July 9, 2012 11:49 am
How Ancient Greeks Named Their Puppies
A mosaic of Hercules with pet Cerberus. Photo: snarl
Dogs played a special role in ancient Greek society and mythology; Cerberus guarded the gates of Hades, the goddess Artemis used dogs in her hunt, and Greek citizens employed dogs for hunting and protection.
To the ancient Greeks, picking your new pup was an important decision, just as it is today. But, according to Stanford University researcher Adrienne Mayor, writing for Wonders & Marvels, the process could have been just a little bit different.
Like moderns, the ancients looked for an adventurous and friendly nature, but one test for selecting the pick of the litter seems rather heartless today. Let the mother choose for you, advises Nemesianus, a Roman expert on hunting dogs. Take away her puppies, surround them with an oil-soaked string and set it on fire. The mother will jump over the ring of flames and rescue each puppy, one by one, in order of their merit.
Mayor says that dogs were typically given short names that evoked ideas of things like power, speed, or beauty. Then again, the more things change, the more they seem to stay the same. According to Mayor,
Popular names for dogs in antiquity, translated from Greek, include Lurcher, Whitey, Blackie, Tawny, Blue, Blossom, Keeper, Fencer, Butcher, Spoiler, Hasty, Hurry, Stubborn, Yelp, Tracker, Dash, Happy, Jolly, Trooper, Rockdove, Growler, Fury, Riot, Lance, Pell-Mell, Plucky, Killer, Crafty, Swift, and Dagger.
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I always name my dogs Greek names… I am a Greek American and having no children, my dog’s names are ones I might have used for a baby:
Koukla, Zoe, Ouzo, Penelope and Pandora.
Comment by Eowana — July 11, 2012 @ 2:12 pm
Who would name their child “ouzo”???????????
Comment by gargalianiotisa — July 15, 2012 @ 2:36 am
for what it seems greeks rule, romans were some bad copy? (sorry my bad english)
Comment by oyo — July 15, 2012 @ 12:32 pm
How could Ouzo for a child’s name be worse than Brandy?
Comment by Iosephvs — July 15, 2012 @ 1:04 pm
The Greek translations of those common dog names would have been nice to include in the article. I’d be interested to see how exotic some of these common names would seem.
Comment by mnmsmom — July 15, 2012 @ 1:23 pm
I once named a dog Prometheus. He was a husky/saint bernard mix and it seemed appropriate to give him and big name..Prometheus won out over Agamemnon.
Comment by wyzard — July 15, 2012 @ 1:42 pm
a Greek
Comment by k j martin — July 15, 2012 @ 1:59 pm
I named my rescued beagle Titus Argos.
Comment by FormerDirtDart — July 15, 2012 @ 2:15 pm
Or Koukla for that matter. I thought Koukla was awful when Fran named her puppets Koukla and Ollie. And Zoe is overused. I had a cat named Topaz and my dogs were Penny, JJ, Pal, Molly, and Jack
Comment by Kim Marie Berg — July 15, 2012 @ 2:23 pm
You’ve probably never heard of a child named “Brandy”?
Comment by KFH — July 15, 2012 @ 2:27 pm
Oh, and Nemesianus was an idiot. Mama dog will rescue her pups in order of which is closest, not in order of which she values most. Mama dog will also rescue the physically challenged pup with equal vigor once she has nursed that pup!
Comment by Kim Marie Berg — July 15, 2012 @ 2:28 pm
Considering some of the names I’ve seen, from celebrities to ordinary folk, “ouzo” isn’t so outrageous as Suri, Dweezil, or Rumer.
Comment by Cliff Sees — July 15, 2012 @ 3:04 pm
Yeah, Who would name their child “ouzo”? Or dog either? The best dog I ever had was named “Dumb Ass”. That was his name when I got him.
Comment by Humpfarfarnarkle — July 15, 2012 @ 4:32 pm
The same people who name their dogs, “Brandy”, “Whiskey”, etc. Usually in reference to their coat color. If you were a dog, I’d name you “Rudy”.
Comment by Valerie Gillman — July 15, 2012 @ 5:20 pm
What’s wrong with ouzo? I know dogs with names like Budweiser, Whiskey, etc.
Comment by Chris — July 15, 2012 @ 9:00 pm
Not Xerxes?
Comment by Fitzhugh McGillicudhy — July 15, 2012 @ 11:33 pm
A friend got a kitten from someone who gave all her pets classical Greek names, and insisted that kittens be given similar names. So the cat became Zorba.
Comment by Fitzhugh McGillicudhy — July 15, 2012 @ 11:37 pm
I had a Lab called (named) Tequila. They don’t care they love you unresvededly.If their name worries you. You haven’t much to worry about.
Comment by Rodney Porter — July 16, 2012 @ 3:39 am
By the way it’s from QLD Australia
Comment by Rodney Porter — July 16, 2012 @ 3:45 am
We have a new German Sheppard puppy which we named JASPER.
