Whether you’re a perspective breeder, have a page for sharing pictures of your ferrets or a pet owner who just wants an affix to attach to your ferret’s pedigree names a lot of people want a ferretry name. In particular if you are an aspiring breeder I would advise you come up with a ferretry name to use on feritage so you can gain a bit of a good reputation among breeders. Just trust me here, giving a paper trail for breeders to vet you as a breeder makes getting breeding contracts 100x easier. Here are a few tips on how to come up with your own ferretry name.
The beauty of a ferretry name is that unlike a kennel name it can be as long, short or as many words as you like. Most people with multiple words use initials when registering a ferret or as an affix. You do not have to though. You can always write out your ferretry name longhand or use a shortened version like we do. That can really set your name apart from a similar name. It is worth thinking about the initials you will have and who they might be compared to when thinking of a name. You can also use slang, symbols and even swearing in your name, though you should consider pronunciation, the ability to type your name without mistakes and who will be using your name. It might not be wise to use a swear due to the possibility of offending someone or if there might be children hearing, reading, or saying it.
It can be hard to come up with one and one of the worst things you can do is copy someone else’s. Please avoid using similar or the same words as a ferretrys you know of. Not only can it be confusing, but it can really get other breeders backs up. If you’ve got something in mind, try typing the words individually into feritage and searching. If anyone does come up with a similar name get in touch with that breeder and ask them if they think it’s ok. If that comes back ok type “ferretry name ferrets” into google and see if anyone is already using it. You can also try checking for hashtags on social media to see if it is a name that was used in the past or not. It can even be wise to ask anyone you know in the ferret community if they know anyone with that name or if it rings bells. Bare in mind if a name is from a retired breeder you can use it but you should still get that breeders blessing and you will automatically inherit all the negative connotations of that name, not necessarily the positives.
The same goes for the wording you use. Think about the connotations of your wording. If something suggests puppy farms or backyard breeders you’re probably not on the right track. There’s one new breeder who I won’t name but their name was probably supposed to raise images of rolling fields and serene countryside but all I can see when I read the name is little cages that need cleaned out and scrawny kits with pot bellies and dirty fur. This is purely down to their name. Not exactly ideal. If you were to have that reaction to someone would you want anything to do with them? It can be worth asking peoples thoughts on your name in case they can see something wrong with it you can’t, or writing the name somewhere you’ll come across it when your busy with something else so you can get an idea of what connotations it raises in you when you’re not thinking about your ferrets.
If it comes out ok, you can start trialling the name with a social media page or using it as a hashtag. You would be surprised how many people just making a name can come up with the same one and doing this is generally enough to test the waters. If you see someone else using it or if someone using it sees you, you can discuss which of you will keep the name or both think of something else. Don’t put anything into stone until you have been using that name for a while without any problems.
But how do you even come up with a name? Well some people use aspects of their names or their family’s names, some people use a location. We were originally thinking of something along the lines of location but decided not to since we knew we would be moving eventually. Before you decide you really need to consider things like this. If you do a combination of you and your partners names and there’s a messy break up will you still like the name? Life is messy and this name will be associated with you for life.
An excellent way to come up with something original is to think of your ferret journey. A ferret that was special to you or a combination of their names, maybe paired with something you associate with your ferrets. If you have a nickname or a nickname for your ferrets that only you use that can be a good starting point. Ourselves we chose a name that describes our ferret journey more than any of our ferrets.
One thing that I haven’t seen but which would be a lovely idea is to incorporate native language into your ferretry name. Welsh if you’re in Wales, Gaelic if you’re in Scotland or Celtic, in, well most of the British Isles. If you’re descended from other parts of the world you can maybe add words that reflect that ie “Bougie Verte Ferretry” (that means green candle btw, not a bad name right lol). Like I say this isn’t something I’ve seen yet so it can give you a really unique name and you can make it really personal even if in English its very similar to someone else’s.
One last thing; nature names are fantastic but there are a lot of ferretry names based off plants, trees, and sky imagery. Don’t get me wrong I love a lot of these names, but they are also likely to end up trampling on people’s toes and confusing people. One of my jills is from Dark Sky’s Ferretry Scotland, and I need to add that last bit because there is more than one. Older ferretrys could use these names much more easily because there were a lot less ferretrys. These days there are not only a lot more but the whole nature aspect is more saturated so I would advise you avoid sky or plants unless you are really passionate about them.
Good luck!
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