Naming Foals

[S_N]

Those of you who breed large numbers of foals - whether that is each year or over a number of years - do you name the horses you breed on a theme (Like in 2000 did the names start with A and in 2001 B), or do you take from one or both parents names or are you simply inspired? Or other - lol? Obviously with some breeds you have the restriction with the first letter of registered names - but I'm talking stable names too. Also, do you think of names before foals are born?

 

[henryhorn]

We've bred so many over the years it depends..
We used to name them after their parents, so Rosie had a Rosita, and a Roxanne .
Our old stallion had Amber in his name so we went through every permutation of Amber from colours to drinks.
Then we had a few years with just names I liked the sound of after they were born.
Then there was the year of the Olmypics so we had Atlanta etc..
One year my husband decided on planets, so Callisto, Oberon etc.
This year was music themes so William is really Music Man, then there is Jazztime, Rock'n Roll etc.
The foals by the French stallion have french type names as do their dams (Genevieve and Enchante) so they are Rene and Jacques. In a weird way they have french names because Rosie the original foundation mare was by Frere Jacques, so the name's come full circle again.
We've only got one due next year our of Saffron, by Chocolate, so it's likely to be a food related type name...
I quite like being inspired actually rather than have to choose a letter!

 

[S_N]

Ahhh I really like the way the names have come full circle there HH. I've been struck by 2 names for B's foal (registered names) and both are apt IMO. I wasn't trying to think of names either, they just .... happened in my head!

 

[pocomoto]

I try to pick names that are related to the names of sire and dam, or a combination if I am feeling very creative. Sometimes though something will come to mind out of the charater of the foal.

 

[jelibean]

Dont mean to butt in as ive only once had the opportunity to choose a name on my own but thought my method was quite original. I named my colt Willzindi because he was born on independance day but also 6 months to the day after my son "Will" hence Willz-indi. Might sound sad but i like it.

 

[MillionDollar]

I thought it would be cool to have a theme. My best friend breeds palomino's and their theme is the solar system. So they have their prefix followed by Milky Way, Jupiter (matched a HUGE chestnut they bred sooooo well

) and Moon for a grey.

Mine will just have the prefix Bromson followed by a fantasy sounding name like Enchantment, Final Fantasy. The 2 this year are called Bromson Colour Addition and Bromson Colour Addiction

 

[Hollycat]

It also depends on the studbook. German warmbloods usually have a name that begins with the first letter of their sires name - so the stallion De Niro was by Donnerhall and out of Alicante. So the foals name had to begin with D. However trakehners are different and in honour of 'the trek' they endured in WWII they get named after the first letter of their dams name - so for example the stallion Axis was the son of the elite stallion Sixtus but his name had to start with A after his mother Akansis.

I think a theme is cool. Holme park the trak stud often uses themes for their yearly crops of foals. Also some breeders use a prefix and some a suffix e.g zangershide (sorry can't spell) have a z at the end of their name - e.g cathargo z

Personally I come up with loads of colt and filly names - terrify myself about tempting fate - then once the foal is born and I know its personality I pick the name. I also like a name I can use everyday though once the character is established sometimes a pet name just jumps up on you (almost like having a partner

)

 

[Fahrenheit]

Mine are themed every year, which was quite easy at first but with 17 to name last year the theme had to be fairly loose and a couple you could argue weren't in the theme (but their was a special reason for naming them as I did).

Some themes we have had our place names, solar system, gambling, weather, charm, nature and media. I have 3 options for the next theme but I don't decide the actual theme until some of the foals are on the ground and see which set of names start to suit the foals.

 

[PapaFrita]

A stud my vet uncle used to work at named all their foals with the same first letter, working their way through the alphabet year by year (as your example!). TBs here go to sale already named.

 

[Hollycat]

I think flowers would be a nice theme for fillies- e.g

lilly
daisy
holly
clematis
poppy
snapdragon
misseltoe
snowdrop
posey


and to be cruel

bizzy lizzie
dandilion
buttercup
poison ivy
spider plant
camilla
hyacinth bucket
weed (very cruel!)

for the boys not much except ganja man and yukka (to be cruel) maybe

I likie human sounding names as I am a soppy old thing (OMG must be getting broody, tick, tock and all that)

 

[brackenhappy]

i've only named one foal!! had about a million names for her before she was born.................not a single one suited her! ended up naming her after perfume!...........Coco!! have name lined up for future foalie.................Willow! dont know why just like the name and can almost guarentee it wont suit it!! is a good job i dont have to name any more!!! one is bad enough!! so if cara becomes pregnant expect a post asking for names!!!

 

[MissIndependance]

we don't stick hard and fast to it but I tend to follow the mare's initial so Eclipse has had an Elegance & an Edoras... 2 of my foals last year had Tolkein inspired names, but I tend to keep a list of names that I see through out the year so when foals are born I have a few to choose from in the 'right' letter!
When we start using our own boys I will probably start naming the foals after the boys' initial...

 

[volatis]

We also try and name after the mare's initial or meaning.
With teh Trakehenrs we have to use the mare's inital anyway.

Cover Girl's daughters we have bred have been called Callista (which means beautiful) and Cosmopolitan (after the fashion mag) so tried to link to the meaning of her name as well as the letter C.
Caprice's filly this year was called Casiphia, so the C is there but also Casiphia means money in Hebrew and her sire is called Tycoon so linking to both names there.

All Dee Dee's foals start with the letters De (Devlin and Delphi) and Dell's foals start with Di (as her full name was Dingle Dell) - Dilemma and Diva.

Venezia has to have V names so we went for Valiant this year.
Gerty's name is Desert Storm but we didnt want more D names so her foals have names that connect with the weather or deserts, so she has had Hurakan (Mayan god of storms) and Mekhala (Mekhala was the Thai storm spirit and my uncle had just moved to Thailand)

 

[TFS]

Depends on the stallion i use, german stallions i use their first initial where as dutch stallions i use the letter given for that year which is c this year, however the foal by Stafford twilight i just choosed the name i liked most!!

 

[Spot_the_Risk]

I asked for inspration on here, and as I'm still awaiting the passport, I can't actually remember what we finally decided on! But to us, she's Ellie.

 

[Anastasia]

For the SSH & KWPN foals we use the letter of the alphabet depending on the year. For 2008 names would begin with "D". For the German bred foals we use the letter of the alphabet that the sires name starts with.

For any colt by Royal Geneve was have the word "Royal" in the name, i.e. last year it was "B'Royal" and this year was "Casino Royal".

We have some mares who come from a prominent mare line in Holland and we use this mareline within the name. For instance for our mare "Why Bella" we named her filly "Corina Bella" & for "Willisa Rosa" we called her filly "Carissa Rosa"....

I dont name any foals until I know all is well with them.

 

[southsidestud]

it does my brain in naming my foals i use my preffix Southside i named one after a designer Cavalli

another i tryed to keep the name close to his sire Mr Magnetic and another i named after a volcano Vesuvius thank god its only my first year as a breeder not many to name this year