DOTUS For The First Dog? Experts Offer First Family Tips To Chew On When Naming First Dog
15 years ago
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Choosing a name for the First Dog is an undertaking that could rival the appointment of a cabinet member – minus the congressional approval, according to Strategic Name Development, a national firm responsible for names such as Wendy’s Baconator™ and Bayer’s pet-tracking chip, ResQ®.
That in mind, Strategic Name Development offers its PETNAME checklist to the First Family to assist with the process of naming their new dog:7628 views
Posted
30th January, 2009 00h00
- Politically optimistic - Gerald Ford’s dog, ‘Liberty,’ Richard Nixon’s, ‘Vicky’ (which means victory) and Jimmy Carter’s ‘Grits’ are on the right scent. Conversely, Rutherford B. Hayes and Calvin Coolidge may have sent the wrong signals with names like ‘Grim’ and ‘Calamity Jane.’
- Easy to pronounce – and easy to spell. Lincoln’s dog was named Jip, which was often spelled Gyp.
- Tell a story –the name should say something about character, history or pedigree. Kennedy’s dog, Shannon, was a gift from the president of Ireland.M
- No more than two syllables – the longer the name, the harder to train.
- Atypical – avoid the obvious – Max, Sam, Lady, Bear, Buddy, Smokey, Shadow.
- Made in America - Avoid foreign sounding names like Manchu (Theodore Roosevelt) Caruso (Taft) and Pushinka (Kennedy).
- End with a vowel sound – Pet names ending in vowels like Fido (Lincoln) and Barney (Bush 43) are significantly easier for your pets to hear. This is good insurance for a president who wants to make sure that no matter what he does, there is still one living being who will listen to him.
- DOTUS If the President of the United States is POTUS, than the First Dog should be DOTUS.
- Barelle Combines the first syllable of Barack with the last syllable of Michelle and is easy on the ears.
- Harpo Oprah, one of Obama’s strongest supporters, spelled backwards.
- Lincoln In honor of Obama’s presidential hero, signifies a link to the future.
- RahmRod Combination of Obama’s top dogs Rahm Emmanuel and David Axelrod; signals that the president is serious about change.
- One in 10 Obama supporters elected to name their pets after an existing consumer brand. Among the choices were Hershey, Snickers, Ricoh, Adidas and Nike.
- Physicality plays an important role in Obama followers’ pet naming.
- 7 percent named their pets based on color - Goldie, Rusty, Red, Onyx.
- 7 percent used size as the inspiration - Itsey, Magnus, Half-Pint.
- 16 percent of Obama supporters used virtue as the guide for their pets’ names. While four in five virtue names are positive - Faith, Frank, Dexter, Precious - there is also a flip side to virtue – Bandit, Misfit, Jinxie and Biff.
- Other popular naming categories include:
- Objects (9 percent) – Shamrock, Cashmere, Snowball.
- Personality Traits (9 percent) – Lovey, Maverick (sic), Turbo and Scamper.
- Theronyms (animal names) (9 percent) - D’og, Moose, Panda.
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