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Where do you all find names for your bears? I do not care for the "cutesy" names. I want respectable names for my bears...
The Littlest ThistleI think I kind of answered this in Andreas post, but I divided my bears up into families - the Woods, who are all named after trees (some with a touch of humour thrown in!), who are traditional type bears, the Gardens, who are all named after flowers, who are minis, the Chinese Gardens, who are all named after Chinese trees and flowers, who are the pandas, and the Thistles, the original gang, who have a far more free range naming convention, who are the funky coloured ones. I have a book of trees where I get the Woods names from, I just search flowers online for the Gardens, and I also search online for the Chinese Gardens (funnily enough by googling Chinese gardens!) and I have a couple of baby name books and whatever waltzes through my mind for the Thistles.
PennsylvaniaYou might think I'm crackers but we just ask the Bear what he wants his name to be.
Most of the time they'll tell us, although not always right away. Sometimes the Bear has to think about it for a while. Some times we have to think of a name for him. Sharing a cookie with the Bear usually helps speed up the process.
We have a Christmas Bear whose name is "Chrissy."
There's an Easter Bear whose name is "Bunny."
There's an autumn Bear who came to live with us on Thanksgiving whose name is "Leaf."
We have a Bear who wears a pretty amethyst colored dress and has amethyst colored fur and has jewels on her paws whose name is "Amy."
We just look at a Bear and think of his qualities in order to pick a name. Sometimes we use a name book but rarely pick a name directly from the book. We might read the name "James" from the book but the Bear will say, "I'd rather be called Jimmy." "Well, then, 'Jimmy' it is," we say!
Sometimes it takes a long time to come up with the right name for a Bear. Sometimes it happens almost instantly.
We have a Bear who is dressed up like a surfer. He's got a flowered Hawaiian shirt and board shorts. He wears sunglasses, carries a surfboard and wears flip-flop sandals. We took one look at him and instantly knew what his name was: "Kamanna Wanna Hugga Bear!"
No, US bears, you are not crackers...I think that is the best way to name a bear too. Once in awhile I just get stuck and don't understand what they are saying to me. Usually if I put it away for awhile and come back it comes a little clearer. I do not use a name book..I do for babies but the bears just don't seem to fit!
desertmountainbearFor my detailed bears I use the names of places where I live in AZ. Lots of the places are small towns that were named when the west was wild and there are some unusual names to choose from here. I printed a list off the internet and use it like a baby name book.
For the other reproduction bears I make I use traditional old fashioned names. A baby name book helps there too.
Joanne
