To Billy Shakespeare, it was a question posed between two star crossed lovers and juxtaposed families. In our realm it’s where did your pet get its name? Some of which are a book (or tragedy) of their own. From the bucolic Dusty to the laconic Dog, we have heard them all. The common Baby, Sweetie, and Precious have given way of late to the more flamboyant Sir Charles and Joy Bella Rose (my own mother’s dog). We get a smattering of regional pride like Dixie, Belle and Rebel but have never run across a Yankee, (unless you count Jeterwhich is represented in our practice.) There is the culinary crowd of Thyme, Pancake, and Biscuit. My absolute favorite among those is Barbecue! A fortunate (we assume) group are tagged Lucky. We have a myriad of what we call human names like George, Tom, and Calvin (who I believe is named for Calvin Klein). There’s the rapper element like Lil-P and Big Boi. The downright diabolical Murderand Cocaine (yep, I’ve seen it). The signature of true southern pride is of course football. In our neck of the woods, the depth chart is deep! We have two Vandys, a few Aubies, a Smokey, some Bos (Jackson, we presume), and an unprecedented nomenclature for the University of Alabama with the likes of Bear, Julio, Fluker, Trent, with the nod going to Sabans by far. We can’t forget Tebow, because there are two of them….both dachshunds. And to round out football, we had a Butkus who was a hulking Mastiff. We could gather a bouquet of Daisys, put everybody here on a Harley, and even have a Chevy for the All-American crowd.
So what’s in a name? Sometimes it is the result of deep contemplation or in honor of a favorite friend or loved one. Other instances, it is what we last ate. Whatever we call them, it is an endearing title given to a valued member of the family. We love it!
To close and honor our aforementioned playwright, we do have both a Romeo and a Juliet but I have no idea if their parents are friends.
Dr. Y (owner of Ben, Anna, Liz and Frank)
