The Evolution of Dog Names from Traditional to Human-Like Choices

 Hairy Hairy Heaton Hooligans.

Dogs have their own personalities, they have friends (usually other dogs in the park) which can last a lifetime. 

They will protect each other like they were family (litter mates). Playing together, eating and sharing their  humans. One  dog documentary I put forward hypothesised  dogs descended from wolves, which is  hard to believe when you have Harry nudging you under your arm with his pointy lurcher nose as he wants you to play fetch with his favourite ball, when you are trying to write a blog.

Over the years I have noticed many changes concerning how we treat dogs and how they are named. My Granny's dog was called Rex. 

He was a mongrel (a word rarely used now).  Rex was a latch key dog he went out in the morning then came back teatime, he was mostly fed table scraps, I can't remember him ever being fed tinned dog food, he lived till he was 14. Thinking back dogs had names like Penny (named by my Granny, she said she was no bigger than an old penny when my Auntie Jean got her, Ruby, King and Scruffy. 

Now dogs have human names. My own dogs and those of my friends are named Bill, Ben, Molly and Cleo.  Giving dogs human names can cause some problems for people thinking of names for their babies. 

This was the case in Heaton Park; I was chatting with the new park keeper. I had Bill and Ben with me. The park keeper and his partner were expecting their first baby, “the problem is every time we think of a name I come to work and hear someone calling their dog by that name”

“Not so bad, I’ve met lots of people who have the same name as my dogs, they are usually happy even flattered, Eliots a nice name”, 

He smiled “ I like that if we have a boy”, 

“Elliot's a lovey dog very smart and he’s a guide dog”

“No not naming my child after a dog even if he is a guide dog”. He walked away shaking his head.

In this book are the Tails of the Original Hairy Heaton Hooligans, not all my dogs I hasten to add. They were a mix of my friends' dogs, my adult children and people we met regularly in the park.

They were a mix of breeds, temperaments and personalities, some cross breed other pedigrees, some rescues who hadn’t had the best of starts in life.

These dogs were companions, clever, funny, well behaved and not so well behaved. They have now gone over the rainbow bridge; they are much missed by the Hooman's and always remembered. The last to leave us was the lovely Molly in 2025.