# Naming



## Wehner Homestead (Dec 26, 2017)

We are expecting our first Nigerian Dwarf goat kids in January. I'm trying to figure out naming each animal. 

With our Cattle, we name each subsequent one with the same first letter as the dam. For example: Maddie has had Mollie, Melody, Maizy, and Mya. 

I realize that goats can be much more prolific than cows and want some ideas on what other people do. 

Diamond is due first and we thought about gem and precious metal names for that line, as her mother was Pearl. We then have Snowflake and Caramel that are full sisters from different kiddings. Nellie's registered name is Chenille so I can name her Does after different types of material but I just don't know! I can build on both of those but how do I keep adding with their daughters??

Random names that we like are an option but does it get hard to keep the genetic lines straight? 

I know some people name with the tattoo letter for the year and others do themes based on the year. 

I can't make up my mind and thought I'd see what others do.


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## Southern by choice (Dec 26, 2017)

LOL-
 Yep can definitely be a challenge.
You're right many use the letter for that year so they always know what year that kid was born.
Others will have the whole herd in a theme for the year.

We have done some themes for the lamanchas. I love the classics so I have Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte, Hester Prynne. Pearl... you get the idea. 

Now, it is whatever strikes my fancy.  I still love the Lamanchas having Classic names. Sometimes though someone will just start calling a goat something and it "sticks". This year we had a buck my DD called Kenji. It really grew on me. I love it!


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## Southern by choice (Dec 26, 2017)

The other thing to consider is whether you want a say so in the name.
We _generally_ fill out all the paperwork and submit registration papers so they are in hand and just need transferred.
Yes, it costs us.
The advantage is that there are no issues for the buyer to deal with. 
I cannot tell you how many times we have been given registration application papers and have sent them in to just have a letter sent back stating that registration "couldn't be processed because blah blah blah...."  We have only had 3 sets of papers ever go through without a hitch.
It is very frustrating. This year we had to track down another party for them to send their papers back because the goat they had was incorrectly filed, as was the doe we purchased... mix up on the dams. Thankfully we were able to track the other people down and they were great, the Breeder was embarrassed, Mistakes happen, we get it but what if we would have waited a year before filing? Which, LOL, isn't unusual for us.  

So, we pay the fees. Register them so if there is a problem WE deal with it, get it corrected, before selling the goat.
On some goats that are heavily discounted we may send applications. There is a limit. 
This year we may have to because we plan on placing bottle babies at 2-3 weeks old. The people can take the application with them.


Getting back to the name part... If I already have a deposit etc then usually we ask what they would like the name to be... if we approve then we will go with it. We have seen some pretty raunchy names and there is no way I want my farm name attached to something raunchy, vulgar, or flat out ridiculous. I also will not approve a name that I plan on using.


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## babsbag (Dec 26, 2017)

I use the tattoo letter for the year as the first letter of a name. I have friends that use the bucks initials in front of the kids name. I find that I remember the names more easily if it is one that actually fits them and not just name starting with the correct letter but I still do the tattoo letter.  This year is K and I am keeping a lot of does so going to be tough, may have to change my naming strategy.


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## animalmom (Dec 26, 2017)

I try to give the doelings a rhyming name to the dam... Little Girl had Pearl.  I give the bucklings names that start with the first letter of the dam.  Pearl had a buckling named Pan.

Most of the time it works for me as it depends on what it sounds to my ear.  Irene, who is often called Rene-E had Sabrina who iI call Sabrine-E.

It helps me remember who's related to who.  Pearl is hopefully pregnant for April and if she has doelings they will get gem names... then again she could have another buckling, sigh.


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## Goat Whisperer (Dec 26, 2017)

Southern by choice said:


> This year we had to track down another party for them to send their papers back because the goat they had was incorrectly filed, as was the doe we purchased... mix up on the dams. Thankfully we were able to track the other people down and they were great, the Breeder was embarrassed, Mistakes happen, we get it but what if we would have waited a year before filing? Which, LOL, isn't unusual for us.


