Our family recently adopted this sweet girl who we named Nimue. She’s about 6 months old and while her mother is a full chocolate lab, no one knows who the father is or what type of dog he may be. The shelter staff thinks she is also part boxer. No matter what she is, she’s the sweetest thing. She was pretty curious on the trip home.
Her name, for those who may not know, is from the Arthurian legends. Nimue is one of the names of the Lady of the Lake, ruler of Avalon. Depending on the story, she gave Merlin his magic, she gave Arthur his sword (if we ever adopted a male dog, we might have to name him Ex Calibur), and when Arthur was mortally wounded, Nimue took him to Avalon. She plays a pivotal role in many of the tales of King Arthur and of Merlin and given our new pup’s gentle and intelligent personality and her wise eyes that look as though they’ve seen centuries, I think it’s rather perfect.
Nimue came from a local rescue group. Well, the rescue group is local, but the shelter she came from is not. There seems to be an overabundance of adoptable animals in the southern states. I don’t know why, but someone recently suggested that the states in the south don’t have the spay/neuter programs we have here in New England. A lot of rescue groups go into high kill shelters and try to save as many animals as they can, often partnering with other rescue groups and shelters up north. So we found the listing for our pup locally, but once we found her we had to wait for her to travel north. We did the same with our last dog, Abby. She came from Louisiana. Nimue hails from Arkansas. If you’re looking to bring a pet into your life, please go to a rescue group or shelter and adopt. There are so many pets looking for love. Petfinder is a great source for searching through the currently 290,295 pets waiting for a home.
She’s was very timid the first couple of days, choosing to spend most of her time under the table where she could watch her new humans from a relatively protected place. She came out for food and water and to go exploring outside, but then quickly returned to the safety of her chosen den. She came out of her shell a little at a time and loves to play with us, especially first thing in the morning. She’s been walking incredibly well on leash, though when it’s time to come back inside her stubborn nature prevails and she quickly parks herself on the grass and won’t move – she is getting better though and doesn’t do this all the time. And she loves to snuggle. 
The children all love her to pieces, she’s made peace with the goats (she’s afraid of them and they’re afraid of her), and she’s mostly unaware of the cats. Also, she’s not allowed on the sofa. As you can see, that’s working out well. 
Now, because it took us forever to settle on a name (even though Nimue is completely perfect, there were so many other great choices), and because lists of dog names online seemed to be very light on suggestions for a female name, I’ll list some of the names we considered. Besides, if we ever need to find another name for another pet, we’ll have a list to begin our search.
Agnes
Artemis
Arwyn
Avalon
Beatrix/Beatrice
Beauty
Bobbin
Buttercup
Cadence
Callisto
Calypso
Cameo
Chickadee
Chicory
Cinder
Cipher
Clove
Cosette
Cricket
Decaf
Echo
Esme
Freya
Friday
Gypsy
Hedwig
Indigo
Juliet
Juniper
Latte
Lunchbox (my husband found this one and every time he said it he laughed)
McGonagall
Miss Havisham
Miss Honey
Mrs. Hudson
Mrs. Medlock
Mrs. O’Leary
Maeve
Maisie
Matilda
Merywen
Millie
Mimsie
Minerva
Muse
Nova
Orla
Penelope
Pevensie
Piper
Priscilla
Prim/Primrose
Pollyanna
Poppins
Puca
Raven
Saga
Sage
Scout
Selkie
Siren
Sorrell
Sprite
Suki/Sookie
Tess
Tesla
Thistle
Willow