How did your horse get his name?

Most of ours were names we bought them with- they knew them and they were ok so it was just kept the same. However, my old boy had the show name of 'bonny prince charlie' so we just used his stable name!!

My new boy was bought with the name elvis but the dealer admitted she just gave him at that name so as I hated it and he had had it for all of about a week, we changed it. He got called freddie because he's caramel coloured like a freddo! We've since found out he has been called troy and star in his life- at only 6 he must have an identity crisis! However, he has the most wierd looking eyes (they are caramel coloured too) and they look like a goat so I call him freaky- he responds to the shout of 'freeeaky' across the field so I suppose he see's that as his name!!! His show name is the same because it's registered.
 
My current girl came with here name Holly but then her passport name is Holly v/d Kievietsdriessen so that's obvious.
My old TB didn't have a name and I named him out hacking one day after a sign on a barn he was Tyler from then on
 
Many years ago:( my husband bought me a tb brown mare as a surprise birthday present so she was named Dark Secret - she went on to be a pretty successful large hack :):)
 
My first & second pony had names - Dimples & Marble - Dimples was apparently named after his first owners first pony (he bought Dimp for his daughters kids!), Marble was a marble-y colour?
Koora had no actual name when we got her (got called 'Silver' occasionally for being grey!) and I wanted a name that was quite pretty but also different... remembered reading the Silver Brumby books by Elyne Mitchelle and 'Koora' was the name of a pretty strawberry roan mare in those, and apparently meant "sweet". Liked the sound of it so Koora it was :D
Dante also had no name... I've always liked Latin, and had a collection of names I liked by then, spent 3 days searching and nothing stuck and then I came across Dante - latin for 'everlasting'. Bit bizarre as originally he didn't seem like a horse that would stay with me, but now I know otherwise!
 
My lads registered name is Esker's Boy after his dam Esker Lady. Don't like it too much and wanted to change it to do with something more along his sire's name (sire: Apache Run) but can't. Stable name is Jester, don't really know where it came from but he has a really playful character :)
 
One of mine's sunday name is 'French Connection', this is because when we were waiting for her to be born we had a sweepstake for colour/sex. My mum won with bay filly, and because my mother is French, the name was chosen.

We couldn't come up with a stable name for a while, but in the end she became 'Duve' (pronounced Duvet). This was because her mum was a skewbald as were both her older sisters. We called them 'the quilts', Duve wasn't a real quilt, but an undercover 'quilt', so she became a Duve, with a grave accent from the french language for the correct pronounication.

Sad, but true :)
 
Callie is hone bred, and took 4 days to name. She was a gorgeous, tiny, dainty foal with opinions the size of a bull!!!

We wanted pretty bug not too girly.

Her posh name is Arctic Kiss which is a champagne cocktail. Champers seems appropriate to celebrate a first foal with!!!
 
hehe cool post!

V was named by his breeder and i really don't like his showname- Redhill Bandit- when we went to see him and asked what his name was she said "Bandit" but i thought she said "Vandi" (why i don't know- its clearly not even a word!) and it sort of stuck by the time i went to pick him up and realised he was actually Bandit! He generally gets V, Vandibobs, the bandit pony...or quite often d1ckhead :D
 
Some good stories here!

Wilby was named by his owner/trainer who was from norfolk - so he is named after a small village! There are also Wilbys in northamptonshire and surrey I think.

Bronson had the best reasoning behind his name - and we only found it out after we bought him :p Because he used to be pretty crazy/dangerous when he was younger people used to say you needed a deathwish to ride him - so he ended up being named after Charles Bronson, the actor! (or murderer :p)
 
I am a nightmare at naming any animals!! It took me 3 months to give my spotted baby a name (dottie, sooooo original!!)

So when she had a sister I decided enough was enough, had a few names I liked but wasn't sure.

So I wrote "what should I call my foal" into google and said whatever it was would be her name!!

First page, first name, bella.... Done!!! HHO gave her her posh name so that was easy!!

All the others have just had names already but mostly we don't call them their names. It's always a version, so bella is bells, bellie, smellie! Lilly is loopy or loops. Dottie is grottie!!! Poor jake only gets shortened to jk like text speak, he doesn't mind though!!

Nice thread, I've enjoyed reading it :)
 
Mine are all named before they are conceived usually because I like to make up names from the two parents... Just a few of my homebreds:

Ace of Spades - Dad was Black Jack (Fresian) and Mum was Queenie (Dales) - so all cards and baby was (obviously!) black so black as the ace of spades - stable name Ace

Zenith - Dad was Golden Shadow (Arab) and mum was Zephyr (TB) - so all winds/ weather/ sun position etc so baby was Gold Zenith i.e. the shadow of the sun at noon - stable name Zen

Zodiac - Dad was Parc Cardi (welsh) and mum was Zephyr (TB) so all car related or car names - stable name Zody

Diamond - Dad was Chancer (TB/ ID) and mum was Twinkle (TB) so baby was Diamond as in "Twinkle twinkle little star, like a diamond in the sky" from the mare, and take a "Chance" on cards - Diamond is a card suite - stable name Dime

and the latest foal (2009)...

Antigua Spring - Dad is Catherston Springsteen (WB) mum is Ormiga (argentine TB) which is Spanish for Ant... so Ant from the mare and Spring from the Dad = Antigua Spring - stable name Tiga
 
my boy came to me with his name but with out a show name. shortly after i got him my husbands mother died. her nick name had been hells bells. the money my husband recieved from her life insurance policy paid of the loan i had taken out to buy my boy. he is a bright chestnut so felt the name hells bells was appropriate x
 
My poor boy came with the stable name 'Windy' :eek: He's registered 'Windy Prince' so i rapidly changed it to 'Prince'!

