It took me about a month to settle on Miss Dog's name. She was "Miss Dog" online to all my face book friends, but in person, she was a few things: Cesca (pronounced Cheh-ska) as in Francesca as in St. Francis... she was Honey Bunny, Sweet Pea, Scruffy Bubbles, Oatmeal, Penny. I had tried to officially name her Magnolia Pearl, Penelope Pearl, or Francescan Ghita di San Charles (yes, really...).
She came with the name "Koda" from the humane society foster family. I don't know if she had that name her whole life or if they gave it to her, but it seemed wrong for her somehow... to me, it felt like the name that should be given to an Alaskan Husky dog... So, I couldn't settle with that name. I tried Opal, Lucy, Lucci, Ginger, Pooh, Dot and finally I added Bear to Koda... she became Koda Bear; but I didn't even like that.
One night, when we were out walking - it was dusk and therefore a little dim - a large SUV stopped in the middle of the road and a woman called out to me, "Excuse me!? Can I ask you what your dog's name is?" (I nearly choked because it was so ironic... I DIDN'T HAVE A NAME for her at that time!)
Without answering, I stepped a little closer to talk to the woman and she continued, "My son has seen you and your dog walking around and he tells me, 'Mom, its the CLEANEST dog I've ever seen, I wonder what its name is!!' he says he's going to have to wash his dog more often!" I laughed at the story and then told her about the irony that she should ask about the dog's name! We had a nice chat, and I told her that if her son comes up with any ideas of what to call my dog she should let me know!
In any case, after several weeks of half-heartedly trying a few names, I asked God to help me name my dog. After some basic prayers, I threw "Penny" "Koda Bear" and a few other names in a dish; shook it up and drew... I was thinking the best 2 out of 3 would suffice. It came out Koda Bear. I was bummed. So, I ignored it.
Then the next day, I kept trying to call her Penny... (which happened to be my favorite name choice of the day)... it sounded so nasally that I didn't like it. At that point, I realized, I liked Koda. NOT necessarily Koda Bear... but just plain old Koda. That was it. She was going to be Koda. That night I ordered her name tag and liked how it looked: "Koda" B.with our last name and phone number.
"Koda" from what I have found online means, "friend", "last born", "mother's pet", and "little bear"! All very fitting meanings for my Miss Dog.
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