Pro Tip: Before Naming Your Dog, Consider How You'd Sound When Yelling It In Your Neighborhood

Some names really don't translate well when yelling

Kylin

• Published in Animals
• August 14, 2022

One of the best parts of adopting a new pet is coming up with their name. I personally like to take some time to get to know the animal's personality before sticking them with their forever name.

How awful would it be to give them a name like “Killer” or “Lucifer”, when they’re actually the sweetest creature that has ever graced the Earth? Or on the flip side, “Angel” or “Sweetie” when they’re actually the devil incarnate.

Even if you were trying to be ironic, it just wouldn’t be fitting. And it may just be me (it probably is just me), but there’s something grating about names not suiting the animal.

Besides having the name be fitting to your specific pet, it’s also important to consider how the name sounds when said quickly, or yelled. In case your beloved fur-baby decides to pull a Houdini and goes for an unauthorized run around the neighborhood, you may not want to be yelling “POOP-FACE” or “STUPID.”

Worse yet, there are racist implications with some color-themed names, like “Brownie” or “Blackie” if people don’t see the animal in question while you’re yelling for them. And some names can be easily misheard, like “Venus,” “Trucker,” or “Digger.”

Thinking of these sorts of names and instances, Redditor u/Duderino732 took a quick moment from their day to share a handy Life Pro Tip: “When picking your dog’s name imagine what screaming it in your neighborhood will sound like.”

Keep scrolling to see what 40 Redditors had to relate to this tip.

LPT: When picking your dog’s name imagine what screaming it in your neighborhood will sound like.

1. "Snickers" can sound like a racial slur

What LlamaLlasagna was referencing

2. Related: naming your animals after common skin-tones

3. Good looking out, Mom

4. Additional caveat: If you have small children in your life, also consider their speech abilities

5. Constantly fish out of water

6. Legal name vs nickname

7. I can see why "Bear" could be problematic

8. Panic! At The Dog Park

9. "Shooter"? In this climate?

10. Sorry, grandpa

11. That was an adventure

12. Another Mom saving the day

13. JESUS CHRIST FENTON

(in case you haven't witnessed this yet)

14. Not a terrible name at least

15. Kitty!

16. Dick jokes for days

17. Cat: Who's stupid now?

18. Scout drawing likeness to being in "To Kill A Mockingbird"

19. Shaaaark!

20. Proving that with a little bit of extra thinking, you can avoid a problematic name

21. Winne the Pooh

22. Guten Morgen

23. Khaaaaaaaaaan!

24. Funny how an event can change an innocent name into something terrible

25. Learned the hard way

26. Giving us some "prank phone calls to Moe's" vibes

27. Who knew the name Venus would be so difficult

28. Crazy, or aggressively friendly

29. Follow up LPT that's actually really helpful

30. So many folks taking the perfect opportunity to name their pets iconic yelling names

31. Unintentional Lord of the Rings fans

32. Definitely top 5 worst names

33. Too bad their Mom wasn't around to dissuade them from this name

34. They had us in the first half

35. Elvis has left the building

36. Unintended cat-calling

37. HEY, DUDE

38. Oy, Mista!

I will never not think of this

39. Rascal can be synonymous with asshole

40. was OP was calling them out?

Have you ever owned a pet with an unintentionally terrible name? Or maybe you knew someone who did?

We want to know all about it, so please drop your story in the comments section below. If not, we still want to know which of the comments above were your favorite!

And don’t forget to share this handy life pro-tip with your fellow pet owners.

Kylin