Naming Conventions

Naming a pet is no easy task. It has to fit. As previously stated, I'm a cat person. My parents always had yellow cats who had Classical names: Cassius, Euripides (Ripper), Homer, and Caesar; my mom in her later years had a yellow tabby named Achilles "He's my Achilles heel," she'd explain.

My 11 year old black cat, Tarquin, got his name because it came to Lloyd in a flash. He thought of the "Horatius" poem by Lord Babbington Macaulay:  Lars Porsena of Clusium by the Nine Gods he swore/ That the great house of Tarquin should suffer wrong no more. And Brillig (aka Brilly) and Mimsy each got their names from Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky."

Which brings us to dog names. I'd always thought the name Honus (as in Honus Wagner the baseball player) would be a good dog name. Dogs "wag" their tails, get it? Alas, this guy just wasn't a Honus. So we started running through a list of possible names, including German names--makes sense for a German Shepherd. Some were too trite, some overused, while many just didn't roll trippingly off the tongue. Because he is a red sable shepherd, for a while we considered Red Lager. But we were afraid people would think we were lushes. 

Finally we narrowed it down to Dieter. The name literally means army, or warrior, of the people. Not that we're anticipating any trouble or are experiencing any overt threats to our safety, but the name seemed good for a dog who we hope would protect us if the need arose. 

Or, as we like to say around here:  Dieter, Dieter Pumpkin Eater..

Warrior of the people and occupier of the car console.