Thankfully, in this case we caught it quickly and I was able to get in contact with the other party (thanks FB & ADGA member services!). Sadly, this person died in a horrific car accident just a few months later , leaving behind his wife & children (and  another on the way).  If we had waited on registering the goat, we probably would never been able to get papers on her. (I would feel horrible, asking someone to correct goat papers while dealing with her husband's death) 


Back to the naming- I have thought of doing themes but nothing has really stuck. I was going to name CarolinaGirl's kids after NC city's, but they were born early on 8/21 --> solar eclipse kids… so named them Totality & Eclipse. Same thing with every other kid born here LOL


Oh, I just remembered that we kinda have a theme for Ruby the Nubian & her daughters. 
Her first doe (with us that is) is Amber, then Emerald & Sapphire, and now Bluebelle. Named partly after a world record setting Sapphire in Asia (?). But her sire is also Blue Print, out of renowned SGCH IRON-OWL BLUEBEARD 92 EEE so we wanted to include "Blue" in her name. 


But I also don't have an issue keeping track of all the lines & genetics, so a theme isn't needed for that purpose.


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## Wehner Homestead (Dec 26, 2017)

@Goat Whisperer I used to be able to keep everyone straight for generations back...well enough to make my dad and grandpa drag out old records and pictures to verify what I remembered on our cows growing up. I now have a very busy life and with my youngest, I don't sleep much and when I do, I don't rest well. My memory hasn't been keeping up like I wish it would. I try to write everything down but I'm trying to figure out ways to make it easier on myself. 

Another confusing aspect is that some of our Cattle registries require different letters for 2018 (the Maine Anjou Association is F), making it even more difficult to keep track of livestock by the year. 

I think stressing about their names is more of a way for me to not stress about their actual arrival. Our first experience with the Nigees was less than favorable and I'm praying things go well this time. One consolation is that Diamond has kidded triplets before. I was also one of those people that stressed a lot about choosing the appropriate name for my kiddos. 

On a another note, Diamond supposedly belongs to DS. I'd like to keep a buckling if she has one and he came up with name "Jackson" on his own. He's not quite 4 so I thought that was pretty good. I may let DS choose that name and go with something similar for the doelings.


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## Wehner Homestead (Dec 26, 2017)

I'm a planner. I'd feel better if I could make a drawn out plan of several options before I make my decision. At the same time I don't want the name to not fit the animal either though...


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## Baymule (Dec 26, 2017)

I just pull names out of thin air, or my grand daughter names them. But they are cross bred sheep, not registered. Had twin lambs born Dec15, ewe lamb is spotted black on white, her name is Domino. Ram lamb will be cut and named Dinner.


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## Wehner Homestead (Dec 26, 2017)

Baymule said:


> I just pull names out of thin air, or my grand daughter names them. But they are cross bred sheep, not registered. Had twin lambs born Dec15, ewe lamb is spotted black on white, her name is Domino. Ram lamb will be cut and named Dinner.




We are feeding out 3 pigs right now. The kids named the last group after characters in a movie and seemed more upset about them leaving so this time they are Ham, Bacon, and Sausage!


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## Goat Whisperer (Dec 26, 2017)

Wehner Homestead said:


> used to be able to keep everyone straight for generations back...well enough to make my dad and grandpa drag out old records and pictures to verify what I remembered on our cows growing up. I now have a very busy life and with my youngest, I don't sleep much and when I do, I don't rest well. My memory hasn't been keeping up like I wish it would. I try to write everything down but I'm trying to figure out ways to make it easier on myself.


I completely understand! 

Another thing people do (I've done this as well) is put the sire & dam's initials prior to the goat's name (Wings & Caprines IR Red Hot for example) 

If I wanted to do a particular theme, I'd probably have each dam line start with the same letter, and put the parents initials before the actual name.


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## babsbag (Dec 26, 2017)

I do better at remembering the dam than I do remembering their name. But then I dam raise so I get used to seeing the kids with their dam. This year with bottle raising off site I need to figure out how to keep the lineage straight for the kids I am keeping. Guess collars and name tags at very early ages, and I hate that.


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## Goat Whisperer (Dec 26, 2017)

… and tattoo ASAP!


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## Wehner Homestead (Dec 27, 2017)

So...I tried making something like a spider graph...using Diamond as an example: there are lots of gem/mineral/metal options for both genders. If I try to limit myself to the registration letter of "K," I have to get creative and do things like Kopper, Khrystal, and Khrome as all of the actual K objects are difficult to decipher, let alone expect a small child to say. 

