Saturday, December 11, 2021

What's In A Name?

 RHYS BOWEN

My latest Royal Spyness novel (GOD REST YE ROYAL GENTLEMEN) ends after Christmas with happiness and puppies. Georgie and Darcy give each other a Labrador puppy and go to fetch them from Sandringham. But by the end of the book they haven’t named them. Why? Because I couldn’t come up with good names for them. I wanted the names to be clever and funny, but my mind was a blank. So we’ve left that for the next book, which I have now started and need puppy names asap.




                I’m afraid I’m not very good with animal names. Growing up our dogs all had boringly sensible dog names—a black spaniel named Sooty. A spring spaniel named Brownie. You get the trend. The only dog we’ve owned since marriage was an English Setter we called St. John (as pronounced sinjun, the English way). Why that name? I chose it to prevent my husband calling our next child Sinjun. Can you imagine being saddled with St. John (pronounced Sinjun) through school? So I nixed this by naming the dog.

                Names are very important to me in my writing, especially in the Royal Spyness books. I love having my aristocrats with silly nicknames and choosing appropriately funny names for other characters. In the book I’m writing now I have the worst sort of American tourist in Paris called Mrs. Rottenburger. I once had a French detective with big squeaky shoes called Lafite (pronounced La Feet)

                I was asked at a recent interview why British aristocrats had all those silly nicknames—you know: Boy and Binky and Bunty and Froggy.  I assume it was because their names were often long and ponderous. You can’t call a small child Alexandra Constance or Marmaduke Archibald or even Albert. So pet names came about through the child’s personality (Foggy) or appearance (Tubby or Shrimpy) But now I think about it the other reason is more of the Us and Them syndrome. Only the inner circle know and can use the nicknames.  In my books Georgie’s sister in law is Hilda, Duchess of Rannoch. To those who know her she is Fig.

And in case you think this strange custom is a thing of the past. John’s family has cousins called Fig, Dudh, Puff. His brother’s children Were Victoria Alexandra, Jemima Kate and Michael James.  Growing up they were known as Bumpy, Mim and Mini Mike. Now they are Vicki, Mim and MJ.  I remember calling our own girls Tootsie, Podgy and the Basher. Luckily those names didn’t stick.

So I have no problem with silly nicknames, appropriate character names. It’s just those blooming dogs. My granddaughter called her big male cat Cupcake! My brother had a brindle bullterrier called Patch, and later a white bull terrier called Patchless. But me? I got nothing.

Suggestions please. 

ps: I posted this on my Facebook page and got 650 suggestions. Some brilliant. But I'm still not quite sure....

67 comments:

  1. Having never named a puppy myself [the children always had that honor], I find myself feeling pretty much at a loss. Still, that’s an adorable puppy in the picture and, assuming the puppies in the story are yellow labs like the one in the picture, I’ll suggest Dusty and Sunshine or maybe Biscuit and Honey . . . .

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    1. When my daughter was very young, we took a dog that she named Biscuit.

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    2. How interesting. We have three comments about a dog named Biscuit! Maybe it’s a sign!

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  2. I think Horkstow and Rufford, after two of the movements of Percy Grainger's composition, "Linconshire Posy," would make excellent big dog names, but perhaps it's too formal to call the dog Rufford and the owner Posy, Binkie, or Fig.

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  3. RHYS: I know one is a yellow lab and other is a black lab from your FB post.
    Are they male or female? Do you want cute (nicknames) names or proper names?
    Knowing my bias, I like food names!
    So how about Biscuit and Olive?
    Or Honey and Cocoa?

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    1. I like food names ( and drink)
      I’ve been toying with Scotch and Whiskey
      And Bubble and Squeak

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    2. Hmmm, Bubble and Squeak is a unique British dish.
      I like it!

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  4. I like Joan's and Grace's idea of Biscuit. My San Francisco cousin's late dog was Biscuit, pronounced the French way - bisKWEE. And it would pair well with Cupcake!

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  5. My critters have always named themselves despite my best efforts. We had one cat we named Jazz. Took us years to figure out she only paid attention when called Missy. We changed her name and she would even come when called! I bet you get some great suggestions from FB and Reds. Good luck!

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  6. Rhys, I thought the puppy presents that Georgie and Darcy exchanged at Christmas was one of the sweetest moments in all of your books. I just melted!

    I love names of places or of favorite characters from literature for pet names. So, because the pooches came from Sandringham, Sandy and Hammy. Literary names like Heathcliff, or Sherlock and Watson if Georgie or Darcy have favorite books or authors.

