Naming a dog is not like naming a child.
You can’t say your dog’s name is Marney LuluBell Smith. Well, I suppose you could, but I guarantee everyone will be harshly judging you. Naming a dog just doesn’t work that way.
There are a few naming conventions you need to follow if you want to register your dog with AKC.
What is the AKC
AKC stands for the American Kennel Club. They are a registry of purebred dog pedigrees in the US. In addition to being the largest not for profit pedigree registry in the US, the group promotes and sanctions events for purebred dogs with the most famous event being the Westminster Kennel Club dog show.
The AKC promotes dog shows across the nation. It’s incredibly likely there’s one close to where you live. I highly recommend doing a little bit of research into it and checking out a dog show. But one thing to note is not all the exhibitors (people showing their dogs) are friendly.
How to register a dog with the AKC
In order to have your dog registered with the AKC, your dog must be a purebred recognized by the AKC. The parents of the dog also must be registered with the AKC as the same breed. And the whole litter must be registered as a litter. The breeder will either fill out the paperwork and submit it on your behalf or include the paperwork in the puppy packet.
It is important to note a dog that is registered does not necessarily come from a healthy or show quality bloodline. Registration alone is also not an indication of the quality of the breeder.
Naming Conventions
When naming a puppy, the first thing you need to keep in mind is the kennel name of the breeder always has to go first. Unless you are getting your dog from and international breeder (I only have knowledge and experience with European breeders) and then things are a bit different, but for the sake of this post, we’re going to go with American rules.
A kennel name is typically the name before the name of the breed. For example, Bydand Newfoundlands kennel name is Bydand, so Bydand’s would start the registered name. Another example is Whimsical Havanese. Whimsical is the kennel name and would go at the beginning of the registered name.
One of the most important things to know when giving a dog a registered name is you can’t name it like you would name a child. There is no first, middle, and last name. Like I mentioned above, people will harshly judge you for it.
What goes after the kennel name
Anything you want can go after the kennel name.
Let’s use my dog as an example. Her call name is Vala, but her registered name is Dream Catcher’s Thru the Gate to Paradise. It sounds stupid but it has meaning.
Dream Catcher is the kennel name of the Havanese breeder I got her from. And “Thru the Gate to Paradise” is her name.
So what does it mean?
I am a huge Stargate SG1 fan and one of the characters on there is named Vala MalDoran. Vala is basically a space fugitive/con artist when she met SG1 and they bring her back to Earth which is paradise compared to the life she had been living. So in the show, Vala wen through the stargate to paradise.
How to choose a name
Choosing a name is sometimes the hardest part of getting a dog.
My default in naming dogs is going straight to what I am watching or reading currently. We’ve had dogs named after characters in Star Trek Deep Space Nine (Dax, Zek), dogs named after our favorite book characters (Sita, Darius), dogs named after Stargate characters (Vala, Q’Tesh), and dogs named after other things too.
When I named Dax, her name was Lt Com Jadzia Dax of DS9. Vala was Thru the Gate to Paradise. Tesh was Goddess of Love and Beauty. Tigger was I’m the Only One.
One of the hardest and my favorite name to come up with was for Puck. His registered name is Mad Pranks and Merry Jests because that is what Puck did in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Nights Dream.
Each of their names had meaning to the character we named them after.
Other name examples not based on characters are Vegas, Betting the Limit. Bounce, Insufficient Funds. Rumple (short for Rumplestilskin), What’s My Name.
Get creative and have fun with naming your dog!
For more information about registering your dog with AKC, visit their site.
What are some of your favorite TV shows or book characters you might name a dog after?
Don’t forget to share this with your friends getting a new puppy!
This is informative and interesting. Little did I know when I registered my dogs. Oops, my breeders have been very polite because I certainly failed protocol. I love your choice of names and the way you went about it – very creative! Thanks!
Glad you found it informative! And that’s okay, we all make mistakes sometimes 🙂
Thank you, I did have to go back and read all the names I put in there. They were definitely some good ones!
I like clever names that mean something to me.
I once saw a golden retriever who’s registered name was Loose Change and his call name was Jingles. I thought that was clever.
I thought insufficient funds – Bounce was clever
I love that, Loose Change and Jingles. So darn cute and clever!