A question inspired by 'To Kill a Mockingbird' (naming dogs)

Cafe Society
1

I wasn’t sure what forum to put this in as it isn’t really about the book per se.

Anyway, I recently read this book and there is one scene in particular where a rabid dog appears on the scene, the children recognise it as ‘Tim Johnson’, and he belongs to the bus driver Harry Johnson.

I believe there is another section of the book where a pet dog is referred to in similar terms, using the surname of its owner.

Is that a common way of naming pet dogs in that region of America? I thought it was a rather nice, if unusual, idea myself, having a pet taking the surname of its owner. :slight_smile:

Good book btw, I can see why its a classic.

edited to add: if there’s any blatantly obvious racial subtext to this scene that I’m missing I apologise in advance…what can I say, I’m not of the American ilk…

2

My cat’s veterinarian sends the bills to “Pudding OurLastName”. It’s pretty cute.

Haven’t ever heard pets given family surnames in the vernacular, though.

3

Our vets have always put down the animals’ names, and then our last name, on their records, and they file the records according to last names.

4

If one needs to unambiguously refer to a pet from among a large population, yes, that’s pretty standard.

My mom’s most recent dog was an interesting case. She officially (well, as officially as such things can be, anyway) named him “Arfer T. Bowser”, but universally referred to him as just “Bowser”. To the vet, then, this becomes “Bowser Momslastname”, so what was originally a “last name” became his first name.

5

I had a dog named Ernie. Everyone in town knew him. And they called him “Ernie ‘mylastname’” to identify him. Once I got a call from a woman whose bitch he’d knocked up. I apologized like crazy. No, she was thrilled, just wanted to offer me first dibs on a puppy.

6

You should have blamed “Ernie ‘differentlastname’”, that other dog, from the wrong side of town.

7

I remember on our Pug’s pedigree/birth certificate or whatever (he was a purebred from a show winning male) they put Mr. Genius “IQ” [OurLastName]. His official first name was Genius (after our first black pug, who was named Genius when we got him but died about a year later from heart worms), his middle name was IQ (which we ALWAYS called him), and his last name was our family name.

Personally, I don’t like thinking that my pets have a last name or are “related” or part of the family in that way. My cat’s name is Rika, but I gave her a middle name Marie, so sometimes I call her Rika Marie. I never add my own last name to it and object when I hear other people do it!

8

I grew up about 90 miles from where To Kill a Mockingbird is set (my hometown is actually mentioned once or twice in the book), and I can’t remember ever hearing anyone’s pets referred to with a first and last name in conversation. As others have said, I’ve seen veterinary notices where the pet’s name is given as [Pet Name] [Owner’s Last Name], e.g. “Fido Smith”, but I don’t believe I ever heard anyone refer to pets around the neighborhood that way.

I am more than 50 years younger than Harper Lee though, so things certainly could have changed between her childhood years and mine.

9

My vet’s office does the same thing, so when I have to call about my cat Stokie it’s always weird and embarassing: “Stokie Lastname?” “Could it be under anything else?” “Sigh. Lord Greystoke Lastname?”

Now that I got married and changed my name I suppose I have to go present the marriage license to yet another woman behind a desk. “Um, I need a name change… it’s now Lord Greystoke Newlastname. No, we’re not hyphenating the kids.”

10

While I don’t have a cite, I’m pretty sure Huckleberry Finn has some examples of calling a dog by its owner’s last name. I always assumed it was kind of an old rural south habit.

11

I remember my childhood dog, a dachshund, was named Dixon Warrensville von Storheim [MyLastName]. We called him “Dixie”

12

In Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain inserts a note about the naming of dogs vs. the naming of slaves in antebellum Missouri:

13

It seems to be popular vets’ offices; ours does the same thing. I’ve only heard it in conversation occasionally, only when the speaker wanted to be extremely clear about who owned the dog.

14

Quote, BrotherCadfael

Thanks Bro C. That’s the piece I was thinking of, but was too lazy to go looking for the direct quote.
SS

15

Sometimes when I scold my dog, I use his full name.
Except for the that and the vet, he usually just goes by his first name.

16

There is a strange habit among working Australian shepherd breeders to name a dog after its breeder. As in, its fancy registered name. Since these dogs are popular if not in the deep south certainly in the southwest especially Texas maybe it comes from the OP tradition.

There was a well known Texas dog a few years back named Slash V Terry Martin. Slash V is Terry’s ‘kennel name’ – like many, it is also her cattle brand. Pretty sure someone else bought the pup and named it that. Not the only instance. I find it weird.

The common vet habit comes out of the need to clearly differentiate all the Bellas and Maxes from each other and also is a sign of the ever-increasing trend to child-ize pets.

Which is why I can buy vaccine for my livestock out of a catalog and my goat vet assumes that I know how to administer subQ antibiotics and in fact have them in stock, while my dog vet won’t even let me see my dog getting his shots. But that is off topic.