(Naval Historical Center)
Every time a new ship comes out, there seems to be a controversy about what its name will be. “They should have called it THIS. They should have called it THAT.” Same thing with hurricanes, even though you might not hear about it.
So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that we had a naming controversy at the Bacon house.
We got a dog, and I wanted to call it Bronco.
I live in Idaho and the Boise State Broncos are just about the biggest thing out here. Plus, I was raised in Colorado and the Denver Broncos are (or…were) the biggest thing out there too. Bronco implies toughness. The outdoors. Sports. Championships. It was perfect.
“I hereby declare that now and forevermore the dog will be known as Bronco.”
The reception to the announcement did not go as I had planned.
“You told your daughter that she could name the dog. She wants to call her Tinkerbell.”
Tinkerbell.
Tinkerbell would not do. First of all, one of my buddies has a dog named Tinkerbell. Second, the name doesn’t exactly conjure up images of gridiron struggles or hiking in the great wilderness.
I knew I had to try another angle. The dog is part German wirehaired pointer and part Lab. If Bronco wouldn’t work, maybe I could get online and find a name in the German-English translation website that SOUNDS flowery, but has a hidden, hunter-esque meaning.
Jager, for instance. That means hunter.
I made my pitch.
“I think we should call her Fairy”, responded my daughter.
I made two vows on the spot. First, I would not roll over. Second, I was going to put Peter Pan back in the DVD shelf for a while.
What about Retter (retriever) or Beschützer (guardian)?
“How about Angel, Daddy?”
Kamerad (friend).
Angel.
Zeiger (pointer)?
Kreiger (warrior)?
Angel.
Then I found it.
Speck. Speck is German for Bacon. It is short, it is easy to say, and it has a special meaning. I presented it to the ladies.
“Speck is PERFECT! It means BACON.”
At this point they were getting tired of the discussion. I detected fatigue and dove in, hitting them with irrefutable logic as to why Speck, as a name, was the best possible combination of macho/cute/functional/clever and appropriate for either gender. The dog would be called Speck. By the time I finished they were both worn down. My wife agreed that I had found a good name.
It was over.
Here is her picture.
Her name is Angel.