Then we have 'Lukas' the Fjord who my mum renamed 'Badger' as his mane is like a Badger.

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Although he resembles Tiny Turner more nowadays as his mane is fairly long!
 
Our foal was called Rio Fortuna (rio came from the stud name of the stallion) and Fortuna because she is a miracle baby. The mare broke her elbow on the day she was covered had 9 months on box rest and really should have aborted the foal. Our vet always reffered to the foal as miracle baby and he is italian so came up with Fortuna as that is fortune in italien. She is known as Lexy or Lexy Loo at home - just because I like the name and some how it suits her
 
Rolo was christened Rolo when he arrived (there was a chocolate theme at his yard so mars, Twix etc.) but for a posh name he started off Rolo the Viking (he's a Fjord) and then became My Last Rolo - truly fitting as dear God we'd never want another one like him, bless him!

Sully was Sally when she arrived but that didn't fit at all so as her posh name was Ausdan Sularis it wasn't a long step to Sully.

Loki I named - as we were 'expecting' him (put down a deposit on an unborn foal) my boyfriend insisted on calling him/her Thunderhooves (he also liked Lord Fjord. No.). I was adamant that wasn't happening but wanted a Norwegian connection (another Fjord - they're all Fjords) and a friend suggested Loki which I liked. Well somehow the two seemed to go together so Loki Thunderhooves he is!

Rolo & Loki together are known as Dumb & Dumber, Sully for some reason is the Killer Queen and Loki also gets called Scabby Joe after having lice and being generally permanently covered in scrapes, bumps & bruises.
 
when i bought Ellie as a yearling she was called "Ten", which i really couldn't cope with, i decided to go one better and call her Ellie (short for Eleven), but as she's the most elegant horse i've ever owned it's probably more apt to think of it as being short for that. she also gets called Ellieflump, Flump, Muppet, and whatever else springs to mind.

Daisy was "filly" for months after she was born, nothing seemed to suit her, and then i took lots of photos of her lying in her field surrounded by huge daisies, so that kind of stuck. it really doesn't suit her at all though, should have called her Tank or something! she's also "Muppet" quite often, that's my default name for them all!

Jinni's name came to me the moment I saw her facial marking when she was born, as it really does look like a perfect genie coming out of a bottle. I wanted something beginning with J in honour of her famous dad, and fortunately remembered the alternative (Arabic?) spelling of 'genie', so that'll do.

Katy was already Katy, and it suits her, plus she knows it, so I wouldn't change it.

I tend to be really good at thinking up names for other people's horses but fairly rubbish about my own. Mine who I've thought of great names for never made it to a competition so now I'm more wary!
 
squiz22 said:
I was seriously imaginative with mine. Winnie is named as Allwin on his passport, He's a 2005 baby and registered kwpn. kwpns have the first letter of their name according to the year they were born so in 2005 they went back to A. I had great ideas of something majestic and grand but got as far as winnie from Allwin. It sort of suits him though! Winnie the wally!
Click to expand...

We brought a KWPN 2 yrs ago (2005) not knowing his name and my daughter decided on Ally when we looked at the passport he was registered as Athletic spooky or what!!
 
My mare came off the lorry from Ireland as GM 'Grey Mare' which turned into Gem - it is perfect for her as she is a gem!
My jointly owned gelding's racing name was Interactive, when he first came we struggled to think of a short version until a friend at the yard suggested Indi, and it suits him, he's def an individual!!
 
Thier registered names are boring ones as they are from state studs, but onyx is called that as he is jet black and we wanted something more unusual than midnight, blackie etc although all my friends know him as fat boy :D
Topaz arrived after Onyx and is a perfect smoky topaz colour so it stuck:)
Q
 
when i bought her she was called big berther as keith (guy i bought her from) said she was a very good doer!! :rolleyes: i changed it to shamrock because shes an ISH,
when i went back for sj lessons with keith he kept shouting 'go on berther' at every jump, very off putting!! :D

now a days i call her 'her fatness!!' or pudding!!
 
My yearling's reg name is Minerva I Giorni. Minerva is my prefix, I Giorni is after a piece of music. He is called Harold at home after my late grandfather, because he was born the day before what would have been my grandfather's 85th birthday :)
 
My pony 'Barney' was called 'Ziggy Stardust' and I couldn't keep that, so 'Barney' seemed to suit him and stuck. his showname is 'Rushbrook Dandy Boy', which realy suits him.
'Crystal' my lovely elegant grey irish mare came with that name - registered show name 'Ard Reflection'., she was bred by the Ard stud in Ireland.

My daughter's piebald mare came with the name 'Indie' registered name 'Indian Paint'.

And well now 'Tim' to his friends and 'Timothy' to his trainers my lovely WB - he asked to be called 'Tim' via an AC. This is where I head off to serve up tea!! :D He said he hated his previous names and that he wanted the name change because nothing could be expected of a horse called 'Timothy'. Very touching actually as this was all requested when he also said he found ridden work just too difficult and wanted to be left alone. He has since been diagnosed with chronic sacroilliac dysfunction and is getting LOU
:(................I've gone
 
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Mine all came with names, but I changed them over time.

River became Roo Bear or Fatty Bang (bang) because he'd bang the door for feed.

Luca de Carlos (not shouting that down the field) became biscuit - Ginger Nut Biscuit.

Bella came as Florabella and her old owner called her Flora, but we'd just lost our spaniel also called Flora, and it didn't seem to suit her ladylike ways, so she became Bella and now is mainly Boo because everything in the bushes jumps out and goes 'Boo' at her...

Love the stories of names. The only mare I got to name was my old mare Danu - she was bay mare when I got her and had come over the water from Ireland. Danu was the old irish goddess or rivers and waterways. When I got River after her it seemed really rather like fate.

x
 
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