suppose, because I can get loud. Usually I just speak confidently, but not loudly, though. Why do you ask?

Vociferous folks tend to talk more than nonvociferous ones and might be calling that doggie’s name more often.(Sorry I misspelled “vociferous” when I used it in my earlier answer.)

@GloPro How about these Swedish names?
GUDBRAND means Gods’ Sword
MATS “Gift of God”
LUDDE “Famous Warrior”
ODEN: Norwegian and Swedish form of Old Norse Óðinn, meaning “poetry, song” and “eager, frenzied, raging.”
PETTER: Norwegian and Swedish form of Greek Petros, meaning “rock, stone.”
ROFFE: Swedish pet form of Scandinavian Rolf, meaning “famous wolf.”
THYR: Swedish form of Old Norse Týr, meaning “god.”
and my pick…
THORIR: Old Swedish form of Old Norse Þórir, meaning “Thor’s warrior.”
http://www.20000-names.com/male_swedish_names.htm

His paws are getting thorir every day!

I like Rolf.

@Cruiser:Why use a Swedish name for a Greater Swiss Mt. dog?

(Do you know how long I have been hanging around here this afternoon? And what i was supposed to be doing instead?)

@Cruiser I like Oden. I can see Petter turning into an Abbott and Costello routine:
“What’s his name?”
“Petter.”
“Isn’t it a boy?”
“Yes.”
“Well what’s his name?”
“Petter.”
“Sure, I’ll pet it, but it’s a boy…”

@GloPro Haha! And agree!

Pity it wasn’t a bitch, Heidi would fit just fine.

@GloPro Because I am multi-tasking at work, trying to register for a trade show book flights, order materials and clearly not paying attention to the little details like you are! lol ;)

This is a GREAT list
http://www.20000-names.com/male_swiss_names.htm

I like TOBIES, goodness of the Lord.

I wouldn’t go for number 12 on @Cruiser ‘s list. That would lead to major confusion!

@GloPro Interesting side about languages: My pup (in the avatar—sometimes) grew up learning English commands. My daughter is in a Spanish immersion language, and started giving her commands in Spanish. The dog knew!

@Cruiser:Still too much multi-tasking. It was I who asked you the question about giving Swiss dogs Swedish names and not @GloPro. I hope you are not handling radioactive material or driving heavy machinery.

@janbb I think I chose to post Swedish names because I am part Swedish!

Funny. You don’t look Swedish.

Bite me.

@gailcalled My dad’s mom’s maiden name is Klingstedt! I inherited the BEST Swedish Potato sausage recipe from her! Yum!

@Cruiser I love potato sausage. I haven’t had any good potato sausage since my Slovak uncle passed and took the recipe with him. Please share!

@GloPro It looks like you’ve got a big decision to make!

I think you should name him Georgy.

@Yetanotheruser I had this on my facebook page…original and unedited recipe

And to make this post relevant to the thread @GloPro I suggest “Potato Sausage” as a name for your dog.

This is a recipe for our family Christmas Eve tradition for the amazing Swedish Potato Sausage handed down to me from my great grandmother Jenny I made for the first time last week….oh YUM!

(This is per pound of pork.)
One pound of lean pork shoulder course ground
One large potato – course ground
1 tsp All Spice (Cousin called me later to tell me she uses 1½ tsp of All Spice)
½ Tbl Spoon Salt
3 large onions for 8–10 lbs of sausage (It is up to you to interpret this how you my unt said)
Pepper to taste
*pour a small amount of scalded milk over the potatoes to keep them from turning dark
*Prick each sausage end with a needle before cooking to keep the casings from bursting
Simmer for 45 minutes uncovered to cook and that’s it!

Obi, short, sweet and easy for the dog! Have fun with your gorgeous dog!

I like Xerxes.

I don’t know about Potato Sausage, but Tater Tot would be a great name for a little dog, like a Yorkie.

Okey dokey. I’ve nixed several of the names and narrowed it down to OdaKoda, Oden, Oscar, Orion, Schatzie, Sucher, and Eiger. I’ll say them all a few hundred times this week (thanks, @gailcalled), and see what makes the second cut.

I like Orion from that list.

I had nixed Schatzi because it is too common. The Matterhorn is in the Zermatt canton of Switzerland – are all ‘Z’ names nixed by your sister?

@GloPro I took another look at the Swiss names are really like 26.FRIDLI, peace ruler…
Here Fridli! Good boy Fridli!, Sit Fridli….gimme a kiss Fridli. Squirrle Fridli!

BAAD Fridli~~

@GloPro : Good list except for “Oden,” which is apparently “a Japanese winter dish consisting of several ingredients such as boiled eggs, daikon, konjac, and processed fishcakes stewed in a light, soy-flavoured dashi broth.” “Odin” is the big Norse Kahuna but too ponderous and dark for a sprightly, springy happy search-and-rescue dog.

@hearkat Haha, no, just Zuri, oddly. My mom adopted a dog named Zoey and my sis made her change it to Chloe. I’ll have to look into how common Schatzie is…

@Cruiser You have a point there. Fridli is cute. I assume it rhymes with diddly?

@gailcalled Also good points. Blackball Oden.

Wait until the dog arrives and see what name suits it. You wouldn’t want to name a dog “Perky” if it slept all day. It took me about 3 weeks to name my dog.

^^^ What name did you choose and why? What kind of dog?

Yes – I debated a while before naming Frodo too.

I think it’s odd that people will plan human baby names but take weeks to name the dog. If I named him Sparky and he was a lazy tub of lard I imagine it would be funny his whole life.
I want to pick a strong, unique name because this breed is known for being hard working, loyal friendly giants. I have no doubt his adult nature will be different than his goofy puppy stage. So it might sound too big for him at first, like Frank does for a human baby.

