The day I met my namesake out in the pigpen was the day I decided I wasn’t using people names for our livestock anymore.

Our neighbor’s daughter liked to name their pigs after friends. Seeing a hog rooting in the mud and learning that her name was Kathy – well, that was the turning point.

No more Abraham or Elinore or Danielle.

But the animals needed names. If you can’t use the neighbors’ names and you can’t use the baby book names, what can you use for ideas?

A dictionary, of course.

Which explains why we’ve had livestock carrying such names as Tripod, Rugby and Torch. We’ve had Breeze, Warrior and Colossal.

Such names as Scimitar and Saber have been attached to some of our animals over the years. We’ve used Cola and Domino and Tinsel.

Not long ago, a friend send a rabbit our way. “She’s not named,” said our friend. “Although I think I should have called her Frying Pan, just to fit in with your barn.”

I don’t know why she laughed. That name would have worked for us.