I have all kinds of ways. Most of my dogs are Border Collies, and are named after famous Border Collies. However, those Border Collies have names like Ben, Jen, Ann, Spot, Glen, Don, Bill, etc. So you'd really never know!
Ted came with his name. He looked like a Teddy bear and still does - so his breeders called him "Teddy." I liked it so I kept the name. That was easy!
Gus came with his name too. I think he was named something else before he was with the person we got him from - he does a little head twist every so often when I say something, like he is hearing something familar. I never have been able to figure it out because most times I don't notice until I've said about ten words. And he's mostly deaf so repeating the whole thing makes it sound just different enough that he doesn't respond again. And Gus isn't a name his first owner, breeder, and trainer, an immigrant Scottish shepherd, would have given him. I know him and he's very much a traditionalist. His sire's name is "Jeff."
Lynn's name is kind of weird. She came with the name Riley, which I didn't think fit. I wanted to change it to Rye. My husband started teasing me that she smelled more like cheese - Limburger cheese - because she came from a kind of nasty shelter. And then we realized she was a Leonberger - so my very strange DH started calling her "Lynn-berger" - as in Limburger cheese. So Lynn it was. And now she has lots of names - Lynn-berger, Cheese-berger, the Mini Cheese Berger, the Mini Lynn-berger, etc. She comes to all of them - or none of them,, depending on her mood.
I was studying Latin when I named my first two dogs, so I got a notion to name them both Latin names. Not names, though, actual words. Maggie's real name is Magna Vox because she would never stop barking and vocalizing when I first got her, and it stuck because she was also "smart, very smart" - the old catch phrase for the TV brand of the same name. We bought the TV the same weekend we brought Maggie home. My second dog was white with a black patch on his back that looked like an owl, so I named him Bubo, Latin for owl. His poor previous foster mom never could understand that and had the worst trouble remembering his new name, even years later after we became very close friends. I don't even remember what Bubo's first name was - Sparky, maybe?
My guard dogs are all named after figures in classical literature. I've also used Tolkien as a resource there. We've had Hercules, Lucretia, Ares, Strider, Yavanna (RIP baby girl!), Tulkas, Maia, and Minerva. The female we mated Strider to, Vanna and Tully's dam, had a "musical"
name as did all of her littermates (she was Candace). Vanna and Tully
were both named after musical Valar from Tolkien.
Zhi's name is from a list of cultural names. If I had done some research before naming her, I would have realized an African or Portugese name would have been more appropriate, but, oh well. And probably more pronouncable (quick, if you know how to read off her name correctly, you win the prize!). Her name is the scourge of vet front office workers and vet techs everywhere. The feeling of looking at a chart and having no earthly idea how to pronounce the name. I may as well have named her T'x!g, poor thing. I had just had a good friend pass away when I named her and I plead temporary insanity. Of course, there are many who will note that there's no evidence it was temporary insanity, necessarily!
I recently did something new and named a rescue after a jazz singer.
Becca Shouse: Irena Farm, Semora, NC
Cord, Ted, Gus, Zhi, Maggie, Lynn, Lu, Min and Tully
Waiting: Bubo & Ben
"We didn't have a phone, and we couldn't call you!" Helen, AIDS orphan. Don't let them die of ignorance - WorldHelp.net
"I-Dog Biggest Loser" Official Cheerleader/Mascot
Start 09/15/08: 186.4 lbs Current 175.6 lbs