My Google-fu fails me, but I recall someone once said that no one truly loves poetry who does not love the list of ship names in the Iliad. Now I’m going to start saying the same of the list of dog’s names in the Metamorphosis.
Those are good practical reasons for actually naming a dog Bran in preference to Seolan. But actual dogs named Bran are about as common as actual dogs named Rover and Fido, and those considerations don’t explain why Bran, rather than Seolan is the name for a generic fictional dog in Irish. You don’t have to train generic fictional dogs. They come fully trained not only to obey your commands but also to alert you that some children have fallen down a disused mineshaft and to lead you to the scene.
Even though I never heard of anydog actually called Médor.
And curiously the origin of Médor is similar to that of the English Fido. It was the name of a dog who spent years guarding the grave of its late master.
Also, as noted by Shodan, Struppi (this name was chosen for Milou’s German name by the translators of the Tintin stories (German: Tim und Struppi)
Other stereotypical dog’s names are Hasso and Tasso (these names are also given by some old-fashioned upper-crust parents to their baby boys which is bound to cause some titters later on because nowadays the popular association is ‘dog’s name’ rather than ‘old-fashioned boy's name’.
These are stereotypical dog’s names but the dog names actually most popular in Germany, as per a 2012 survey of the search-for-lost dogs charity TASSO e.V. are:
for male dogs cite - German language
- Sammy
- Sam
- Balu
- Paul
- Rocky
for female dogs cite - German language
- Luna
- Emma
- Bella
- Amy
- Kira
The dutch generic parrot name is Lorre. Never met a parrot called by that name, but then I haven’t met a whole lot of parrots.
I’ve met two people with dogs named Deeogee (pronounced D-O-G).
Technically, true, as it isn’t really a name comparable to “Fido”, “Spot” or “Rover”. I included it because it’s kind of like calling a Collie, “Shep” (which, okay, okay, the OP wasn’t asking about. I just thought it’s neat to know). FWIW, I think there’s a dog named “Laika” in a story by A.S. Pushkin, but I can’t find where it occurs. This is sure to keep me awake for several days until (and unless) I can track it down. Argh…
Anyway, here’s my cite: on the Collie/Shep thing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laika_%28dog_breed%29#The_use_of_the_word_in_Russia
BTW, I once named a Chow/Golden Retriever dog “Shep” after a photographer (his nickname). I honestly had no idea it was a common name for dogs of sheep-herding breeds.
I’ve always seen/heard the name as Sceolan?
And a hearty *good day *to you sir!
JAQ, owner or acquaintance with Toby, Gus, Sophie, Ben, Shane and Gracie, all named by adults
One of the medieval sources has Sceolang. I’ll try to look up the article later and post again if there’s interest.
Well, thousands of years before that, Homer told of us a dog named Argus who waited faithfully for his master Odysseus to return to Ithaca. When Odysseus finally came home, after 20 years, the mangy old dog was the only creature on Ithaca who recognized and remembered him, and wagged his tail weakly before dying.
So, the notion of a dog being loyal and faithful to the end is a mighty old one.
My dog’s name is Julia, but I never would have picked that name. The Labrador rescue group we got her from had given her that name, and she already answered to it, so we didn’t see a good reason to change it.
Okay, there wasn’t interest, but I looked anyway.
The name Sceolang is based on Old Irish scél “news” (Modern Irish scéal) and means “news-bringer” (so possibly a pointer?) or “survivor.” The final -ng in some medieval spellings is probably better as a final -n, but the -c- is necessary.
I was interested! Thanks for the etymology. In modern irish scéal is more usually story than news (nuacht) - interesting drift in meaning.
They call their dogs “shitty” or “shit”? :eek:
My daughter has a dog that is all black. She named it something else, but I call it Spot. It seems to respond the same. I’m waiting for her to get a cat so I can call it Puff.
My son has a Dalmatian. I call it Dingo. Once again it reacts just the same as the name he uses (Pongo).
My wife and I once had a dog whose “official” name was Lady Augie Rocket of Denver. It was a combination of what the dog pound people and other family members called her.
My aunt had a tiny stupid dog named Fifi.
A cousin’s child, perhaps unclear on the concept of which generic animal names go with what, named their German Shepherd puppy Puff. Much mirth when Puff was full-grown.
I always thought Tama referred to the ball, presumably of yarn, the critter played with. Anyway, when I lived in Japan in the late 1990s, a fairly popular name for those who couldn’t muster much originality in naming their cat was Nyanchan, going along with Wanchan for the dogs. More than a couple of the families in my area of Zama City had both a cat and dog and used those names. Basically: “Little Meow” for the cat and “Little Bow-wow” for the dog.
It should be pointed out that in German, Fido is pronounced Fee-doh.
/fɪdo/ or /fɪdɔ/ (I can’t tell the difference between those two "o"s and was taught to pronounce German os like Spanish ones, but according to the info I found they’re different).