We’re doing a massive throwback to when the puppies were still babies and I was the proud mama of fifteen dogs. Keeping in the vein of: I’m so far behind in writing content for the blog, I’m showing up with these pictures taken in the middle of May 2020 when the babies were tiny and I had yet to realize I had lost all motivation. So content I meant to publish well over a year ago is finally seeing the light of day.
As of right now, the puppies have been in their forever homes for a year and three months. I ended up keeping four and the mama along with my first rescue dog. The house is chaos, and I love it.
When it comes to names, I believe a name is important. It is an identity. The utterance of a name evokes an entire being. I’m the owner of a unique name with meaning. My dogs are my children, and I wanted to bestow them with unique and meaningful names; even if those names would only be with them for a short time.
Beau is the first baby I named. Her full name being Beauvoir for Simone de Beauvoir, the French writer, feminist, and existentialist. I wanted her to be strong and smart and full of character. All things that she very much is. When Tess came along, she was a pregnant teenager alone in the world, so I named her for the titular character in Tess of the D’Urbervilles. Let’s just say, her story has a much happier ending than the novel.
Tess brought the puppies into the world on March 3 and 4, 2020. Dylan and I went back and forth naming them. To say the least, the names were not necessarily equal in creativity. No paws pointed in any direction… Just to inform, the names I chose were largely literary or historical and sometimes both. The exception being Noski, meaning socks in Russian because he had four white paws, creatively uncreative.
March—Everyone thought I named her March because she was born in March. That would be coincidental. I named her for the March sisters in Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. Now named Vienna, for Vienna sausage because she looked like a tiny sausage puppy.
Hardy—Named for one of my favorite authors, Thomas Hardy, who wrote Tess of the D’Urbervilles. He was a Victorian novelist, who wasn’t afraid to tackle difficult subjects and women’s struggles. Now named Marcus, for Marcus Aurelius, so yay for a creative furever dad.
Hera—[Dylan Named] He wanted to name a few girls after ancient Greek goddesses, who are strong. Yay for mythological stories. So I’m not mad about it. Still named Hera.
Boudica—A warrior Queen of the Iceni tribe, who met and conquered the Roman forces in 60 AD. Maybe not literary, but there are some great books about her! Now named Lucy!
Makeda—Named for a highly disputed woman who may or may have not existed in Ethiopia and/or the Middle East, depending on tradition. She is better known as Queen of Sheba and first mentioned in the Hebrew Bible.
Lily-May—A combination of Lily Bart from House of Mirth and May Welland from The Age of Innocence both by Edith Wharton. Now named by Sadie.
Athena—[Dylan Named] Another girl named for an ancient Greek goddess. She’s still named Athena, but she goes by Teena.
Oryol—The hometown of Ivan Turgenev, a Russian writer, known for exploring nihilistic themes in much of his work. Fathers and Sons is a particular favorite. He now goes by Murphy.
My house has three girls and three boys. The girls were all named by me: Beau, Tess, and Makeda. Dylan named the three boys: Knight, Duke, and Bear. None are literary names. I did make Knight’s name fun by pronouncing it K-Nig-Hit. It is pronounced phonetically and not with a silent k, g, or h. People look at me weird, and I love it. I like to tell people Duke was named for Duke Orsino in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, and Bear was named for Professor Behr in Little Women. Neither is true, but I can pretend.
bisous un обьятий,
RaeAnna
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