What’s in a (pet’s) name? Depends on the day

Frida, Fergus, Frenchie, Foo Fighter and Flirt were a quintet of no-name puppies when they arrived at the Edmonton Humane Society.

Kirstin Larson had the letter F on the brain that day.

Larson works in the admitting department at the animal shelter. Part of her job is to christen nameless creatures when they check in.

You could say it’s a nominal task, except it isn’t; the shelter takes in more than 14,000 animals every year.

“The more unique the name, the more adoptable they are,” says Larson. “I like to be original.”

The shelter doesn’t change an animal’s name unless it’s inappropriate (toilet humour, swear words and so on). They won’t rename dogs called Buddy, even though it’s such a common name. In fact, the city’s licensed-dog database shows Buddy is the most popular name in Edmonton.

Larson steers clear of that moniker herself, and she never uses her colleagues’ names, for fear someone might get offended. Once, though, she used a play on her own name: Kristen Lawson. Sometimes she picks a theme: the

Twilight saga, Oilers hockey players, superheroes like Captain Awesome and Captain Fantastic. Sometimes, she picks a letter out of the air and Googles a name list. Once she named a litter of kittens One, Two, Three, Four and Five.

“I also like using old lady names,” Larson says. The people who adopt- ed Norma the cat liked the name so much, they kept it. “They all have unique personalities and I like to showcase that.”

When she started at the shelter three years ago, Larson found the name-game entertaining. “Honestly, when I first started working in admitting, it was easy. ‘I get to name animals!’ ”

Now, “it’s so much more challenging. … I rely on other staff to give me ideas.”

EHS spokeswoman Allyson Mclean says admitting staff have a tough job. “It’s not really fun. It’s hard on them to be thinking of new names every day.”

Sometimes, “it’s the best name we can come up with in 10 minutes,” says Larson, who lives with two orange tabbies named Frank and Gary.

Larson takes extra care naming older cats, since they are hardest to find homes for. “I try to give them the best names so they’re the most attractive,” she says. When people go to the shelter’s website and see a cat named Sir Edward Fluffy Kitty Pants, “they’ll take more interest in the cat, and think more about adopting the cat.”

The 24-year-old isn’t bothered if people change the name of a cat, kitten or puppy after they adopt it. Most of the names are designed “to get your attention,” she says. But if a dog is one year old or more, she says it’s best to leave the name alone, or at the very least keep the first letter.

I would say if the shoe fits, wear it. Mary Gainor

The adopter “can try changing it, but it might not go over that well. Keeping the name makes the transition easier for the dog.”

That’s what Mary Gainor decided to do when she adopted her Buddy from Second Chance Animal Rescue Society, another animal shelter.

“I would say if the shoe fits, wear it,” says Gainor. “It’s a great dog name, especially if it’s a dog like our Buddy.”

Despite the challenges, Larson continues to pour creativity into her work, using cute and ridiculous names to help animals in need win their way into adopters’ hearts and homes. “It can keep me awake at night. I have a lot of dreams about work, about animals coming in and I’m trying to think of names. They matter to me.”