Even if I was willing to butcher the spelling, I then run into the problem of how to expand off of this for their offspring. There are some options but those are them limited to trying to stick to L or M depending on the year. That only leads N and P, etc. (O is excluded, along with Q and U.) 

Can I just say AAAAHHHHH!?!?

I think that altering the spelling will become a nightmare of trying to keep straight which animals I altered the letter in the traditional spelling and which I didn't. 

I'm leaning toward naming Diamond's babies whatever I like along the lines of her theme and develop an individual theme from each line from there. That would ignore the letter of the year but make the lines more traceable in my mind.

Example: Diamond > Ebony (sister would be Ivory lol!) > Midnight (sister would be Shadow) > Starry Night "Star" (sister would be Moonlight "Moonie") > Ursa Major "Ursa" (sister would be Lyra.) 

Of course the example is theoretical as someone may only have bucklings or the line may end abruptly or another name from that division may fit better...thoughts??

I'm also thinking DS will get the name Jackson for a buckling unless he forgets...lol


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## Southern by choice (Dec 27, 2017)

I am a bit of a stickler with naming. Little kids can give barn names, but I never let my kids give "official" names to our animals when they were young.  They are all older and still we don't always agree... I have yielded to some names I didn't particularly like but then again I have also named some goats like a little kid would.   Like "Princess" and "Cupcake"

We have done the hand in hand or goes together names... we did  (IR) Red Hot & (IR) Jalapeno   - Ramona & Beezus - Hester Prynne & Pearl - Charlotte Bronte & Jane Eyre 

I like the name Jackson!


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## Wehner Homestead (Dec 27, 2017)

Little kids naming: We have cats named Minnie and Mickey, guinea pigs named Panda Boy and Eric (Ariel's prince,) and the majority of the Disney princesses and several princes...Ariel, Jasmine, Belle, Princess Sophia, Dora, Aladdin, Rock-a-Doodle are all chickens! We also had feeder pigs named Gia and Gloria off of Madagascar...I let the kids name their stuffed animals! 

I'd never let the kids pick a "silly" registered name but I don't want the registered names to be so far from the barn names that I can't easily figure out who is who in person/goat and on paper.


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## Southern by choice (Dec 27, 2017)

I hear ya! 
Two of our goats that we bought had a compilation of names from their pedigree.... in the end I just cannot have a goats called "...dark sin" and "...mad magic" ...
I cannot even get barn names out of those! So, very unoriginal, but one is "Red" (as you can guess she is a red goat ) but still better than mad magic. The other is Ellie- just can't handle the dark sin thing.


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## Wehner Homestead (Dec 28, 2017)

Oh my gosh!!! I couldn't handle that either! I'm sure that doesn't surprise you though. I'm more likely to name all my animals after hymns!


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## unity (Jan 3, 2018)

"...dark sin" Cindy  "...mad magic" Maddy


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## unity (Jan 3, 2018)

I started naming all my goats after Gloria, my herd Queen. She had Georgia, Gretchen, Greta, Goldie and Glorianne. But then her daughters started having daughters and now I have Gwen, Gracie, well...you see the problem; my whole herd is G names and I am getting confused. I am not sure where I am going from here yet.


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## Baymule (Jan 3, 2018)

Open a dictionary under the letter G?


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## Wehner Homestead (Jan 3, 2018)

Well...the kids are completely against being given a few names to choose from that have been approved by me. 

My kids will only be little once, I can do whatever I want when they are older. I'll just have to develop a good record system! 

I think they are agreeable to having a yearly theme so at least I'll have that. Our theme this year is Princes/Princesses as in Disney.  At least my 6,3,2 year olds will be happy. I may need a few suggestions past Belle and Ariel. Lol


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## unity (Jan 5, 2018)

Ok, I have been giving this some thought. The ADGA letter for this year (2018) is K. If I give each of my breeding does a theme, such as flowers, gems, and Irish names (just off the top of my head) and that name starts with K, such as Kennedia, Kunzite, and Kaitlin. Now I will know who the little ones belong to and what year they were born. I guess when those daughters start breeding, they get their own theme.


