What's In A Name?

Fiona's name was Dixie. She didn't seem to respond to anything when we called her (it may have been the stress of the situation), but we figured we'd give her a new name with her new life.

I had plans on choosing a name for her, and everything dog related ties back to the business. My thought was that she came from a social media conference, so naming her something related to social media would be genius. As a bonus, this would be memorable and catchy on Instagram. Instagram is where I do my advertising for the store, and a unique name that grabs attention would be good.

 We tossed around names like Moogle, Flickr, Snapchat (shortened to Snap), Instagram (shortened to Gram, but then realized that the already-recognized boy's name of Graham would brand our girl as a gender confused dog with idiot parents), Zip Drive (or Zippy), and Twitter. Micah gave a hard no to all of the above. I'll admit, I was rather grateful for some of the turn-downs.

I changed tactics, and thought she could have a name that reflected her boy. Something to do with Down syndrome. The first one I thought of was Chrome, representing the chromosomes that are different in individuals with DS. It could also double as a nod to social media, as a bonus. Micah wasn't fully opposed, and even attempted to say it, but I could tell it was a huge struggle for him. I realized it would be a huge struggle for anyone, really. A single-syllable word with that many sounds is a real mouth full.

Moving on, I started throwing out any name I could think of. Daphne, Beatrice, Poppi. No, no, no. The dog needed a name, and Micah wasn't even keen on Dixie, which I'd also tossed out. At the 2-day mark, it was getting old calling the dog The Dog, especially when we had 2 other dogs to get confused with.  

Just about time I thought I'd have to take a parental stand and say, "your dog's name is....", I realized Micah was watching Shrek again. It's currently his favorite movie, and he identifies himself as Shrek.

"Micah, do you want to name your dog Fiona?"

He stopped the movie, looked up at me, and said, "Yes!"

Micah doesn't always understand questions. Even when he does, sometimes he answers what he thinks you want to hear, and sometimes he answers no just because he's a kid with a word that holds power. If he said yes to a name, it didn't necessarily mean the name is a win for him. (Conversely, all the no's he'd been throwing around may not have been adamant no's.)

Daddy asked Micah to help him take the trash out at that moment, but when he came back, I tested the waters.

"Micah, is your dog's name Fiona?"

He walked over to her crate, got down on his knees, patted his legs with both hands and called oh-so-gently, "Ona! Ona!" I'll be darned if that sweet dog of his came out, looked him in the face, and licked his hands. Micah picked her up and hugged her for a few moments before they parted ways and went on with their evening.

Fiona is a winner of a name. It's been decided by both Micah and his dog.






2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fiona is a great name for a dog. Plus, Ona is a good nickname. Sounds like it will be a close relationship.

Cindy said...

I love this story!