I occasionally read in the sports-stats section and see really odd names for horses. How/where did they come up with crazy names like those? I thought regular names were normal and fine...:confused:

I've often wondered the same thing myself. Only thing I can think of is the desire to get an original name that will stand out and be noticed. I guess if you're racing or showing your horse, you want it to get noticed. But sometimes the names sound like the owners threw words in a hat, drew some out and put them together.

Lots of race horse owners are looking to generate interest from people who bet on names or pretty faces. If you go to a race and watch people who bet there are different theories on it:the ones who pick on name, the ones who pick on physical features, the ones who pick a "pretty horse," the ones who pick based on payoff, the ones who pick on past performance, the ones who pick on a random choice, etc. People who are serious don't care what the name is, but the casual bet placer will. Betting on "First to Finish" is better than "Always Last", don't you think?

In the regular horse world you have to deal with pedigrees and pride. People have show names and barn names for this purpose usually. This way "Princeton's Polished Perky Pony" can be called "Prince" around the barn instead of his usual mouthful. Show names are meant to be pretty when the announcer calls out who placed in a class. Some race horses have barn names as well, but probably go by their full names alot more than the show horses might.

I think it would be the same as when I named my children, in a sort of way. :D I wanted something strong and unique - not anything just run of the mill. I could imagine having a race horse with a good name would be just the same. :)

Yeah wouldn't it be great having a kid with a name of Tim actually called "Tim the Toolman Taylor"?

Okay well I stole that name, but it came to my mind right after I thought of "Tim"...

Naming of horses is almost an art, when you look at all those different names. I have also started to see some horses have what must be sponsored names, as the names are products or brands.

Does anyone know if this is true, where you brand your horse's name based on sponsors?

Just like what purple said, horses are named according to their characteristics.

Our two horses are named Takbo which means run because he runs like hell. I mean he runs indefinitely, sometimes swerving. Our second horse was named Kidlat which means lightning for he is faster than Takbo.

Naming of horses is almost an art, when you look at all those different names. I have also started to see some horses have what must be sponsored names, as the names are products or brands.

Does anyone know if this is true, where you brand your horse's name based on sponsors?

I'm unsure if that's true, but if it is, that's pretty sad. Naming your horse over a product. I feel sorry for them... :(

Naming a horse for a sponsor isn't too much different from naming stadiums in that manner. I remember when that started and I was quite saddened. Instead of the Jack Murphy Stadium its now like the Nabisco Stadium. But once again the barn names are usually personal and affectionate instead of cold and corporate. So unless the owner is only interested in making money off the horse its not really important what name gets put in papers and magazines. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet...

Most horse names are unique.. I have noticed that people have named horses after their behavior like "Speedy" or "Zip." Personally I think that you should not name the horse after a drink like "Dr. Pepper" or some odd name like that. Also you can name a horse after the way they look. A couple good names I have seen for horses are the following:
Surprise
Zip
Zippy
Hot Rod
Sweet Pea "Pea"
A couple of my friends have their horses named like that. I think those are nice and unique names. Which is how you should name your horse.

I forget where I got the name Silver Bullet, but it just worked for me. Seemed pretty fitting also I would say! Name your horses whatever works for you, there doesn't need to be any set "rules" for naming conventions.

Turbo just sounded like a good name, so I went with it. As Speed Demon said, there doesn't need to be any set rules for horse names. Just pick what you like.

I forget where I got the name Silver Bullet, but it just worked for me. Seemed pretty fitting also I would say! Name your horses whatever works for you, there doesn't need to be any set "rules" for naming conventions.

Isn't "Silver Bullet" from the beer company "Coor's"?

It has been my experience that horses are named after their lineage (stable). For example, Doc Bar is a very important stallion in the Quarter Horse world. It is usually written you will use the Doc Bar name in your horse. Other people want to have the Doc Bar name in their horse. Like Lightening Bar or Three Bars. This shows the world the valuable lineage of a horse. Some stables have crazy names, so you have crazy horse names. These crazy names are only used on the registry papers, or during a show. My Quarter Horses have crazy name, but we just call them Frenchie, Crystal, and Scooter.

Isn't "Silver Bullet" from the beer company "Coor's"?

Yeah I think it's something like that. Nice catch!!

It's kind of neat (but also in some cases sad) on how people can adapt nicknames from products of the such to name their horses / pets / animals. Then again - if you're getting paid to do it - that's what runs the world nowadays :(

I named my horse Suzy. I don't like all these large names, a simple name will suffice.

I was just thinking, what if maybe some people give their horses two names - one for their own "home" name, and one for their "show" name if / when they go out?

I never thought of that HB. That's a good possibility, but wouldn't that confuse the horse? Yeah us humans understand these things with nicknames like how I just called you HB, but how do we know that they understand what each name we call them?