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## Wehner Homestead (Jan 5, 2018)

unity said:


> Ok, I have been giving this some thought. The ADGA letter for this year (2018) is K. If I give each of my breeding does a theme, such as flowers, gems, and Irish names (just off the top of my head) and that name starts with K, such as Kennedia, Kunzite, and Kaitlin. Now I will know who the little ones belong to and what year they were born. I guess when those daughters start breeding, they get their own theme.



Go back a few posts to see my thoughts on following the letter. I'm not saying you should or shouldn't, it just spells out some of my thoughts.


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## unity (Jan 5, 2018)

I looked on http://www.minerals.net/GemStoneVarieties.aspx and these are names of gems, so I came up with this: Diamond has two girls, two boys this year: Kimberly Emerald (Kim), Korean Jade (Kora), Kashmir diamond (Kash), and Kingman Turquoise (King). Kim and Kora get new themes next year (L), so Disney characters for Kim (Lady, Lampwick, Laverne, Lefty), and Irish Names for Kora (Liam, Lochlan, Lada, Lainie). Diamond would still be gems, but L like Lapis, Lemon Opal, Leopard Jasper....


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## unity (Jan 5, 2018)

So if you want to refer the grandkids back to Diamond, I guess that would be Lady Diamond and Lainie Garnet?


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## Wehner Homestead (Jan 5, 2018)

unity said:


> I looked on http://www.minerals.net/GemStoneVarieties.aspx and these are names of gems, so I came up with this: Diamond has two girls, two boys this year: Kimberly Emerald (Kim), Korean Jade (Kora), Kashmir diamond (Kash), and Kingman Turquoise (King). Kim and Kora get new themes next year (L), so Disney characters for Kim (Lady, Lampwick, Laverne, Lefty), and Irish Names for Kora (Liam, Lochlan, Lada, Lainie). Diamond would still be gems, but L like Lapis, Lemon Opal, Leopard Jasper....



I totally explored this thought process and even that site. I'd totally follow the lines of that train of thought but my kids aren't agreeable. Until they are too old to let me name the goats in my own manner, I'll keep them appeased. DD1 is pulling for Ariel.


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## unity (Jan 5, 2018)

Ariel and Jackson sound very nice. I guess you could add the mother's name or a combo like they do the celebrities to keep track.


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## babsbag (Jan 5, 2018)

I have 40 does so no way am I doing a theme for each doe, there aren't that many themes. I will use the letter K and go and look at baby names that start with K and pick from that. The problem for me is that I don't remember what I named them. Since all of my kids are being raised off site this year  I have to find an easy way to identify who they belong to for registration.


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## Latestarter (Jan 5, 2018)

I guess a hoof print on a certificate of live birth won't cut it huh?   Perhaps pictures after dry, either side, with associated parentage and birth details on a card/page for later review?


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## Wehner Homestead (Jan 6, 2018)

Definitely an idea there LS! I don't know what I'd do in Babs' shoes!!


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## AClark (Jan 11, 2018)

I do theme names for animals that don't come with names or I might get mixed up or confused because they look alike. 
We have Betty Davis and Bonnie Parker the twin nubian does, JD came with Blackberry for a name so that's on his papers as Blackberry JD, the 3 boer/kiko does are named off Dark Shadows characters, the two pygmy does are named after flowers. 
I also let my kids name critters that aren't going anywhere. I find when kids name them, they can't get sold because the kids get uptight.


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## Wehner Homestead (Jan 11, 2018)

My kids get uptight about EVERY animal that leaves our farm. It doesn't matter if that they knew from the get-go what the plan was for said animal. Sometimes it flat wears me out. Other, I miss and don't want to say goodbye to either. 

I'll keep updating this post as the goat kids arrive. T-10 days give or take and the first additions should make their long-awaited arrival!


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## AClark (Jan 17, 2018)

Oh mine too, if they had it their way, nothing would ever end up in the freezer or sold. I had to fight with my daughters over butchering excess roosters this last summer - I had 7! We cut it down to 2. I sent 2 buck rabbits and 2 of our goats to auction a couple of weeks ago and the fight over the rabbits was extreme. Neither of them pets either, but no complaints about the obnoxious goats that went lol. 

That's why I do theme names, it helps me remember, even though I write everything down. Such as the pygmy does being flower names, I'd name their babies something related, like rose, if we planned on keeping them. That way, I know just by name who parents are, without having to go look it up.


