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This is going to be a weird thread, I know. Does anybody else get a weird reaction when someone posts a bear with the same name as a bear that you have in your hug? Maybe it's because I can't see the pictures, but when I see this I always picture in my head my bear that has the same name. I'm not sure what I'd do at a bear show if I fell in love with a bear that shared a name with another one of my babies. I know this is an unusual topic. Sorry about that.
I don't worry about Bears with the same name. We have a bunch of Bears who have the same name.
We've got two Bears named "Pudge," three Bears named "Brian" and four Bears named "Buncha." (Because they are a bunch of Bears.)
Bears each have at least three different names. There's their given name when they are adopted into a new hug.
There's the maker's name when they are made and there is the actual name of the maker.
For our Bears, "Pudge," their given names are "Mocha" and their maker's name is Gund. So, the Bear's full name might be "Pudge Mocha Gund."
But, honestly, we don't worry about that in this den. We just go by what T.S. Eliot said:
On the Naming of Bears -- by T.S. Eliot (Improved by "Us Bears.")
The Naming of Bears is a difficult matter,
It isn't just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a Bear must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
First of all, there's the name that the family use daily,
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey--
All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter--
But all of them sensible everyday names.
But I tell you, a Bear needs a name that's particular,
A name that's peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his ears perpendicular,
Or fluff up his fur, or cherish his pride?
Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum-
Names that never belong to more than one Bear.
But above and beyond there's still one name left over,
And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover--
But THE BEAR HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a Bear in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular Name.
I don't worry about it. I just think it's hillarious. For example, I just saw someone with a rabbit named Hartley and my brain immediately pictured my big bear named Hartley. Now when I try to visualize what my bear looks like, I just keep thinking of my bear every time I see the post. It's just a weird thing with me. And I don't think I could give two of my bears the same name because they're like my kids and it would just be weird to me to have two kids with the same name. Although I have had several bears and plushies named Floyd after Floyd Cramer, lol.