Would You Name YOUR Dog Voldemort?

By: rpavich

You don’t want to give your dog an ordinary name like Fido or Spot. And you love books. So, naturally, you turn to your favorite literary classics when it’s time to name the new puppy. The result? This list of actual canine names inspired by literature (from The Giant Book of Dog Names).

Auntie Em

Bandersnatch

Bloomsbury

Boo Radley

Byron

Chekhov

Dr. Watson

Galsworthy

Gatsby

Gunga Din

Hemingway

Ibsen

Jeeves

Kafka

Kilimanjaro

Mrs. Danvers

Nietzsche

Romeo

Sam Spade

Voltaire

Voldemort

A chiwawa named Kafka? A pug named Nietzsche? Well, why not? Still, it takes a very special — or just very bookish — person to name her dog Voldemort.

Not that I have anything against literary dog names. In fact, we named our own Yorkie-poo Captain Colossal, after a character in a young adult novel by Daniel Pinkwater, thus going with both literature AND irony. Does Captain mind being saddled with a (gently) mocking moniker? Not at all.

He’s probably just glad we didn’t name him Mrs. Danvers.

(Roz Warren is the author of OUR BODIES, OUR SHELVES: LIBRARY HUMOR.))

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3 thoughts on “Would You Name YOUR Dog Voldemort?”

  1. My father named our black lab/crocodile mix, “Lochinvar.” Dad said: “As a child, I was forced to memorize that poem by Sir Walter Scott. This is my vengeance.” The dog’s name ended up abbreviated to “Lochy” and everyone thought we meant, “Lucky.”

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