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## Wehner Homestead (Feb 3, 2018)

Update: Diamond had triplets (2 bucklings, 1 doeling) on 1/23. We named them Jackson, Jericho, and Jasmine. Everyone was happy with the names. Jasmine is staying for sure. One of the bucklings will be retained but I haven’t made a final decision. 

Up next is Snowflake. She’s a FF so we will have to see what names her kids get...


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## Hens and Roos (Feb 3, 2018)

hope the naming of Snowflake's kids goes well for you!  We usually wait and watch the kids for several days to see what their personality is like before naming..we have a Moose, Monkey, Pepper, Clove, Mayhem...not sure what this year's names will be


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## BoboFarm (Feb 3, 2018)

Names from Frozen would work well for Snowflake. Elsa, Anna, Olaf, Sven, Christoff...


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## Wehner Homestead (Feb 3, 2018)

We have a cow named Elsa. I wanted to name her Queen and DD1 heard me say it and assumed Queen Elsa so we just went with Elsa. 

I haven’t really given names for Snowflake’s kids much thought yet. I’ll start on that and get back to you!


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## BoboFarm (Feb 3, 2018)

Can't wait!


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## Wehner Homestead (Feb 3, 2018)

DD1 will have to approve something along the lines of a princess/heroine...


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## Wehner Homestead (Feb 13, 2018)

I’ve come up with tentative names for *if* Snowflake has twin doelings ...Anastasia and Alexandra. Their barn names would be Ana and Allie. The first of both is in a Disney movie and in real life, both are Russian princess sisters. DD1 was agreeable to this. 

If there aren’t two does, I’ll just let her pick a princess name and come up with a male name to go with it. 

Only time will tell. 

As a side note, we broke our “M” Name streak for Maddie’s line in our herd. Her daughters are Mollie (Moxie, Ember), Melody, Maizy, Mya, and INDY! It was getting too confusing to everyone. If we digress, she can become Mindy. 
**Mollie has two heifers that we’ve kept. They are in parenthesis. 
***DD1 wants to name Melody’s calf Mallory if it’s a heifer...


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## Wehner Homestead (Apr 11, 2018)

So I was reading the last post to see how much I needed to update our names we’ve given. I had to laugh because Indy stuck and Moxie had a heifer that we named Mallory! Lol Maxine also had a heifer that may be retained. We are calling her Emma for now. 

Snowflake delivered triplets, 2B/1D. The second I knew the Doeling had a reddish color, I knew her name would be Ariel. The two bucklings were named after chipmunks by DD1. The white one is Alvin because he was a trouble maker in the beginning (difficult to get nursing) and the brown/white buckling had been described as “loveable” by same dtr so she named him Theodore. DH and I have shortened his name to Theo. 

Nellie delivered triplet doelings less than 18 hrs after Snowflake! Talk about a naming quandary. DD1 has already mentioned naming one Cinderella and calling her Ella so when DH and I saw the first one and she was solid black, we knew that her name was going to be Ella. We’d only prayed for one Doeling out of Nellie but twins of any gender from there so imagine our shock when the second and third doe came in quick succession! Ella was already named but we had to talk to the human kids before naming the two roan girls. DD1 suggested Beauty (and one had a black tail) so we decided to go with Black Beauty and just use Beauty as her barn name. Ella means pretty in some form and Beauty, well we needed something along those lines and Princess-like for the third Doeling with the white spot on her tail and more spotting through her roan...I thought of the 101 Dalmatians so she became Perdita with a barn name of Perdy. 

That makes our goat year: 
Doelings: Jasmine, Ariel, Cinderella, Black Beauty, and Perdita
Bucklings: Jackson, Jericho, Alvin, and Theodore
All are based on some movie or something famous. 

We have two more calves due but neither will be retained so named aren't expected. Caramel will be bred for fall kids so I’ll try to update this thread at that time with the names that her kids receive.


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## Latestarter (Apr 12, 2018)

Perdita = Perdy = Purty = Pretty Nice choice


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## Wehner Homestead (Apr 12, 2018)

Latestarter said:


> Perdita = Perdy = Purty = Pretty Nice choice



I thought it fit in quite well with the others. Even better that it met DD1’s requirements!


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