Today in the park I met this spaniel puppy. I was trying to play with him in my customary boisterous fashion, when Gail and I heard his owners calling "Hamish! HAMISH! HAMISH!"
I can't tell you how shocked we were.
Did they not know that in these parts, the distinguished name of Hamish (pronounced Hay-mish, in case you were wondering) is reserved for certain breeds of terrier? I think there is a law enacted by the Scottish parliament or something.
You will be acquainted with, or at least have heard of, my predecessor Hamish the Westie. You may not be aware that roughly 50% of the Westies in Aberdeen - and there are a lot of Westies in Aberdeen - are called Hamish. A fair few Scotties share the name, and we believe that it is permissible for Jack Russells too.
But a SPANIEL?
Oh, Gail has an explanation.
She says she thinks that spaniel Hamish was a 'wannabee Westie', already, in refusing to respond to his name being called, demonstrating mastery of the key breed trait of extreme stubbornness.
I am now wondering if any of my canine readers have names that are stereotypical for their breed? Or indeed inappropriate? Perhaps you can tell me what are the common names in your part of the world, and if they are associated with particular breeds or types of dog?
And while you are thinking about that, I'll show you some random pictures from my recent explorings in Aberdeen and surrounding areas. You will see our weather has been uncommonly nice just lately (but I'm afraid Gail failed to get a photo of spaniel Hamish.)
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| Admiring the late summer flowers in Seaton Park |
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| Sunny Sunday afternoon on Aberdeen city beach |
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| Aberdeen University - the new library building |
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| Aberdeen University - Old King's College |
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| King of Corgarff Castle near Strathdon |
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| Back on home territory in Duthie Park |
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| Observing the model boats in the Duthie Park pond |
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| And enquiring of the owners whether they are not a bit old for this sort of thing.... |
Bertie, thank you for another wonderful tour. The buildings are spectacular, Mommy loves the Aberdeen University the best but they are all beautiful. Ever since Mommy has been blogging way back she loved the name Hamish from your blog. Here in Michigan, we don't hear that one ever, but we do seem to hear a lot of Missy, Maverick, Princess and Sasha is a also pretty common it seems.
ReplyDeleteI am fond of the name Bertie for some reason.
Loveys Sasha
Hi Bertie, I've consulted with Horatio and Harris and we can't think of any typical vizsla or WHFT names. We do however have a cool name story. A colleague at work had a baby just last week. And called him Harris. What a nice nod to / complement for Harris!!
ReplyDeleteAnd will son two be Horatio?
DeleteLooks like you are having some good weather Bertie. Long may it continue. Have a fabulous Friday.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes Molly
HAHAHAHA love the bit where he tells the oldies they shouldn't be playing with toy boats! Looks like you've had some good weather.
ReplyDeleteAs for calling a spaniel Hamish... hmm I think you're right. Alex Sammond will surely have something to say about that.
When I think of westie's and Hamish I always think of the Hamish MacBeth TV series!
Don't worry about those oldies playing with boats Bertie..... I would be much more concerned with those peeps trying to push the trees out of the ground at Duthie Park!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThe nerve of tree haters!
Tail Wuggles, Rubie xxx
We would have looked twice at a Spaniel named Hamish, as well. We're always getting 'Jock' until SHE explains that we're girls.
ReplyDeleteXXXOOO Daisy, Bella & roxy
Hey Bertie,
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure about what the official 'most common name' for pooches is here in SA, but I can tell you that it got really confusing in the park yesterday.
It appeared that I wasn't the only one called "Toby". Geesh, for a moment we thought there was an echo. BOL! What a scramble!
Those flowers are stunning...it's time to loose yourself in them, Bertie Bud! No simply standing! Romp! Romp! Romp! BOL!
University? mmm....try romping,but I'm not sure it's gonna work. BOL!
Lotsalicks
TOBY IN SOUTH AFRICA
As much as I like my name, I'm well aware that "Tootsie" is quite possibly the most common name for dachshunds. When they adopted me, Mom and Dad considered changing it, but decided not to because it would not have been fair to me :)
ReplyDeleteyes bertie, we too would like to know why those people in duthie park are trying to push over the trees??
