Name for our puppy!

I'm finally posting on here! I've been lurking for a year now :)

We have a 2 year old Shih Tzu named Tucker, and last night we applied to bring home a new furbaby, an Italian Greyhound. Now the search is on for his/her name. We told the breeder we preferred a boy but we may wind up with a girl depending on the litter. When I got Tucker, it took me forever to finally decide on his name so I want to get a good head start with this baby. My boyfriend gets final say on the name (since this is "his" dog), but the last dog he named was a Jack Russell Terrier named Jack... so I want to make sure he gets good, original ideas.

We were originally thinking Pavlov because we are both in psychology related fields, but we're not so sure we will think that's so great or funny after a few years.

Since the pup is going to be an Italian Greyhound, I was thinking of finding an Italian name with a good nickname, but I'm definitely open to other ideas too! So far all we've got is Leonardo (Leo), which I love but he's not sold on. It has to sound good with Tucker, though!

I'm not sure how many people would get Pavlov and it's not really a name that trips off the tongue easily.

How about Bruno, Enzo, Francessco (Frankie), Michaelangelo (Mikey/Mickey)

When I searched for Italian psychologist I came up with Ponzo

Piccolo (pico) taken from the breed's latin name, or their nickname from IG - Iggy

Scarper, Chase, Swift, Dash, Gallop, Scamp(er), Flee, Lightning, Bolt, Speedy (as they are energectic)

A similar breed was found in egyptian tombs so how about Ramses, Cario, Alex(andria), Horus, Ra, Seth, Isis, Osiris (ozzy), Anubis. Giza, Ankh, Aswan

How about something relating to how they hunt - hunter, gaze, glare, seeker, searcher, watcher,

I like the idea of an Italian inspired name:
For a boy puppy:
Cosmo
Felix (means happy/lucky)
Angelo (makes me think of the statue of David- with it's scultped lines- which work the breed as it has defined muscles)
Piccolo Italian for small
Pablo :Small
Neo -'new' and you have to admit a cool character in the Matrix!
Rocco/ Rocky

For a girl:
Capri
Roma
Gemma
Mouse
Pixie
Paula (means small)
Sunny


Think about famous Italians/ Italian places/ words to inspire you.
Favourite movie characters- eg Ferris from Ferris Bueller's day off, or Thumbelina nn Lina

I love these! Ponzo is great, and I also love Neo. Convincing my boyfriend might be a little harder :) He has great taste in future children's names but dog names... not so much. Luckily, our pup isn't even born yet (due this week) so I have lots of time to win him over with a fabulous name. We talked to the breeder today and we're fairly certain that we will get a male pup so that narrows it down a little more. Good suggestion about place names - when I visited Italy, Florence was my favorite city, but since that was my grandmother's name I don't want to name my dog that :) I'll have to think of some other place names since Tucker was a place-inspired name (when I got him I lived along a river that had "Tuck" in the name).

If he is pedigree his 'real' name might provide the right spin for you.
Maybe some link to the sire and dam's names or pedigree name?

Florence... I loved it too. Maybe Firenze? Or Enzo as a shortened form?

Males can be a real pain when it come to hampering our great ideas!

:)
emiliaj

Pavlov used electric shocks on the dogs in his experiments, so I wouldn't use his name on a dog.

He is going to be pedigree.. but we don't plan on showing him or anything. His mother is "Queenie" (Lebeck's Blue Lagoon) and his father is "Eli" (MOSA Total Eclipse).

Good point about Pavlov... that's why we decided against it, we figured that we wouldn't think it was cute after the first day.

I like Firenze with Enzo as a nickname... I'll have to figure out how I can sell bf on that one.

If the mother is Queenie... how about a name meaning Royal : Basil?
But yes, Enzo would be a great spunky short name.

So far the only Italian name that bf has said is "ok" is Dante. I've gotten an "it's ok" for Dexter as well. Sigh. This is going to be a long process. Glad we're not naming any little humans anytime soon.

I don't think we're going to go the route of an Italian name as much as I would like to.. bf doesn't like any of the Italian names we've found except for Dante. So far we have agreed on 3 names that we both like (Dexter, Paxton, and Jasper) and 2 that one or the other of us isn't 100% sold on (Dante and Denver). Any new suggestions based on those?