@janbb I like the name Frodo. Very cute.

Bluto!

Milo here: OK. Now that all the random noise has been filtered out, it’s easy.

Call him “Milo.”

Call me Ishmael.

Or how about Samwise Gamgee? I could use a friend.

Milo here; What kind of a stupid name is Ishmael Baggins?

OOh – you want to play ruff!

@gailcalled Tanner. German Shepherd. He was tan.

How about the name Loki? Not Swiss but from Norse mythology.

@janbb I actually thought about Loki for a long time. I really like that name, too.

I still vote for Jorgan.

Joooorgan, come…good Jorgy, sit Jorgy!

How ‘bout ” Cheese.”?
Ya know, Swiss Cheese. lol

Just call him Steve…that way when a stranger dude approaches you can shout… STEVE come here Steve… and they see this mighty dog and look around knowing Steve is about to show up too and beat feet the heck out of there.

I like Oscar (mainly because my family had a dog called Oscar years who and he was awesome!) I also like Obi and Bluto (although people will constantly think his name is Pluto).

Bluto was the villain in the Popeye cartoons so I personally couldn’t imagine using that.

I also like “Finn.” He can be your Huckleberry. lol

The golden retriever up the road is “Finney” and he is a lolloping, galumphing, befriend-even-the-local-ax-murderer kind of dog. Sweet but not exactly an overachiever.

^^^ Haha…I know the type.

I know 3 Finn dogs already. Great name, overused by Red Sox fans :-)

Bruno? Bernie? Bascom? Bart? Boris?
—@GloPro Funny….I just like the name but have no idea why it would be popular with Red Sox fans, a players name?

Emily Bronte’s dog was named Keeper and he was a fine strong dog.

@Coloma Fenway Park…

Anyone else keep reading “name” as “mame”?

Mot ne.

“Grosser Schweizer Sennenhund”: Cannibalizing parts of the German version of the dog’s breed has possibilities. Schweizey, Grossey, Senney.

@GloPro: Please name this dog soon so that I can disengage myself from this thread. (I may need a surgeon.)

*großer

I have narrowed it down again to Oscar, OdaKoda, Eiger, and Orion. I’m leaning towards Oda. I bought some pet supplies today, I am getting SO excited! including a little Chewbacca squeaky toy. Nickname him Yoda, I might.

I believe that I will take the suggestions of @kritiper and @janbb. From here it will be further narrowed by saying it out loud this week and meeting him. I’ll definitely make sure you all get to see his fuzzy face and if you drop the thread I’ll PM you. Everybody here will be unofficial godparents anyway.

I read up on what you saw about saying the dog’s name a few hundred times a week, @gailcalled. Apparently, you should refrain using your dog’s name except to train them to anticipate a command, praise, and a reward. When you catch them doing something inappropriate you make an annoying noise like “meh!” that they will learn is kind of a drop it command, or teach them the drop it command. Reinforce good behavior with the name, not scolding. They are most likely to react to their name at any time moving forward if they anticipate praise and reward. Which could come in handy in an emergency situation (like being near the road). Responding to their name should be more fun than chasing squirrels. Interesting and makes sense.

@GloPro Yes, I try to do that too but damn, it’s hard not to use their name when they’ve done something “naughty.” Frodo still responds to his name consistently.

I hear you, @janbb. It’s only because I’ll be training him for rescue that I’m trying to really hit training hard right out of the gate. If he’s in an avalanche zone tracking a scent and I see a slide coming I need for him to hear me the first time I call. Hopefully, and in theory. The first two years are hell, though, aren’t they? So. Much. Reinforcement. It would be nice if they had mellow good dog brains from birth, huh?

@GloPro Great article! I see too many dogs who have no idea what their names mean.

I’ve managed to avoid the problem of calling dogs to scold them: Instead of yelling random words which they won’t understand, I “growl”. Sounds silly, but it gets their attention.

As to the first two years being hell – not necessarily. My lab was pretty much perfect at about ten months. Maybe you’ll get lucky :]

I hesitate to speak too soon but Frodo has been remarkably well-behaved since I brought him home from boarding at the vet’s a few days ago. Wonder if all the training is working or maturity is kicking in.

I think having a working dog is wonderful; that’s so great that you are training yours for Search and Rescue!

How about Jager (pronounced yayger). A German word for Hunter.

If you choose “Jager”, you’ll be the “jager-meister”!

Yeah, I can’t name a rescue dog after alcohol. Actually, I wouldn’t name any dog after alcohol. I do too many stupid things drinking and don’t want to be judged for 10 years any more than I already am.

@GloPro? Is the avatar your new dog? If so, he is a charmer. Is he officially Oda?

That’s him! Officially OdaKota – Sioux Indian for friend. He hasn’t met anyone he doesn’t love yet, so it fits wonderfully. I call him Oda, and he knows that as his name. His sugar talk includes, “are you my friend?” “Come here, friend.” And “hey, friend”
I have to refrain from calling him buddy. I can see why that’s a top dog name.

Thanks, everyone! My pup is a sweet little booger!

@GloPro My friend name for Sadie is “barker” since she never barks except when we leave the house or a stranger approaches. It seems Oda has met all the anticipation you endured! Happy for you!

@GloPro He is PRECIOUS…I think he should be called Chief OdaKota, or maybe Wampum! lol

Right now he is “he who shits on rugs”

^^^ LOL..and I am ” she came to talk.” given to me by the ex husband. haha

He was ” sleeps with flies.” lol

When my daugher was growing up, we had two cats. According to her their names were:

“Cat on the Table ”

and

“Kitty Bite You”

Haha haha!