    I also like the names for lion, tiger, bear, bird, etc in a language other than English. With all of these great suggestions from Facebook and JRW, you'll have many to choose from and can't go wrong!

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  7. I loved God Rest Ye, Royal Gentlemen. The scene with the puppies was adorable. I do like the suggestion of Biscuit for the blonde. How about Cocoa or Chocs for the other?

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  8. I've never named a dog but on cats my batting average isn't so good. We named our wonderful stray Eloise (after the children's book) then discovered she was a he. But by then the name and the pronoun had stuck. I wonder if British dog-naming is different from US? The Queen has named her corgis Monty, Susan and Holly, to Emma, Linnet, Noble, Willow and Heather.

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    1. I could never name a dog a human name. Just think how silly you’d feel standing in the park and calling Susan!

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    2. My son is named Zachary. When he was around 2 the next-door neighbor got a puppy and named him Zachary! I wasn't sure how I felt about that at all!

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  10. Now you have me thinking about this, so a new idea is Brandy and Snaps.

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  11. Rhys, I too enjoyed God Rest Ye, Royal Gentlemen very much and loved the puppy presents. But names? I got nuthin' this morning. We have mostly cats--a lovely gray tuxedo boy named 'Enry 'Iggins, who knows his name and comes when called. The boys named their dogs--Nemo and Malcolm.

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    1. Kids are so funny when they name pets, aren't they? A dog named after a fish. Love that. My grandson always named his stuffed animals Pandy, Fishy, Teddy, etc. No imagination!

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    2. ‘Enry ‘Higgins is delightful! ( of course auto correct kept changing to entry! Grrr

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  12. My only dogs were Fluffy and Knife, so maybe I'm not the one to ask.

    My husband's family, since they had all kinds of wild animals dumped in their laps, were pretty creative about names. A pair of baby rabbits: Haas and Pfeffer (might as well get that one out of the way first). Beagles: Major Parker and Colonel Thumper. A pair of mated grey foxes: Tom and Jenny. Flying Squirrel: Frisky. Grey Squirrel: Sugar (for her sweet temperament). Red Fox: Vixey (and later, Vixey II). My only contribution was for the coyote, who was female: Wyla.

    When I was growing up in the '60s, dogs didn't ordinarily have cutesie names, except for the pink poodles in romantic comedies. Was it different in England?

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    1. No cutesy names when I was growing up! The first one I heard was a fellow producer at the BBC who had a cat called Jellybean

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  13. Oh, what a delightful post, Rhys. While I do not like Georgie’s sister-in-law, I love the nickname Fig. It makes laugh every time she appears. As for pet names, we tend to go with people names - Lucy, Annie, Otto, Patsy, Loretta, and George - even our fish is named Kevin!

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    1. Jenn, my town had a wild turkey who loved to wander around the middle of downtown and stand in the middle of busy streets. The town's facebook group named him Kevin!

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  14. Our dog is named Sabaka. It is the Russian word for dog. Our kids were adopted from Russia and we all thought it would be funny to name the dog, dog.
    Growing up we had a series of female dogs. Sometimes six of them. My mother got tired of all the female names and when my parents got their last two pups she named them Philippa and Samantha and called them Phil and Sam.
    My husband had a friend who called his second dog, Two. Can only guess what the first was called. He'd open the truck door for the dog and call out 'C'mon Two. Go for a ride?'
    On a visit to Maine family members hiked around Baxter Island where there is a small graveyard and plaque. We all misread the plaque as saying the graveyard was for Irish settlers. Then we saw all the graves were for Gary. Gary I, Gary II, Gary III... You get the idea. We returned to read the plaque more carefully. It was a graveyard for Irish Setters. (Gov. Baxter's I believe)
    I'm sorry I have no ideas for names. Good luck.

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    1. So funny. My son-in-law's parents had a series of six-toed black cats, all named Kitty.

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    2. Ha. My mother said there was no point naming cats because they always get called kitty.

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    3. JC, we have a cat named Juno who s always called, "Upstairs Cat," so I think you may be right here.

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    4. I’ve just remembered I had a cat called Kat

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    5. We have a cat named Bram who is called Ticky.

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  15. My sister has used grandparents' names for some of their dogs. Homer, Cecil, Dez, Stella. When she married Chuck, he came with a German shorthair named Twin. My brother named his puppy Charlie Brown. It was a beagle mix and Snoopy was too obvious. If you use my sister's criteria and go with the grandparent idea, why not go back a couple generations and use Victoria and Albert. (I've been saving the book, so I don't know the genders of the pups.) Oh, I know, Anglo and Rome/a - from the Anglican and Roman catholic religions because Georgie did have to give up her place in line because Darcy is Roman catholic. I've always wanted a Newfoundland and I would like to name it Eric.

