The Importance of a Name

Names are extremely important to me. I love picking then out and always want them to have meaning for me as well as being unique, pretty, and not too difficult to spell or say. When I first got Katai she was a project so I didn't use the names I was saving for MY horse at that point, instead I had my mom help.

I still remember sitting at the MN Renaissance Festival with my mom and having her give me the name of a character in a book by Jim Butcher that she had just read. She spelled it out for me, as Katai, on a small piece of paper and I liked the way it looked and sounded as well as the information she gave me about the character. To my mom's credit, she told me to check the spelling but I didn't and just went ahead with that name.

Awhile later when I read the book I realized that my mom had misspelled it and it was actually spelled Kitai. At that point I looked up the meaning of both words.

Well yeah, I probably would have chosen the second but at that point Katai was stubborn and it was so completely adorably cute that my mom had mistakenly named my pony stubborn that I stuck with the spelling she'd given me.

Then as Katai started to improve I started to look forward to coming up with a show name for her. I've always loved the idea of a show name and barn name and the beautiful thing about an unregistered horse was that I'd get to pick out whatever I wanted. I let it go for quite awhile since I wasn't showing but now that I'm at a place where I was ready to come up with something it almost felt too late. I care so much about it since I love Katai so much and wanted something absolutely perfect so it was starting to feel like I couldn't possibly come up with anything good enough for her. 

Won't be long and we'll be back here, this time hopefully with a bit more  relaxation :)

However, this past week I got the idea to crowd source it! I posted on a pony group that I'm part of on Facebook. One of my online friends posted the name Kaida which means little dragon. I ABSOLUTELY loved it but it was so similar and just as short that I decided it wouldn't work. So, now that's a name that I want for my next pony :) Kaida and Katai would be pretty cute (and so adorably confusing haha)

Then another person posted the name Kireina Katai. I loved that it had her name as part of it and since Kireina means beautiful it's sort of like she's named beautifully stubborn which is completely perfect for both of us. I also love the way it sounds kee-ray-nuh kah-ty which is a good bonus. So I'm going with that! I know that the announcer may struggle with it but honestly they might struggle with any name and I'll just spell it phonetically to make it as easy as possible.

I can't wait to send in the entry form with her new show name and at some point get her a new halter plate for her show halter.

TOABH: Names

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

Every horse seems to have at least three names:  the "real" one, the barn one, and that special one.  What are some of your pony's names?

Name: Katai

Nicknames:

Pony

Lady - all of my female horses end up being called lady at some point

Brat Attack

Munchie - no idea really

Princess Pony

Baby Waby Brat Attack

Fuzzy

Chubby

Speedy

Viva Carlos' Blog Hop: What's In Your Name?

Blog Hop: What's In Your Name?

"We are all books because we have spines and stories to tell.”

Everyone has a story to tell and in blog land, most of us have stumble upon each other mid-sentence, so-to-speak.  

What is the story behind your blogname/url?

First off, my pony's name was totally a mistake. I was actually at the renaissance festival with my mom and was asking her if she had any ideas for a name for my new pony, who I hadn't picked up yet, and she suggested a name from a character in one of her favorite books. It was from the Codex Alera series by Jim Butcher and when she described the character to me I agreed that it sounded like a great idea to name my pony after her.

If any of you have read these books you're probably wondering what happened because the character's name is actually Kitai. Well, my mom spelled it from memory as Katai and I like the way it looked and sounded and, thinking it was the name of this cool character, went home and promptly named her Katai.

It wasn't until months later when I decided to start reading the series that I realize the error. Knowing that most people come up with names based on something I did a search on the word Kitai and found out that it means expectation, anticipation or hope in Japanese which would be a wonderful meaning for a name for my pony. Then, thinking it probably wouldn't mean anything I typed in Katai and found out that it means....

Stubborn

I was so struck by the fact that my mom had accidentally named my pony "stubborn" in Japanese that I decided to keep it. The fact that she had already been named that for awhile and that I had ordered her a halter plate decided me.

So you see, the name of my blog is a play on words since the word Katai is stubborn in Japanese and my pony can be stubborn. She is short and since it is in blog format it does tend to be a short dressage journal. It may not be the catchiest name or the easiest to remember and I've considered changing it especially if she does prove to be great at dressage since calling her stubborn than would be inappropriate.