My childhood dog was named Misty, for his gray coat. He was a Yorkshire Terrier/ Silky Terrier mix, and, in retrospect, Misty was a good if not great name to give him, based on his color.
Fast forward a few decades, and the first dog I owned as a married person was a fawn-colored dog. We adopted him with the name Buff, for his color, which eventually became Buffy. Regardless, his original owners had come up with the perfect name for him, based on his buff or fawn color.
Good names for dogs based on color
Many people use a dog’s color to come up with a name for their dog. That makes sense. If you’re stumped on what to name your dog — you’re not naming the dog for a city, a favorite sports team or a college mascot — then color is a great way to go.
When researching this article, I came across ideas mostly for dogs with white for or dogs with black fur. However, there are lots of other fur variations that can inspire a hue-oriented name for your pup. So, I’ve included a few of those, too.
Read on for my ideas on how to name your dog based on the color of its fur.
Good names for white dogs
Naming a dog after a winter holiday probably gives a bunch of ideas on how to handle naming a white dog. I’m thinking about names like Snowy or Snowball or even Pfeffernusse (after the spiced Christmas cookies) would work.
Here are some other good names for dogs with white fur:
- Blizzard
- Blondie
- Coconut
- Cotton
- Daisy
- Ghost
- Glacier
- Icey
- Marshmallow
- Pearl
- Salty
Good names for dogs with black fur
My father grew up with a dog with black fur that they named Blackie. I’m not sure I would recommend that name in today’s world, because it might have a negative and insensitive connotation.
However, there are plenty of other cute and clever names for a dog with black fur. Here are a few to consider:
- Coal
- Crow
- Kohl
- Midnight
- Mink
- Sable
Dogs with brown fur
Neighbors of ours always had chocolate brown labs. And they always gave them names based on chocolate brown candy, such as Hershey and Tootsie (for Tootsie Roll).
If you’re looking for a name for your brown dog, consider these:
- Chip
- Chocolate
- Cocoa
- Coffee
- Espresso
- Mahogany
- Pumpernickel
Good names for gray dogs
As I mentioned, my childhood dog had gray fur. So we called him Misty.
Other good names for gray dogs or dogs with silver hair, like a Yorkie or Silkie has, include:
- Cloudy
- Fog
- Granite
- Platinum
- Silver
- Steel
- Sterling
Multicolor dogs
Sometimes you have a dog that has multiple colors. So how do you come up with a cute name based on that?
Well, for example, if the multicolor part includes a dark muzzle, you could go with Bandit or Ranger (for Lone Ranger) or Raccoon. That’s since the dog looks like it’s wearing a mask.
For a dog with spots or patches of different colors, you could simply call him Spot or Patches.
If your dog has a brindle coat like my dog Oscar does, you can call him Brindle. Or if his brindle coat looks like tiger stripes, you can call her Tiger or Tiger Lily.
Fawn color dog
As I mentioned in the intro, we had a fawn-colored dog named Buff. His nickname was Buffy.
If you have a dog with fawn or buff colored fur, here are some additional names to consider:
- Apricot
- Bambi
- Blondie
- Bronze
- Buck
- Butter
- Copper
- Deer
- Latte
- Penny
- Sandy
- Tanner
- Toast
Final thoughts
If you fancy adopting a dog of a certain color, you can always use color on Petfinder.com or a similar site to start your search.