Kid Names

I will admit that I love thinking about and selecting the names for my animals.

We adopted our dog Willow partly because my son and I were discussing earlier in the day how we thought "Willow" would be a great dog name. That evening I was cruising the Petfinder site and there was this little crooked eared terrier mix that looked like a white version of our Bumble, and her name was "Willow". It seemed like a sign. And our adopted dog Bumble came with his name, too, which suits him so well there was no way we were going to change it.

But when you have baby animals you get to make up your own names for them, and that is part of the fun of baby animals, especially while you are waiting. Thinking of and collecting potential kid names has been one of the activities that have helped me pass the time while waiting for the kidding date to arrive. I actually have a spreadsheet for doeling and buckling names to which I add names as I think of them. Yes, that is fairly insane, I admit, but when I have bouncing goat babies I will want to select a cool name that suits them perfectly.

Themes are fun. For instance, my first four goats were named with a nod to my art background: Vincent, Salvador, Pablo and Jasper. When we adopted two adult goats we stuck with their original names - 'not sure if goats would be confused by a sudden name change but somehow it still seemed wrong to change their identities at this point in their life. Artist names are at the top of my potential kidding names list, but for doelings that will be more challenging. Frida? Georgia? Dorothea? 'Unless I go with female contemporary artists, but then the average non-art person will not get the reference. For the boys my favorite potential names include Hopper, Diego, Maxfield, Claude, Modigliani, Banksy and Ansel.

Plant and flower names have great potential, as well, especially for Lilly's kids. Sweet Pea, Jasmine, Violet, Daisy, Poppy, Holly, Hazel, Flora, Iris, Clover, Rose? But then what about the boys?

Authors, musicians, Greek gods, and biblical characters also have potential, and those names comprise a large portion of my list.

Names should suit the little critters and their personalities, so we will definitely not decide on names and what direction those names will take until the kids are hopping around and we get to know them a bit.  'A little more than a month from now!!