Naming a Welsh dog

We’ve just re-homed a Welsh born and bred border collie, the son a champion bitch that has represented Wales in sheepdog trialling yet he’s shown none of the attributes that would mark himself out as having potential championship qualities - he’s scared of sheep for a start (well scared of our chickens as well!) so has been passed to us as a family rather than working dog.
Any suggestions for a Welsh or Welsh inspired name for him?
(Gelert, the rather obvious one, that a quick googling throws up, but there must be more out there).

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As he should be a ci defaid but isn’t brave enough, how about an Anglo-Welsh ‘ci afraid’ or 'ci very afraid’?

I’ll get my coat…

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Well there are plenty of names out there, so where to start!
How about naming him after a local landscape feature (either near you or near his original home) such as a mountain or river, etc?
Or a character from Welsh literature that you like? If he’s a bit anxious, how about Pryderi (from the Mabinogi) which doubles as a pun on pryderu (to be anxious)!
What colour is he? Does that influence a name? (e.g. if a lot of white, perhaps a name with ‘wyn’ in it).

If you come across a name you like but want to check out its meaning, let me know and I’ll check my “welsh names” and “Welsh place names” books when I get home!

My dog came from a rescue shelter with the name ‘Lucky’, so we just translated it to ‘Lwcus’ - he didn’t seem to mind (or indeed notice!).

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Liking the play on works there! I did think of dogs in the Mabinogi, just hadn’t started seeking them out yet!

[quote=“SteakAndEggs, post:2, topic:12967”]
‘ci afraid’
[/quote] excellent!

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I thought that sheep dogs, if they were working dogs usually had very short names, like cai etc. I like Pero which actually crops up in lots of old Welsh songs, which refer to sheep dogs, but I think for some reason that was from Spanish originally - not sure why Welsh farmers would use a Spanish name for a dog, but maybe someone knows.

found a link (http://kimkat.org/amryw/1_vortaroy/geiriadur_cymraeg_saesneg_BAEDD_ci_1675e.html)
that said this:

ci, cŵn ‹kii, kuun› (masculine noun)
1 dog = Canis familiaris common quadraped
Typical dogs’ names in Welsh are Pero, Carlo, Cymro, Cardi, Ianto, Tango, Smot

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Not dogs, but we acquired a new pair of gerbils at the weekend. The kids decided they needed proper Welsh names, so they came up with Cwtsh and Smwj. I’m not completely sure about the welshness of Smwj - but she is a rather smudgy colour, and the spelling is enough to confuse an English speaker! Cwtsh is officially to be spelled Cwts, as they thought the normal spelling shows too much English influence!

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Coming from Ebbw Vale, on this particular week, I suggest Nye :smile:

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Gaspode the wonder dog.
That dog just said woof, it didn’t bark, it spoke.

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Call it Funky. Works on two levels:

  1. English, funky, obviously
  2. Welsh as “fy nghi” - “my dog”

Or not!

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As we are playing with plays on words here, I’m thinking “colli”, as in the Welsh verb, and “collie”, the kind of dog he his. Not that you’d ever want your collie to get “ar goll”.

I would love a collie myself, but I’m told because they are bred as working dogs, they require tons of activity, even more than normal dogs, and I don’t think I could do one justice.

Even a collie that is afraid of sheep, still might have the sheep-dog work ethic, and have tons of energy to work off.

So I wonder if energy-related words might work: egni; rhedeg; cryfder

Or: lluched; mellt; mellten (lightning).

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When I was a child, I loved these books about Cailo a lovable sheep dog and his adventures…

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I like Bosco, its probably Italian for ‘Woody’ so not Welsh at all, but black & white? Gwyndu?? Unfortunate connotations if he has digestive issues…no, perhaps not…

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How about change that to the feminine and mutate it… and you’ve got… Wendu! Wendy the dog.

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Our Border Collie Lakeland Terrier cross is called Ianto.

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Looks like he’s got the right idea for this weather! :slight_smile:

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