What’s in a Name? – The meaning of our dog names

Today a more personal blog, as a change to all the articles with advice 🙂
As you may already know, I share my life with five beautiful Labrador retrievers, all of whom are related. Their names are not very common, so I thought it would be fun to write a blog about the origins of our dog names. So please read on!

Where do our dog names come from?

Juno – Mother Goddess

Juno is our first Labrador, and even my first dog ever. She is named after the Roman goddess Juno, who was a mother goddess and the goddess of love and marriage.
Juno is also the matriarch of our kennel, so the name is quite fitting, don’t you think?

Freyja – Goddess of Love

Freyja is a daughter of Juno from her first litter, and she is named after the Norse goddess of love. She loves to cuddle, and her nickname is Freykous (based on the Dutch word ‘vrijkous’, which loosely translates into cuddlybear). Such a sweet girl!

Skadi – Goddess of the Hunt

Skadi is also a daughter of Juno, this time from her second litter. She is named after the Norse goddess of the hunt (with bow and arrow) and winter. The litter she came from was our first litter of Labradors with more working line blood, so we thought this name was appropriate.

Idunn – Goddess of Eternal Youth

Idunn is a daughter of Freyja, and therefore a granddaughter of Juno. She is named after the Norwegian goddess of eternal youth, and we wish her that! She is now four years old and is also a mother herself, and we hope that she will indeed have eternal youth and will be with us for many years to come.

Herja – Valkyrie

Herja is the only one not named after a goddess, but her name does come from Norse Mythology. She is named after a valkyrie, the badass women who brought the fallen from the battlefield to Odin’s hall Valhalla. She is certainly badass!

Where does your dog’s name come from?