Thursday, July 30, 2009

Puppy Poll

I'm going with the easy question first. JLC asked if we have a name for our new puppy, and suggested that if we don't, I could ask all of you for ideas.

First some background.

My family got our first Miniature Schnauzer, Max (full name Maximillian Schnell), when I was seven, shortly after my parents' wedding (mom, correct me if that's wrong). He was all black, very smart, and a bit snippy at times. We gave him away (yes, it killed me) shortly before we moved to DC when I was fifteen.

My senior year of high school we brought home Miniature Schnauzer #2, Mac (Vincent MacGregor). Yes, we were very creative with names. :P Mac was salt & pepper, very sweet, and not so bright. But MAN he was lovable. He died just before Christmas '05 and is buried in my parents' backyard.

In two weeks Ibis and I will bring home Miniature Schnauzer #3. The puppies are mostly black and have some brown streaks, but I'm not sure if that will remain as they get older.

Here are the factors going into choosing a name:

1) We'd like a Spanish name but can't seem to settle on anything

2) I like old-school names for dogs

3) Ibis has a really bizarre sense of humor


With that in mind, here's what we're come up with so far:

1) Chulo (boy), Molé, Pato (duck -- there's an inside joke there), Mocha (except it's not brown)

2) Buster, Jack

3) Schneider, Ramses


So... any suggestions are more than welcome!

eta: I should mention that we're not certain if we're getting a girl or boy, but clearly I'm leaning towards the boy.

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

OK, how do you say Squirt in spanish!

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Ha! I'm not sure...

Spy Scribbler said...

Max, Mac... Mad? Man? Ma'am? Map? Matt? Maw. Maz.

LOL, you have such a good thing going with the Ma...

My teacher named her cat Poco. :-)

Penguin said...

I am one who doesn't name an animal until I can observe it for a while.
I find you get a more meaningful name.
But that is just me. Some people cannot even look at a puppy with having a name for it.
So I suggest to wait and give it a name with the personality of the pup.
And have we ever talked about how we both had a dog named Maximillian?
Did you name yours after the King?
Or did he get named for a different reason?

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Spy, I've tried thinking of "Ma..." names but haven't thought of anything good. I still like Maximillian.

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Penguin, Ibis has said we should wait until we bring him home and get a sense of his personality. I agree, but I'm a planner and would like to have ideas. :P

Every time you mention Max I've thought how funny it is both our dogs were named that. You'd have to ask my dad about the origins though -- I was only seven.

JLC said...

Maximo! Or... Jacob. (snicker)

Girl - Maria. (another snicker)

erica m. chapman said...

Hmm that's a hard one. Perro loco.. LOL j/k

We have a girl puppy and her name is Maya. For girls maybe: Isabel, Marta, Mia, Mira. Boy puppies-
Maynard, Maxwell (it's different) Manny, Marcos, Miguel, Bernardo (love West Side Story)

Good Luck with choosing! I always love picking old man names, I have a cat named George.

Melanie Hooyenga said...

OMG! I LOVE Maximo!! LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I think I can convince Ibis, too. We've been running through movies we like and I don't want something too obvious (like Starsky or Zoolander -- both Ibis' suggestions) but that's just common enough to be funny.

Maria is funny too. I kinda like Doña Maria -- double funny because that's a brand of molé.

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Erica, you've hit a couple of my baby wish-list names, so I don't think I can use those, lol. Although I like Isabel.

I do love a good old-man name for pets. :)

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Oh! I forgot to say, I love Jacob but I know that's too obvious, and my cousin Jenna's dog's name is Jake and I don't want to copy her.

Isabel is just different enough from Bella to get away with.

Melanie's Mom said...

Schnauzer #1 was "Fast Max" as I believe schnell means "fast" in German (and there was an actor named Maximilian Schell (no "n")). We named Schnauzer #2 "Mac" as we knew we would goof and call him "Max" and figured he would answer to that as well. Very original, no?

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Mom, I remember I always called him "Fast Million". :)

Spy Scribbler said...

Fast Million, Maximilian! I love it! :-)

ac said...

FYI, in Puerto Rican Chulo means cute.

Anonymous said...

I had a black mini-schnauzer growing up. : ) We named him Black Ink -- aka Inky.

Name possibilities:

Gringo

Vamanos (the name of my MC's horse, translating to "Let's go!")

Pablo

Mijo (mee-ho) meaning (affectionate) little boy (mija -- mee-ha -- little girl).

Pedro

Congrats on your puppy! : )

Anonymous said...

P.S. Gringo is Mexican slang for "foreigner" -- like an American in Mexico. : )

Em

Melanie Hooyenga said...

AC, chulo is popular where Ibis was born. We visited there over New Years and he's been saying it every since. It means boy, but "cute" boy, so I'm glad to hear it translates similarly in PR.

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Welcome Emily! I love your blog name -- I'm also a lefty.

I have to laugh that you defined gringo -- I've done whole posts about that. :P

Vamanos might actually be our "potty" signal. The training stuff I've read say to teach them a word so you can more or less (eventually) make them go on command.

I suggested Pedro but he wasn't having it, bummer. We do like Rico and Liger though (to continue the Napoleon Dynamite references...).

I have "mijo" in my wip and never explain it -- I hope people can figure it out. :)

erica m. chapman said...

Oh yeah Jacob!! LOL- that would be a good one, but I like Edward (old man's names and all) :)

Maximo is awesome!

Unknown said...

How about Gringo, Pedro, Speedy Gonzales?

We got our 2 Japanese Chins while the boys were obsessed with Japanese cartoons. I begged them for Japanese names, but they chose Molly and Tiger. Sigh.

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Erica, there is no way Edward would fly -- plus I don't want to be "that girl", lol.

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Robin, your boys came up with Molly? That's funny to me.

Speedy would be fun... :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the welcome, Melanie. : ) I look forward to checking out more of your blog.

And it's great to meet another lefty!

Wow, sounds like I was picking your brain with all my name suggestions. : )

Made me smile, the thought of using vamanos for the potty signal, lol.

Now I can't stop thinking of names! Two more suggestions:

Amigo
Cortez

Congrats again on your new puppy. Nothing better in the whole world!

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Ha, we've been talking about Cortez. :)

Jenna said...

You could totally do Jacob, aka Jake, and I wouldn't even blink. Our Jake is getting old, 12 now, and that way the name would live on!

I can't believe with all the old 'Ma-" names no one has suggested Mateo ;).

Ok, I think Miguel would be cool for a little fluffy dog. Or Enrique, Ricky for short, or Napoleon (I now it's not Spanish or Latin but it would be a cool name for a little dog).

Again not Spanish but I love the name Frankie for a dog.

Good luck!

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Jenna, Mateo is one of the first names I thought of and I was also surprised no one suggested it until now. Ibis doesn't like it though. (weirdo)

He WILL love Napoleon though. I don't know what his deal is with conquerors, lol.

ac said...

Then we're on the same page. In Puerto Rico, chulo is cute boy and chula for cute girl. We don't use the words as names, tho...more as a description.

And for cheesy pick up lines we'll say "papi chulo" or "mami chula"

Melanie Hooyenga said...

AC, yes. Cute boy is how they describe it. I didn't do a very good job of explaining myself before.

*takes note of papi chulo*