Fell in love with a lady. Am not prepared for this.
August 16, 2015 7:37 PM Subscribe
A lady-dog, that is. I went to a rescue yesterday, fully anticipating that I would bring back a male dog and name him Suetonius (Sue, for short, making him a boy named Sue). But I fell in love with a striking female. Help!
Her fur is so thick, she looks straight out of Siberia to me. So I tried looking for female names from Russian literature, history, and geography ("Keralia") but they're so long. Two syllables always seems most fitting for a pet.
She's got a docked tail, which makes her hindquarters look a little like a bear. She also has a certain wolfish-ness or fox-iness to her. "Nandi," for the nandi bear of east Africa?
Or maybe some other strong female figure. "Sappho" ("Saph" for short, though that would potentially misrepresent her sexuality or mine (although I evidently had no qualms about naming a male dog "Sue"))? "Ada," for Ada Lovelace?
Please help, good people of MeFi, before she falls into an existential crisis.
Her fur is so thick, she looks straight out of Siberia to me. So I tried looking for female names from Russian literature, history, and geography ("Keralia") but they're so long. Two syllables always seems most fitting for a pet.
She's got a docked tail, which makes her hindquarters look a little like a bear. She also has a certain wolfish-ness or fox-iness to her. "Nandi," for the nandi bear of east Africa?
Or maybe some other strong female figure. "Sappho" ("Saph" for short, though that would potentially misrepresent her sexuality or mine (although I evidently had no qualms about naming a male dog "Sue"))? "Ada," for Ada Lovelace?
Please help, good people of MeFi, before she falls into an existential crisis.
Lara, from Dr. Zhivago (short for Larisa).
posted by holborne at 7:44 PM on August 16, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by holborne at 7:44 PM on August 16, 2015 [3 favorites]
Levin's dog in Anna Karenina is named Laska, and she is a female. There are soooo many two-syllable diminutives, though-- personally, I like Masha (Maria/Marie) and Nastya (with the full name being Anastasiya).
posted by easter queen at 7:45 PM on August 16, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by easter queen at 7:45 PM on August 16, 2015 [7 favorites]
Sveta- Svetlana
posted by PorcineWithMe at 7:45 PM on August 16, 2015
posted by PorcineWithMe at 7:45 PM on August 16, 2015
Rosalind (Franklin), you could go with Rosie. I'm partial to this one since I was thisclose to naming my boy dog Franklin.
Valentina (Tereshkova), or just Tina
There is also Lyuba, which is what they named that baby wooly mammoth they found a few years back.
posted by phunniemee at 7:45 PM on August 16, 2015 [3 favorites]
Valentina (Tereshkova), or just Tina
There is also Lyuba, which is what they named that baby wooly mammoth they found a few years back.
posted by phunniemee at 7:45 PM on August 16, 2015 [3 favorites]
She looks EXACTLY like a dog on my street growing up named Kiska!
posted by xingcat at 7:46 PM on August 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by xingcat at 7:46 PM on August 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
Laika
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 7:47 PM on August 16, 2015 [23 favorites]
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 7:47 PM on August 16, 2015 [23 favorites]
What a pretty girl! I like Sasha.
posted by bunderful at 7:52 PM on August 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by bunderful at 7:52 PM on August 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
She could be a girl named Misha
posted by pickles_have_souls at 8:01 PM on August 16, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by pickles_have_souls at 8:01 PM on August 16, 2015 [7 favorites]
I knew a female basset named Thor. When their pick of the litter turned out to be a female, named her Thorazine, but her call name was Thor, as originally planned.
You could still go with Sue/ Suetonius if you like that name. The dog won't know or care.
posted by Herodios at 8:04 PM on August 16, 2015
You could still go with Sue/ Suetonius if you like that name. The dog won't know or care.
posted by Herodios at 8:04 PM on August 16, 2015
Oh, Katya is another possibility. From the Shostakovich opera Katarina Ismailova / Lady MacBeth of the Mtsensk District. She is VERY badly behaved, though. So maybe not.
posted by bunderful at 8:07 PM on August 16, 2015
posted by bunderful at 8:07 PM on August 16, 2015
In the strong female genre, you could name her in honor of Dr. Frances Kelsey, who died this past week. She looks more like a Kelsey than a Frances or a Frannie to me.
posted by lakeroon at 8:12 PM on August 16, 2015
posted by lakeroon at 8:12 PM on August 16, 2015
You could formally name her Yekaterina. Then instead of a boy named Sue, you could have a dog named Kat.
posted by flourpot at 8:30 PM on August 16, 2015 [27 favorites]
posted by flourpot at 8:30 PM on August 16, 2015 [27 favorites]
I think she should be a girl that's a boy named Sue. That would be even funnier to tell people.
Or Misha, which was the Russian name for the bear mascot at the Olympics, I think.
posted by lollusc at 8:35 PM on August 16, 2015
Or Misha, which was the Russian name for the bear mascot at the Olympics, I think.
posted by lollusc at 8:35 PM on August 16, 2015
Tasha, short for Natasha. And she's beautiful!
posted by carmicha at 8:36 PM on August 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by carmicha at 8:36 PM on August 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
I was also going to suggest Laika. But I love the dog named Kat suggestion.
posted by imbri at 8:37 PM on August 16, 2015
posted by imbri at 8:37 PM on August 16, 2015
I named my teddy-bear-like cat Mischka (a diminutive form of "bear" in Russian). It is also the diminutive form of "Michael", so she would be a boy named Mike?
