The Art of Nicknaming Your Dog: Tales from the Wednesday Dogs of Dogster (with Video)

Welcome to the Wednesday Dogs of Dogster! Every month, we ask our Dogsters to weigh in on a new topic. This week, we asked them: What Do You Call Your Dogs, Other Than Their Real Names? Here’s what they had to say:

Amanda & Subi

Some of my favorite things are the nicknames given to pets by their humans and usually tagged with a cutesy voice and a bit of backstory. Sometimes, they're completely random. Regardless, it's usually funny, adorable, and entirely fitting.

Subi has several nicknames, depending on the circumstances. Many of these are weird one-offs or awkward sound effects that I can’t necessarily write about or explain, so here are our top nicknames for our sweet Chi!

If we are summoning Subi for anything food-related, it’s always “Doobers” followed by an overly joyful “What’s This?!” Since she’s not super keen on coming when called, we try to make it sound as fun and exciting as possible. If you use this nickname and voice, she knows we’ve dropped something tasty on the floor, or it’s time to eat. When we’re looking to get Subi hyped, it’s “Subi Doobie.” Each word is said as a single syllable in rapid fire. If lucky, this occasionally incites a downward dog followed by a few happy yips and spins. Rare and rewarding! For the times she shows her belly and succumbs to calmer moments, to me, Subi is “mama,” and my family calls her “Soobs.”  Although it’s not exactly a nickname, she gets a stern “SUBI” when her barking is excessive, just as humans get their full name when they’re in trouble.

Fun Fact: Subi is short for Subaru, the automobile manufacturer. Her OG owner was a car enthusiast; the name stuck when we adopted her.

Kate & Gizmo

As a goofy little ball of mixed-breed fluff, Gizmo is very well-suited to his name. But I couldn’t help developing a whole range of nicknames for him! The obvious one was Giz – this is the most common nickname I use, and it gave birth to a few good options:

• Grizzle Gizzle

• Gizster

• Gizzy (his beloved groomer’s fave)

• Gizzard

Sometimes you need something a tad more formal (see his formal portrait), so I started calling him Gizlingtonious. From there, it’s a short hop to Tony and a solid list of related names:

• Tony Tones

• Teeny Tony

• Sir Tony

• Dog-a-Tony

• Rigatoni

• Riggy Tiggy Tony

• Barklingtonious

Then there are the more general nicknames:

• Dog (used mostly when he’s being bad – you can probably imagine the tone)

• Little Man

• Sweetie Boy

• Doglet

• Diggle Doggle

• Mister Dog

• Lil Floof

• Fluffster

• Mister Fluff

• Mister Chicken Leg

• Señor Woof

• Bud

• Skinny Legend

• Smalls

• Shishkabob

And one of my personal favorites that makes me laugh more than it probably should: Trotsky!

I should clarify: although I use all of these nicknames regularly, that doesn’t mean he necessarily comes sprinting when I say them. But still, having a whole arsenal of adorable nicknames makes everyday life with the Gizinator just a little more fun!

Meagan, Draper & Rue

Draper: 

• Drapey - His most commonly used name, often said lovingly when receiving belly rubs or kisses

• Drapey Boy - The nickname of the above nickname

• Draper Daniels - His “unofficial”, official name given to him by a friend randomly that has stuck.

• Draper Doodle Dandy - How we call him if we want him to come (usually for a treat or something exciting for him)

• Draper Kristofferskins - His formal name when he is being regal

• Muffin Man - When he is being silly

• Peanut - When he is curled into a little ball

• Little Maestro - When he is being a good boy

• Bubba /Bubbakins /Bubbey / Bubbey Boy- used only by me, when I am nuzzling into him, or calling him to come to bed.

• Sir Barks A-lot - After a lot of barking or if we are singing songs about their barking

• Lil Stinker - Usually called this after a “code brown” (*see below)

• Weenie/ Weenie Boi - Used to talk about him when he is not around

• Brown One/ Big Boy- Used to refer to Draper when he is not around but Rue is, ie: Where is the “brown one?”

*code brown (definition): what my husband and I say to alert each other that we have what we call a “dirty dangler,” which means a rogue poop stuck to Draper’s bum hair. 

Rue:

• Rue Bisou (pronunciation: Bee-Zoo) - Her most commonly used nickname, often said like “Rue Bisou- Bisou which sounds like Scooby Dooby Doo." Fun fact: Bisou is French for kisses.

• Bisou - The shortened version of the above.

• Bisou Bisou - Again, a nickname born from Rue Bisou

• Rue Rue - Usually used when calling her to come or to do something

• Little Miss / Lil’ Mama / Lil’ Lady - used interchangeably usually by me when giving cuddles

• Baby Girl - ^ same as above

• Baby Momma - ^ same

• Darling Bean - ^ same

• Snowball - What my husband calls her when she comes in from the snow

• Little One- Used to refer to Rue when she is not around but Draper is, ie: Where is the “little one?”

• Black One- ^ same usage as above

Nicole, Mac & Rosa

When it comes to formal introductions in our household, Rosa Cosgrove and Machado Cosgrove rarely get the full-name treatment. Machado, for example, is most often spoken of as ‘Mac.’

Now, our nicknames aren’t overly creative and often tend to just be variations of their real names, most often longer than their real names as well.

Rosa

When we adopted Rosa, her name was ‘Rose’, but we changed it to Rosa because we had cared for a beautiful mama dog named Rosa on our travels and wanted to pay tribute to her. Now, the list of names she ‘responds’ to (rather, gets called), are:

• Rosa

• Rosalita

• Rosalita mi perrita

• Rosie girl

• Rosie roosie

• Rosie roo

• Roro

• Roro (again, but said like Scooby Doo would say it)

Mac

Machado was named after the surfer Rob Machado, but I found the ‘ch’ sound tricky during training, so he became Machado with a ‘k’ sound (Makado) pretty quickly and then shortened to Mac. This list of names he gets called are:

• Mac

• MaCuddles

• Makado

• Machado (with the ch)

• Machuddles

• Mackadude

• Mackadoodly doo

• Mac man

I also call them both my muppets from time to time, especially when they’re being extra muppety. One thing is for sure, no matter what they get called, they are just my babies.

Maja, Lava & Hela

Today, we have a special guest star: Monday's Dr. Maja!

Lava has many nicknames, but some of the most popular ones I use on a daily basis are Lavkic, Lavitos, and Lavic. Zlo (Croatian word for evil) and Zloba (also a word for evil, as she is a menace) get reserved for situations when she runs off. I always like to use the tone of voice that leaves her looking puzzled, sounding serious, as if I’m pretending to be upset with her, and she can’t tell if I’m joking or if I am genuinely mad at her. Of course, there are some other nicknames that I’d rather not share :)

Hela has only a few nicknames, such as Helitos, Helkic, Helkica and Helica. She is still timid at times and doesn’t quite like when anyone stares at her, so she doesn’t respond as much to her nicknames, especially on camera.