Literary names for dogs?

Pet Names
1

I’m an English major, and I’d really like a literary name for the hypothetical dog I may or may not own one day. For a girl dog, I was thinking [name]Mina[/name] after [name]Mina[/name] Harker in Dracula. I can’t think of many boy names from literature that I like, though, which is a shame because I’d rather have a boy dog. I did consider [name]Gatsby[/name] after, of course, The Great [name]Gatsby[/name]. I prefer people sounding names for dogs, rather than, say, Scooby or something.

Any ideas?

2

‘Literary names’ is a pretty broad category, so I just listed all of the literary dogs I could think of. All are male except for [name]Little[/name] [name]Ann[/name], I believe. Some sound more people-like than others.

[name]Pilot[/name] - [name]Jane[/name] [name]Eyre[/name]
[name]Buck[/name] - Call of the [name]Wild[/name]
Tock - The Phantom Tollbooth
[name]Gladstone[/name] - [name]Sherlock[/name] [name]Holmes[/name]
Argos - The Odyssey
Banga - The Master and [name]Margarita[/name]
Snowy - The Adventures of Tintin
Gaspode - Discworld
Toto - The [name]Wizard[/name] of [name]Oz[/name]
Old [name]Dan[/name], [name]Little[/name] [name]Ann[/name] - Where the [name]Red[/name] [name]Fern[/name] Grows

I’ve always thought [name]Diogenes[/name] would be a great name for a dog. [name]Diogenes[/name] was a Greek philosopher who was associated with dogs. He was often (not so flatteringly) described as being dog-like by his contemporaries, and he frequently extolled the virtues of dogs. He’s been referenced and parodied in many stories. There was a dog called [name]Diogenes[/name] in Dickens’ Dombey and [name]Son[/name], the protagonist in [name]Charlotte[/name] [name]Bronte[/name]'s [name]Villette[/name] is given the nickname [name]Diogenes[/name], Mycroft [name]Holmes[/name] is a member of the [name]Diogenes[/name] Club, etc.

3

Lol. I’ve just written rather a lot about this in a post about dog names and breeds. You can go and read it, but basically most of my rather long list of male dog names is literary as is my rather shorter list for female dogs. Dogs seem to be the opposite of children in that all the boys get the interesting names and all the girls are called [name]Molly[/name] and [name]Bella[/name].

Re. [name]Gatsby[/name] - There’s an ad on TV in the UK atm for Vax hoovers (can you say that?) with an Italian Spinone in it called [name]Gatsby[/name]. I remember thinking it was an awesome name for a dog the first time I heard it.

4

@hanniekitt, I saw your other thread. I love [name]Sherlock[/name] for a boy dog as well! I also saw somewhere that you’re Northern Irish. That’s awesome! I used to live in Northern [name]Ireland[/name] so I always get excited when I hear of people from there.

5

My cousins used Bingley from Pride and Prejudice for their dog
[name]Pip[/name]- Great Expectations
[name]Gatsby[/name]- the Great [name]Gatsby[/name]
[name]Oliver[/name]- [name]Oliver[/name] Twist
Dodger- [name]Oliver[/name] Twist
[name]Romeo[/name]- [name]Romeo[/name] and [name]Juliet[/name]
[name]Huck[/name]- [name]Tom[/name] [name]Sawyer[/name], adventures… Etc.
[name]Edmond[/name]- [name]Lion[/name], the Witch and the wardrobe

6

My favorite book is Pride and Prejudice, so we named our beagle [name]Darcy[/name]. I love it!

7

It is not a usable name, but let me recommend a book – Flush a Biography by [name]Virginia[/name] [name]Woolf[/name] about [name]Elizabeth[/name] [name]Barrett[/name] Browning’s spaniel is charming. If you like dogs AND literature this is a must-read. I recommend even to people who are not into literature because it is light and beguiling. (Especially for [name]Woolf[/name]!)

[name]How[/name] about [name]Dashiell[/name] – [name]Dash[/name]? [name]Dash[/name] was [name]Queen[/name] [name]Victoria[/name]'s beloved Cavalier.

[name]Jasper[/name] was the dog in [name]Rebecca[/name] who led the narrator to the haunted boathouse.

[name]Sam[/name] – from [name]Sam[/name] Spade (for those of us who consider [name]Hammett[/name] a solid writer)

[name]Blake[/name]

[name]Bronte[/name] (I think of this as a girl’s name.)

[name]Shelley[/name]

[name]Charles[/name] (innumerable possible sources) [name]Chas[/name] or [name]Charlie[/name]

[name]William[/name] ([name]Shakespeare[/name] et al)

[name]Hamlet[/name]

[name]Bram[/name] (This is a favorite of mine!)

[name]Fable[/name]

[name]Sayer[/name]

[name]Sawyer[/name]

[name]Story[/name]

[name]Sonnet[/name] (definitely a girl’s name, I think)

[name]Finn[/name]

[name]Fitz[/name] ([name]Fitzgerald[/name])

[name]Lyric[/name]

Haiku

[name]Ernest[/name] (The Importance of Being as well as Hemmingway)

[name]Lorca[/name]

[name]Cooper[/name]

[name]Daisy[/name]

Harker

[name]Harper[/name]

If you consider forms, authors, and characters, the possibilities are endless. But after all that, I have to say, I like [name]Gatsby[/name]!

P.S. I had an [name]Ophelia[/name], and I adored the name. I like it, and as it is for a dog, you can forget the teasing potential. I also had a [name]Celinda[/name], the name of a character in Nightmare [name]Abbey[/name] (highly recommended) who was drawn from [name]Mary[/name] [name]Shelley[/name].

8

I really like the name [name_u]Scout[/name_u] for a dog. After To Kill A Mockingbird, of course. I think it’s adorable. :slight_smile: