How do you name your chickens?

[WallyBirdie]

Goodness! I love naming chickens!
To name a few:
Pumpkin, Spock, Darlin, Ira, Travolta, Marla, Oswald, Big Bird, Ester, Rosie, Chunky...
Sometimes there is a story or trait that matches the name, other times it's on a whim or pun or just fits.
I had a big boy named Adam and a big girl named Fred. I often name before I know hen from roo. (which is why Marla is a roo!)

 

[MinniesMomma]

Sometimes I go with a theme- all of this year's babies are traditional Irish names, such as Saoirse and Ailbhe. Sometimes from the personality of the bird or an event- Courage is so named because she survived an attack by a fox. My first year with chickens, I named them all before knowing what they were, and ended up with roosters Daphne, Velma, and Yzma! I've also got ducks Walter and Jim Bob, who are both excellent mothers!

 

[NatJ]

Sometimes I name them for obvious traits--Biter was the cockerel that bit people regularly, Snowy was all white, Goldy was a gold-colored sexlink.

Often, one chicken will have a trait that suggests a name to me, and that starts a theme that I continue until I get tired of it.

A particular set of 4 cockerels got names:
Biter--the one that bit me
Beater--the one that looked most like him ("Biter" and "Beater" were weapons in the book The Hobbit.)
Maximus--the larger of the remaining two.
Minimus--the smaller of the remaining two.

Sumatra chicks looked kind of like pandas or penguins, so we ended up with Panda, Penguin, Piper, Pocket, Pudding (that's alphabetically from darkest to lightest--we had blacks and blues.) My daughters spent some time with the dictionary, figuring that set out.

Dark Cornish chicks became Beetle and Caterpillar, because of what the markings on their backs looked like when they were chicks.

White Laced Red Cornish chicks had different markings on their backs, so they became Colon and Semicolon. Then of course the bantams of the same kind became Period and Comma. We had a well-punctuated chicken yard that year

A different year, a White Laced Red Cornish became "Corn Flour"-- a pun on "cornish" and "cornflower," plus her "red" was pale like cornmeal. Her sister with darker red then became Rye Flour.

One day I was trying to catch a particular chick, and said "she's a nut." So I named her Hazel. The one with green legs became Pistachio and the smallest became Peanut--so of course others became Pecan, Almond, and Chestnut. Then I branched out a little with Mahogany (a tree but not a nut), and Clover (a plant related to a peanut, because they were the same breed of bantam).

I had two cockerels that looked alike, so I cut the tail feathers short on one as a way to tell them aso I could tell which was which. The one with the short tail became Bob (because I "bobbed" his tail), and the other became Fred because it just sounded good to me. A family member who likes Veggie Tales said the other should have been Larry, so that's what I named the next cockerel.

A silver duckwing Old English Game Bantam got called "Ducky" until we could tell gender-- because it was going to be either Donald or Daisy (like the cartoon characters.)

 

[Flockincrazy]

ours are 9weeks and we just finished naming them you have to get to know them we have monster, pinky pie, violet, chipmunk, stormy, Carmel, butterscotch, patuna, zeek, orange peel, hawk, cookie, snich, rooroo, dinky are the chickens our ducks are ducklin and ducklina the turkeys are troublemaker, patches, bitty, Thomas, Delilah and bobber you just gotta get to know them

 

[Crestcrazy2]

I name mine for there traits and just for fun, I don't take time and think about it I just name um , we've got blizzard the head roo , giant,beauty, deformity, curly. ( The rirs) two red sex links named feathers and blunty ,now buffaleta the buff orpington and white out the Leghorn , we've also got some chicks named Xavier , slushy , fluffy , midnight , ducttape.
And then some smaller chicks named ( by my little brother ) greyhawk, silverhawk , cackle , thunder, Buffy, foghorn, fibro and a lot that we haven't named yet ,
I'm a chickaholick . Hahaha .

 

[Twizzler]

Mine are named the color of their leg bands. Red, blue, green & yellow.

The older girls were named after the Golden Girls (Blanche, Dorothy, Rose & Sophia). The new girls were supposed to be named after the Grateful Dead (Jerri, Bobbi, Micki & Billi) but DH doesn't spend enough time with them to know names so I just call them colors, it's easier so I never bothered with the names. Red is a fiery little funny troublemaker & blue struggles with soft shelled eggs so those names fit. Green & yellow, those make no sense. LOL

Hey that makes it easier lol!

Our originals are Florence and Felicity, Clara, Becky, Sharon, Brittany, Pippa, Henrietta (who sadly died), Daisy and Dot the rooster. Dot was called Dot because as a chick he had a white blob on his head. We have just had two more hatch - the first also had a blob so we have called him/her Dash. The next one looked exactly like Dash so he/she is Hyphen. If any more hatch we are going to work through the punctuation marks (other than colon)

I can see why colon might not be the best name

We named a lot of our 11 birds by their looks or behavior as chicks. The loudest was Donna because she was a prima donna who cheeped at everything (now she's head hen).

Then there's Pinkie, who had a pink beak as a chick, and BB with a black beak. We call her The Beebs now. Frida BaKawlo has a mustache across her beak which reminds me of Frida's self-portraits.

They'll grow out of many of the traits they're named for – Pinkie is a Black Langshan, not pink at all – but it's an easy way to remember their names early on when they're hard to tell apart

I’d love to see a chicken with a mustache!

Some of mine get names based on their breed's country of origin. Camille and Celeste are Salmon Faverolles and got French names, as did my Midnight Majesty Maran, who is Eleanor after the queen of Aquitane. Bronwyn has a British sounding name because she is a Speckled Sussex. Lottie is a Dutch girl's name for my Welsummer.

Althea, Beatrix and Cordelia are named for TV characters; they are all Buckeyes. Evie and Audrey are named for a reality show contestant.

Honey, the Buff Orpington, is named for her beautiful color.

Gabby is a very expressive Cochin bantam; Sally, her sister, is just a name I liked.

Pip had some problems breaking her shell to get into the world. And my former partner thought it would be funny to name her siste Squeak. Their father is Sir Henry The Loud obvious reasons.

Omg I love Sir Henry the Loud. That’s great. Often my animals were referred to by titles rather than their names. There’s The Cat, (we only have the one), The Dog, (who has since passed) and The Puppy, (even when she was an adult, tho we stopped using it since the other dog passed and living circumstances changed)

My in-town chickens were Noodle, Dumpling, Sesame, Barbie(cue), Kiev, and Rosemary (later revealed to be Marion), plus my packing peanuts, "The Red Boys" -- Vinnie, Parm, Fry, Stew, and Fric. I couldn't tell those apart except for Vinnie, who was the boldest and most personable.

I chose food names as a reminder to myself and my family that the ultimate destination of spare cockerels, unwanted roosters, and retired laying hens is a long, hot, herbal-infused bath.

I will certainly re-use Noodle for another Dark Brahma and Dumpling for another Delaware. They were my best hens.

Maybe that’s why I haven’t named them. I know one day I might have to cull them and/or eat them

Sisters or Dinners.

Sisters is interesting, but I also refer two my youngest two and The Babies or as one of the babies.

I enjoy finding names that suits each individual. I got some breed-themes (Orphelia the orpington, Sylvia the Silverrud Blue), some fandom-themes (bantams named after Hobbits and ducks named after Don Rosa's Donald Duck family tree), some joke or pun (Theodore Roostervelt, Alonezo the lonely duckling).

Alliteration! I like it! I tend to steer clear of fandom stuff because I’m always afraid of the animal possibly living up to its name. Tho a rooster named Loki could work...

I have a mix of names, I'll name some off: Myrtle, Muriel, Beatrice, Rose, Rosamonde, Darla, Lucille, Dottie, Dorothy, Gold Puff, Sweetie, Creamsicle, Peaches, Virginia, Dusty, Trouble, Turtle Dove, Red, Sweet Pea, Cherry, Shirley, Ruby, and Susan.

That is quite the mix and number of birds! I feel

Goodness! I love naming chickens!
To name a few:
Pumpkin, Spock, Darlin, Ira, Travolta, Marla, Oswald, Big Bird, Ester, Rosie, Chunky...
Sometimes there is a story or trait that matches the name, other times it's on a whim or pun or just fits.
I had a big boy named Adam and a big girl named Fred. I often name before I know hen from roo. (which is why Marla is a roo!)

I’d also use names regardless of gender. It’s not like they know. Also, please tell me that Big Bird is indeed a big bird

Sometimes I go with a theme- all of this year's babies are traditional Irish names, such as Saoirse and Ailbhe. Sometimes from the personality of the bird or an event- Courage is so named because she survived an attack by a fox. My first year with chickens, I named them all before knowing what they were, and ended up with roosters Daphne, Velma, and Yzma! I've also got ducks Walter and Jim Bob, who are both excellent mothers!

As Courage is a great name! It just reminds me of a cartoon from my childhood lol. I’m glad she survived tho!

Sometimes I name them for obvious traits--Biter was the cockerel that bit people regularly,

That is a terrible name to live up to, oof lol

ours are 9weeks and we just finished naming them you have to get to know them we have monster, pinky pie, violet, chipmunk, stormy, Carmel, butterscotch, patuna, zeek, orange peel, hawk, cookie, snich, rooroo, dinky are the chickens our ducks are ducklin and ducklina the turkeys are troublemaker, patches, bitty, Thomas, Delilah and bobber you just gotta get to know them

I’m getting to know mine! Like one Legbar just flat out isn’t interested in me or people at all, my white duel purpose (I think that’s what she is) is super skittish, my Leghorn (also guessing her breed) is also a little skittish too, but she’s the first one there if I have a treat. One of my RSL’s seems to like my toes for some reason

I name mine for there traits and just for fun, I don't take time and think about it I just name um , we've got blizzard the head roo , giant,beauty, deformity, curly. ( The rirs) two red sex links named feathers and blunty ,now buffaleta the buff orpington and white out the Leghorn , we've also got some chicks named Xavier , slushy , fluffy , midnight , ducttape.
And then some smaller chicks named ( by my little brother ) greyhawk, silverhawk , cackle , thunder, Buffy, foghorn, fibro and a lot that we haven't named yet ,
I'm a chickaholick . Hahaha .

Omg how many chicks do you have? I feel like seven is a lot for a first time but I’m already dreaming about breeding projects for when i can set up my own place

 

[Roxychick]

i usually tend to name my chickens after my fave movie/show characters hence the name roxy & eggsy (kingsman ss) or sometimes i just brainstorm using the chicks appearance & characteristics and come up with one!

 

[Twizzler]

i usually tend to name my chickens after my fave movie/show characters hence the name roxy & eggsy (kingsman ss) or sometimes i just brainstorm using the chicks appearance & characteristics and come up with one!

I feel like Eggsy is also a pun lol

 

[Ebony Rose]

I have a theme: I name them after food, or food products that I will make with them or their eggs. Omelet, Biscuit, Dumpling, Kay-Ef-Cee, etc... Helps me remember that they're food, not pets. I dote on my chickens, care for them in regards to health and happiness, find ways to entertain them, etc., but at the end of the day they'll either be laying eggs for the family to eat, or they'll find their way into the pot.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Mine get certain themes depending on what I like at the time, while others just have a name that 'fits'

I.e.:
Cecil - name fit so now his hens also get fancy sounding names
Ambrose - everyone hated this rooster since his egg went into incubation (I wish I was lying since he's a sweet bird) naturally i chose the greek word for immortal
Achilles - Greek hero of mine, his brother was Hector (who was a meanie and went to live in town with a crow collar)
Westeros and (whatever my Ayam cermanis end up being named) - love game of.thrones
Cornish bantams- named after precious stones

I have way more too, and some that are literally named (breed) or (so and so's) baby.

Depends on who you are and who your birds are