    Sorry, I'm distracted watching the morning news. I hope everyone is safe after the overnight tornadoes and if you aren't safe now, I hope you find a safe place soon. Frightening.

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  16. No brilliant ideas here. And no dogs here, only cats. Their names have been Montgomery (Monty for short), Bountiful (Bounty for short), Blanco (a white cat, of course), Lewis (he just seemed to sport a bow-tie kind of personality) and Holly (whom I wanted to call Audrey after Audrey Hepburn but chose Holly, instead, after her character Holly Go Lightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's).

    Naming is complicated and, I think, very hard to do without actually living with the animal for a while. Good luck, Rhys! Whatever names you choose, I'm sure the pups will grow into them.

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  17. When we were honeymooning in Scotland, we went through a town with a road sign pointing to a scenic walk with an enchanting name. Ross said someday, he'd like to have a border collie with the same name. He grew up with the high-energy, high-intellect dogs, but I prefer more of the sit-by-the-fire, none-too-bright dogs (thus my attachment to Shih Tzus,) so we never did have a pup named:
    Wicks O' Baiglie

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  18. We have always named out dogs after comedians as my husband maintain that all dogs are clowns at heart, so Abbott, Benny, Harpo, Buster, Chico, & Gracie. We’ll have to see who comes next...Benny our current dog is an 11year old lab mix.

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  19. My dogs, always second hand, came with their names: Ginger, Scooter, Muffin, Sparky, Buster. But I have always wanted to name a dog Barkis. Maybe two dogs could be Barkis and Willin?

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  20. Oh, by the way, a neighbor misheard Buster's name and thought it was Mustard. Perhaps it should have been? Maybe Mustard and Olive?

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  21. Well cute is good for puppies or permanently tiny dogs but I think grown up labs need dignified. I know a pair of German Shepherds named Armand and Gamache, but perhaps not. My one suggestion (for now) is the same as my brother’s Schnauzers: Fergus and Sophie.

    (5th attempt at posting. My iPhone refuses to co-operate, so I had to wait till I got home.)

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  22. Okay. No people names. Bur and Nettles. Bur and Thistle. Champ and Trifle. Cockle and Mussel. Cullen and Skink.

    My father-in-law had a border collie he named BC.

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  23. Wiggle and Pinks. I have no idea where those came from.

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  24. My first thought was Fitz and William (like Darcy's cousin in P&P), but you don't want people names and besides, they are well bred pups so he wouldn't be "fitz." I do like Bubbles and Squeak or maybe Champers and Fizz. Maybe Sir Comfort and Lady Joy (too treacly). Buzz and Wanda?

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  25. I once had a dog named Bismarck and a cat named Disraeli. They were known as Busy and Dizzy. My granddaughter Victoria is called Plum by the family, which came from the English Victoria Plum fairy stories.

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  26. You’ll have to read the book next year to see the ones I choose, but do many good suggestions! Thank you

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  27. I had a dog named Jingles when I was little. Jingle and Belle came to mind as soon as I read this.

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  28. My first dog, which I snuck into our family, was named Moonshadow after Cat Steven's song, I'm being followed by a moon shadow. Then when I got married my husband insisted he name our dog and he named the first one Samara and the second one (using his imagination) Samara 2. What about Antony and Cleopatra, assuming you have a male and female.

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  29. Our first dog was Ziggy Stardust after the David Bowie album. Of course, this was in the early 70s so it made sense. I think you have to go with names that are quintessentially British AND British upper class. You’ve had some very good suggestions from JRW friends today!

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  30. Our recently deceased chocolate lab was named Noah. Labs are notorious for their love of all things food, and there was never a crumb on our kitchen floor thanks to our beloved dog. I was determined if there were another lab in my future, I would call him Hoover (as in the vacuum cleaner!)

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  31. I just finished GOD REST YE ROYAL GENTLEMEN. Thank you, Rhys Bowen, for another fun (and festive) outing with Georgie and Darcy! I just spent a few minutes trying to see if I could post on your Facebook page or where I could offer my suggestion for the puppies and found this post. Maybe it's a little too formal but I remember Georgie and Darcy were discussing something more classical and I came up with Diana and Apollo for the sibling puppies. anyway, I came up with Diana for the chocolate lab girl and Apollo for the blonde lab boy. If I come up with anything more relaxed and fun, I'll post, again! Merry Christmas and a happy new year! - Bobbi in Lancaster county, PA

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