For the Kiska suggestion above, Kiska (and Kisa) are a diminutive form of "cat", so that could be amusing, too.
posted by theRussian at 8:41 PM on August 16, 2015 [8 favorites]
For the Kiska suggestion above, Kiska (and Kisa) are a diminutive form of "cat", so that could be amusing, too.
posted by theRussian at 8:41 PM on August 16, 2015 [8 favorites]
You could name her Boudicca (Latinized to Boadicea) after Suetonius' great British adversary.
Your dog certainly has a Warrior Queen look about her, and she just happens to have the very distinctive coloring pattern of the Celtic landrace of dogs, as well -- and as a final bonus, instead of a boy named Sue, you would then have a girl named 'Dick'!
posted by jamjam at 9:17 PM on August 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
Your dog certainly has a Warrior Queen look about her, and she just happens to have the very distinctive coloring pattern of the Celtic landrace of dogs, as well -- and as a final bonus, instead of a boy named Sue, you would then have a girl named 'Dick'!
posted by jamjam at 9:17 PM on August 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
Same name... she'll just be a girl named Sue. ;) Or Suetonia?
posted by stormyteal at 9:29 PM on August 16, 2015
posted by stormyteal at 9:29 PM on August 16, 2015
As Suetonius' nomen was Gaius, how about Gaia? Can't get more powerful than the earth.
posted by lesbiassparrow at 9:33 PM on August 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by lesbiassparrow at 9:33 PM on August 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
Baba!
(...after Baba Yaga, of course. She's not always a mean witch, ya know.)
posted by mdrew at 10:16 PM on August 16, 2015
(...after Baba Yaga, of course. She's not always a mean witch, ya know.)
posted by mdrew at 10:16 PM on August 16, 2015
Nabokov's wonderful wife, who helped him with basically everything he did, was named Véra. You could also always steal from this talking husky and name her Mishka.
posted by thebots at 12:56 AM on August 17, 2015
posted by thebots at 12:56 AM on August 17, 2015
She's so beautiful I don't think any name can do her justice. I like your Nandi but I think she also fits Sophie, Grace or Gracie. Or maybe Ginny (short for the black and tan of Guinness)?
Is it wrong to hope that you have a new very minor "issue" for AskMefi every week so that we can see more pictures as she grows up? /sorrynotsorry
posted by humph at 4:26 AM on August 17, 2015 [2 favorites]
Is it wrong to hope that you have a new very minor "issue" for AskMefi every week so that we can see more pictures as she grows up? /sorrynotsorry
posted by humph at 4:26 AM on August 17, 2015 [2 favorites]
What a lovely dog! She reminds me a lot of the star of a picture book we had as kids back in Australia which is a sign that Sue is the right name, right? http://m.ebay.com/itm/Suey-the-Sheepdog-by-John-Richardson-Ian-Brown-085896595X-/191353006848?nav=SEARCH
posted by ozgirlabroad at 5:17 AM on August 17, 2015
posted by ozgirlabroad at 5:17 AM on August 17, 2015
I'm all for Olga. Look at her! That's who she is.
And embrace the girl doggyness! No dick-licking while company's visiting, and no inopportune showing of "the lipstick" when the vicar comes for tea.
posted by BostonTerrier at 7:15 AM on August 17, 2015 [4 favorites]
And embrace the girl doggyness! No dick-licking while company's visiting, and no inopportune showing of "the lipstick" when the vicar comes for tea.
posted by BostonTerrier at 7:15 AM on August 17, 2015 [4 favorites]
Laika has some sad connotations, but Soviet space dogs Belka and Strelka were among the first animals to orbit the Earth and return alive. Strelka means arrow.
posted by Squeak Attack at 8:01 AM on August 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Squeak Attack at 8:01 AM on August 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
Freya! or Lagertha (from Vikings, although that one might be a bit more difficult to yell)
posted by Fence at 12:22 PM on August 17, 2015
posted by Fence at 12:22 PM on August 17, 2015
Response by poster: All these wonderful ideas pouring in! "Laika" the space dog made me laugh. I once dog-sat a Laika, and on the last day of her stay she had a major digestive event, all over the carpet. We joked that she was trying to spell out "thanks for being a good ho..." but she never got to the "s" "t".
Mischka is great. She'll be Mischka when she's extra cuddly.
posted by MrBobinski at 7:48 PM on August 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
Mischka is great. She'll be Mischka when she's extra cuddly.
posted by MrBobinski at 7:48 PM on August 17, 2015 [1 favorite]
I like Sasha, which I believe can be used for a boy or a girl. She's really gorgeous. Nice choice & Congratulations!
posted by mulcahy at 5:38 PM on August 20, 2015
posted by mulcahy at 5:38 PM on August 20, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by teponaztli at 7:41 PM on August 16, 2015