Misleading kennel names

[Jax's Mom]

Is it only me that finds it misleading when I look at pedigrees of American show lines and see the names go from "Fuzzy Puppy of Sunny Acres" and jump to "Günther vom Wolfsheim" by the next generation?
(I just pulled those names out of thin air, no one take it personally )
Shouldn't American kennels have American sounding names and German kennels with German names?
I thought if I ever get to own a kennel I would name it after my last name because it happens to be a cool German name but figured it might look like I'm trying too hard to make it look like something it isn't.
They say artists should create art of their own period, not recreate something already passed... shouldn't dog/kennel names be similar?

[Andaka]

Why? Shouldn't we be able to name our dogs how we want to? Besides, some of these kennels were named back in the '60's or earlier when it was accepted to name them in the German style because many of the dogs were from Germany.

For example, my mother lived on Cedar Rd so she named her kennel Zederland. Some of our early dogs were from German imports, and some weren't, but they all carried the Zederland moniker.

I don't see the problem. They are German Shepherd breeders after all.

[ShenzisMom]

I see your point, but if everyone did they're due diligence they would see that both pups have no titles or healh testing. IMO, thats the important part. Name my pup PopRocks of Mars Vom Stupidpup...i only care if he can bite!

[Mrs.K]

If I ever breed a litter, I already know what I am going to name them and you bet, it's a German Name

[Jax's Mom]

If the lines have been German all along it doesn't seem so out of place... One could even argue they're preserving the lines, heritage, etc... I'm talking about when they've been American lines for 40 years then they suddenly revert to German names.

[boeselager]

I have heard that some of the American breeders are bringing in some German blood to bring in thicker bone, etc to their puppies, so that might be the reason your seeing that. Or it can be that people just decided to start giving their dogs German names.

[Kevin W]

I think mainly it has to do with marketing their litters. If it sounds really German then they must be top of the line German Shepherds. A lot of Chinese imagrants that come here end up changing their names to a more "Americanized" name because an average Joe would not be able to pronounce their name. So giving a dog more of a strong German name makes them seem more "authentic". I'm not saying every breeder does this, it's just what I've noticed.

[Good_Karma]

The only ASL breeders I know use American sounding names, often based on some aspect of their location (like road name or something like that). But I agree, to someone who has done zero homework, a German sounding kennel name may lead them to assume that the dogs are German imports. But they'd have to do absolutely no background checking in order to be fooled by this...

[Castlemaid]

But a breeder of German Imports or German lines can still have an American type kennel name. I know of a couple of people here who breed workingline dogs (usually with a Vom type name), and use an American style kennel name for their own breeding kennel to register the offspring. So they are breeding 100% German or Czech working lines, but you wouldn't know it from the kennel name alone.

So the dogs in the pedigree with names like "Weeping Willow's Golden Angel" does not necessarily mean that the dogs are from an American lines. So may not be marketing gimmicks at all, just the naming preference of a breeder back there somewhere in the pedigree.

[selzer]

Odessa is Odessa Von Aurelius, because her breeder named her. Her pup is also von Aurelius (I did not name her, but I agree, because Odessa's breeder bred her as well.

Now I will be getting a pup out of her (down the line). That will have her owner's kennel name, not mine.

My kennel name is Evenstar, though it is not a registered kennel name.

Odessa's future male pup that I intend to keep will be Evenstar's Kojak and he will be all German showlines. If I named him Kojak von Aurelius, that would not be right because the breeder who runs that kennel name had no say in the selection of the sire for the litter.

Naming him Kojak Von Selzer (my last name) is something a lot of people do, and I did with Dubya and Rushie. I think it was a mistake to name them that way. I then went to Arwen Evenstar, and Jenna Evenstar and Babs Sweet Surprise -- very American sounding. But since then I have been doing the Evenstar's Heidi, etc.