Several months ago we hired a new news clerk, Amanda Robbins. Here she is:
Before she’d started working here and before I’d even met her, I told Karen Petersen, our city editor, “I used to have a dog named Amanda.” And here she is:
“I wouldn’t tell her that right away,” Karen cautioned, meaning sharing the Amanda-the-dog information with Amanda the person, and I was thinking the same thing.
After all, I would think it was cool to know I shared a name with a dog or cat, and cooler yet if the animal had been named after me, but I realize others may look at it differently. So I just kept my mouth shut about the whole dog-name thing.
Until Tuesday, when I decided I’d gotten a good enough read of our news clerk to make an inquiry.
So as I was passing out hot-off-the-presses newspapers to my colleagues, I reached Amanda’s desk and asked her: “Do you like dogs?”
“Dogs? I love dogs,” she replied.
“I used to have a dog named Amanda,” I said, and I could immediately hear Karen laughing in the background (and Amanda laughing in the foreground).
As for Amanda the dog, she was a border collie cross who we adopted from the humane society in Klamath Falls in 1986; she went to dog heaven, as we say around our place, in the fall of 2000, a few months shy of her 15th birthday.
So what about you: Would you be happy or sad to know you shared a name with someone’s pet?
6 comments
Jen says:
Sep 30, 2008
Right after my second daughter was born, I told a new acquaintance that her name was Lucy. “Oh! That’s my sister’s dog’s name!” she said. And then promptly fell all over herself apologizing for comparing my baby to a dog. But I didn’t mind at all. Lucy is a nice name–I wouldn’t have named her that if I didn’t think so. If someone has a pet that shares that same name, it just shows that they have good taste as well.
Jacho Eaton says:
Sep 30, 2008
I would be thrilled. Unfortunately having lived all of my life being named Jacho, I am not sure it is fair to the dog or cat. If the dog or cat were to take an unexcused leave from the yard, you would sound pretty silly walking around the neighborhood calling for “Jocko” into the shrubs and backyards trying to find the critter. Of course I guess when APD showed up to find out what you were up to after the call from Neighborhood Watch they might help you look for the missing pet.
Cory says:
Sep 30, 2008
My mom had a dog named Meika, but I clamped my tongue firmly on that piece of info when I met a human one.
Jennifer Moody says:
Sep 30, 2008
Our dog, Josey, shares her name with the mother of a friend of Slightly Older Princess. It’s rather funny when we’re all walking to or from school together and I find myself saying, “Josey! Get out of there,” or some such. I always apologize, and she (the human Josie) always laughs.
Dog Names says:
Oct 5, 2008
You were right to wait, I’ve done that it the past with my old dog Mindy and told one of my friends who was also called Mindy that I had a dog with the same name. She was not happy. In the slightness!
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