Piper the puppy (and other dog names)

Last fall I blogged about how we’re getting a puppy. That day is about to come.

Our puppy was born on Feb. 23rd and the breeder has been e-mailing weekly updates and photos, so we can see how the pups grow from tiny, almost-hairless critters into pudgy, cute fur-balls. Our orange and white fur-ball arrives on Saturday and we’re going to call her Piper.

Naming a puppy is a lot easer than naming a baby!

I have to say that naming a dog is much easier than naming a baby, probably because when the dog grows up, even if she hates her name, she’ll have no way of telling you. You could name her Helga or Mildred or Bonehead and the poor thing would still wag her tail happily every time you called her over.

But Blake and I didn’t want a dog name that was mean (see above) too human (like Maggie or Annie) or too childish (Princess, Lady). To us, Piper feels just right. It’s cute; a name that both conveys excitement, and is easy for Bennett to pronounce.

What I didn’t know is there’s a Top 50 list of the most popular dog names in the English-speaking world. As you can imagine, I immediately scoured it, expecting to find Piper right up there with other female dog names like Bella, Daisy and Ginger. Nope — Piper didn’t make the cut. You’ll find Zoe, Missy, Sheba and Bear (I have known dogs with all of these names), but no Piper. And I have to say, I feel pretty good about that!

When we named Avery we thought we were being so original, but now that name has crept into the Canadian top 20, at No. 15. (We did well with Bennett — it’s No. 159 on the Canadian list; less popular than Muhammed, Santiago and even Damian.) Our betta fish’s name is also original, if childish: Blue-blue (so named in honour of the blue soother given up at age four in exchange for the fish). So it feels like we’re on a roll, name-wise.

But really, what does name popularity matter? As long as you like the name it’s all good. Welcome to Calgary, Piper!