ReplyDeleteedgar & his mum
When the LOTH was a little girl she had a Jack Russell Terrier called Jacky.
ReplyDeleteThat shows a sinful lack of imagination.
She blames her parents.
Love and licks, Winnie
You've got some weird tree fanciers there!
ReplyDeleteSam
I don't know about other dogs names, but I do know that Stella is reserved for beautiful and highly intelligent dogs. Nice tour of parts of Aberdeen!
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Stella
I sure love your pictures! It's so much fun to see another part of the world - a lovely place at that!
ReplyDeleteYour pal, Pip
Bertie - Is that sunshine ? Surely it can't be .
ReplyDeleteA great name is a GREAT name!! How cool is that?? Nice tour.
ReplyDeletewags
Jazzi and Addi
Howdy Bertie, we always think of westies as wee Jock after the Hamish MacBeth TV series. We know a two legger called Hamish. Sometimes mum will call us by names that are not nice at all but we don't care cause we can't be good all the time hehehe. No worries, and love, Stella and Rory
ReplyDeleteI agree the name Hammish definitely invokes a scruffy terrier lad
ReplyDeleteurban hounds
Hi BERTIE.... SOOOOO sorry to be WAY late. I had a bunch of Chores to do yesterday and did not get to all the blogs. UNTIL NOW!!
ReplyDeleteLove the WANNA BE TERRIER... Hamish. I can understand that.
Now about that Trilobite thingy that has my mom's panties all in a bunch.. She is pretty sure that it is fur sure the pygidium. Those
crazy crustaceans surely have a strange name fur their BUTT, don't they?
Hey there- I'm an avid reader of your blog and Hamish's prior- I am now applying to colleges and a while back commented using my full name on a comment from ages ago- I know this is incredibly annoying, but is there a way I can contact you to remove the comment as colleges do full google searches now? I love you and don't mean to sound disrespectful but I hope you can see this is important for me.
ReplyDeletePlease contact me at slg123abc@gmail.com
Thanks a million
As a Westie, I agree with you-- Hamish should be for Westies, Scotties, and Cairns... ok, Jack Russels, too, I guess.
ReplyDeleteMy Momma chose my name cuz it's Gaelic and means fair warrior and Whitley's Momma chose hers cuz it means "from the white meadow"...
Around here there are a lot of Maggies and Mollys for Westie girls......
Darling boy ,it's us...Listen we have been dreadfully busy..Archie eating stolen knitting needles and I,digging my way to the next country..exhausting really.. Listen never mind about other dog names( really we think Bertie Archie and Agatha are plenty really, WHAT ARE THOSE PEOPLE DOING in your picture of you at the park? There are HUNDREDS of them and they look like they are holding up the trees..Are things that bad over there? Do we have this to lok forward to? Love A+A
ReplyDeleteWe're really unhappy that mama's right shoulder is so bad she can hardly keep up with reading our doggie blogs to us, much less do any left-handed typing. Sorry we can't comment as much or as often as we were prone to do.
ReplyDeleteWhat an beautiful environment you live in - except maybe for the library building. And that Castle doesn't look at all like a castle to us, although it seems to have a very martial history just like a real castle.
Abby seems to be a very common name for all kinds of dogs and cats in the U.S. We haven't met another Jed, though. Of course, we have lots of nicknames, too, and most of them are affectionate :)
Jed & Abby
Beautiful! Bertie you get around, you lucky dog :-)
ReplyDelete-Katie and Coccolino the mini pig
Bertie! For your utter dedication to the propagation of science, we have decided to give you THE award! Please pick it up from our blog. Make us very happy, write us a story :)
ReplyDeleteSankissjuice, Rich, Darwin, Einstein (plus Sasa)
Well, I will tell you that Bubba is not unusual for full sized doggies such as myself and it is momma's sugar name for me. There seem to be a lot of Dexter's around these parts. Luckily, my brother responds well to Pea. Hehehe.
ReplyDeleteSlobbers,
Mango
A lot of Airedales seem to be nicknamed "Goofball," but I don't think that name comes from the Aire Valley.
ReplyDeleteYr friend,
Miro