I have always been fascinated with ancient Greece, and also name destiny. We came up with Jasper by default, we thought he might be a Dutch sheppard at first and our daughter liked the name Kasper because it means keeper of the jewels.We went to Jasper as it was close, Jasper the stone is for nurturing.Everyone now suggests we have to go to Jasper in Alberta Canada which also looks so gorgeous.
Comment by Tara Greene — July 16, 2012 @ 3:54 am
At the time of puppyhood we give our dogs names easy to phonetically hear and identify … e.g., Fido. So, it’s strange to read this article list the English translations of Greek names(?)
Comment by MIchael Shaffer — July 16, 2012 @ 5:54 am
I tried to name our first pug Bellasarius. After some negotiation with the family, it became Stella, which is fun to yell in a Marlon Brando accent.
Could Eowana or a scholar of the classics tell us what those names listed in the article would have been in ancient Greek, since our esteemed author did not provide them? I confess to finding most of the listed names kind of blah, but maybe they sounded better in the original.
Comment by PugDad — July 16, 2012 @ 11:42 am
FYI – Koukla means “doll” – seeing as Koukla was a puppet, it was a great name!! It is also today, as I am sure it was 2000 yrs ago, used as a term of endearment – one calls a baby or cute child koukla, or even a sweetheart.
IMHO I think the name Molly is overused for a dog.
So – name your animals what you will and don’t comment negatively on others’ choices.
Comment by RMU — July 16, 2012 @ 2:13 pm
Used translator to modern Greek: Lurcher, Whitey, Blackie, “Tawny”, “, Μπλε, λουλούδια, κάτοχος, ξιφομάχος, κρεοπωλείο, Αεροτομή, βιαστική, βιασύνη, επίμονα, Yelp, Tracker, παύλα, χαρά, Jolly, Trooper, Rockdove, Growler, οργή, τα ματ, Λανς, Pell-Mell , τολμηρός, δολοφόνος, πανούργο, ταχεία και ξίφος.
Comment by James Raptis — July 16, 2012 @ 5:12 pm
Thank you James, ok. Now how do you say any of that, its all greek to me. lol
Comment by Tom Wood — July 16, 2012 @ 5:40 pm
BTW I looked up “Tawny” and its said “Fulvus” hmmm
Comment by Tom Wood — July 16, 2012 @ 5:58 pm
I met a girl named Brandy Booze! What were her parents thinking?!
Comment by Lee Bannor — July 16, 2012 @ 6:45 pm
Our little town has a yearly fair they call Frog Fest. Some kids were carrying a 2 week old kitten in a bucket, saying they were going to kill him. My friend, an animal rescue worker, told the kids she knew a good home for the kitten. I named him Rana, which is Italian for Frog, and gave him a second name Vandrad, an old Norse name for “One who is in trouble.” I spent 6 years in Italy and loved the language, and have studied Snorri Sturleson. Rana now is 3 years old and a very loving, funny pet. So glad we found him!
Comment by Lou Stewart — July 16, 2012 @ 8:09 pm
As a seven year old, I named my family’s shepherd/collie mix Archimedes. He was the runt of the litter, but he proved to be a great little dog.
Comment by Phil CAne — July 17, 2012 @ 3:51 pm
I am laughing so hard at all these clever comments! I had no idea anyone would comment on my comment! Okay or Endoxie in Greek, for your info, while I was a school librarian, I had a student who was named Ouzo!! No kidding! But that was not as strange as a lot of other names which I will not go into here and now. But thank you so much for your positive comments on my comment! Yes, Koukla is what Greeks call their children instead of honey or sweetie. It means doll as one of you said. Like the Germans calling their sweeties Schatzi, which is why you hear a lot of wiener dogs with that name. I will explain that the reason I had two dogs with the names Ouzo and Zoe, which is Greek for life, is that they were Cairn terriers and both names had the word OZ in them backwards. And their initials spelled OZ. I do spend some time thinking of names. Ha. I probably wouldn’t have named a child Ouzo, but Zoe would have been one of my top choices. In 35 years in education, I only came across one Zoe! Again, thanks for the nice comments!
Comment by Eowana — July 25, 2012 @ 9:49 am
OH, one more thing, Ouzo was as sweet as is the drink ouzo, which turns white with water, which was my dog’s coat color.
I was tempted to call her Flokati, like the white rug. When she laid on it, you couldn’t tell where the dog started or stopped.And I will stop with that!
Comment by Eowana — July 25, 2012 @ 9:52 am
I got my first dog when I was five. I named her Riki-Tiki-Tavi(sp?). The night before my mother had read me the story of the brave mongoose from Kipling’s Jungle Book. I spent the next 13 years (her whole life) explaining that name. Next time I picked something shorter and simpler: Madchen, which means maiden in German. Of course, I still had to explain, but not as much.
Comment by Jane Lee — August 2, 2012 @ 9:58 am