why do racing horses have such weird names?

Answer 1

There are strict rules about naming racehorses, you cannot have two horses with the same name that have been born in the same country, for example there are two mares named Gossamer, one was born in USA in 1991 and the other was born in IRE in 2000. Names do get re-used but cannot be so until after a horse has died (I think it's 5 years after the death that the name becomes available again).

If a horse has won an important race (the Epsom Derby, Kentucky Derby, Grand National, etc) that name can never be used again. So there will never be another horse called Northern Dancer or one called Red Rum.

You have to apply for permission to name your horse as they need to check that they are not rude or offensive. One famous name that was turned down in Ireland was Where The Fox Hat - try saying it really quickly in an Irish accent and you'll see why!

If you want to name a horse after a person you have to apply for permission from that person (if they are still alive).

I like it when people are original with the names of their horses, two of my personal favourites are Clog Dance (Father - Woodman, Mother - Royal Fandango) and Gee Spot (Father - Pursuit of Love, Mother - My Discovery).

Boring names are just no fun!

Answer 2

There are certain rules, as already mentioned. Some are named playing off of the parents names. Some are named for a comment heard or something else when the owners were looking for a name.

Some examples -
FunnyCide - sire is Distorted Humor mother is a daughter of Slewacide

Squirtle Squirt - was supposed to be named Squirtle Squirtle after a cartoon character - a snag in the fax resulted in the incomplete name showing and that became his official name.

Answer 3

This horse, MAKYBE DIVA (pronounced MACK-I-BEE)won Australia's richest race, The Melbourne Cup over 3200meters(2 miles) a record 3 times in a row from 2003-2005.

Here is the history of the name.

Unable to come up with a suitable name Makybe Diva's owner, Tony Santic, sought the assistance of five of his women employees in his fishing business - Maureen Dellar, Kylie Bascomb, Belinda Grocke, Dianne Tonkin and Vanessa Parthenis.

The considered the names of the sires and dams (Makybe Diva, bay, 1999, Desert King-Tugela ) of the young filly and looked for a suitable connection. But when they could not find something satisfactory they decided to use the first two letters of their own first names......Ma Ky Be Di Va and as they say, "The rest is history!"
MAKYBE DIVA= 15 wins, A$14,526,685

Answer 4

It is not that the names are weird. The horses must be registered under a name and then they usually have their barn name. Some names are long while some are short. A lot of times the name is taken from a combination of the horsesparents or grandparents.

Answer 5

I know in standardbred racing, sometimes the owners of the horse take some of the Sire's name and the Dam's name and come up with a name from them, or sometimes different stables like to have their stable name included in the horse's name. Or, like a farm that I worked for in Pennsylvania, they took the first letter of the dam's name and used that for the first name of the foal then added the farm name at the end...for example, if the dam's name was Wendy Hanover...then they named the foal Western Hanover. One of the best names that I have seen so far is..Makinabeerrun

Answer 6

Not weird, Owners try to name their horses to continue bloodlines, this, when the horse is being sold will attract someone to to the advertisement.

Quality english racehorses (over 75%) can trace their bloodlines backwards to 3 specific horses

Answer 7

Their parents don't name them, they don't name themselves. Humans name their children common, somewhat boring names to not be embarrassing for the child. Imagine if you were Funny Cide Smith, or Secretariat Howard. Horse owners know that the horses will not get embarrassed, so they give them creative, lively, and unique names.

Answer 8

Because horses are rubbish animals, they are show pieces and thats it, they worth alot of money but they dont last long do they/ people just kill em. I HATE HORSES! I knew a girl once, who had a horses name (weird)

Answer 9

Well, when the foal is born, they 9 out of ten times relate it to both the sire and dam's name. Sometimes it's personal. Sometimes it's whatever pops into the owner's head.

Answer 10

I think its just because you have to register their name to race them so with all the racehorses there are in the country and in the world they have to have imaginative names. They can't all be called Mary or Sam e.t.c.