The Pryor Herd is unique in many ways. One of the ways is that each horse is given a name. I know there are a lot of people who think that giving wild horses names is just silly. But when you learn the reason behind it, I believe you will agree with it.
Before names were given to the horses, they were given a number. Prince for example’s number is 199321. The year of his birth (1993) and the birth order in which he was born that year (21). They are still given a number as well as a name. I think the reason being is because they may have gotten tired of saying the numbers. I could not imagine texting Matt while I am on the mountain and asking: ” Matt, have you seen 200715? He is not with 200714 and 200822.” I don’t know about you, but I am able to memorize names faster than a bunch of numbers. And so instead I can text: Matt, have you seen Hernando? He is not with Hamlet and Inali.” Much easier.
I use the names to be able to communicate with everyone that knows the horses. I have chosen to use the names given by the PMWMC. These names are the ones that the BLM uses as well. Again this is a personal choice. My reasoning is to be able to communicate with people in case I discover a horse injured or dead, or just want to simply talk about the herd.
I can call Jared and say the horses name (the one that he knows) and the one I know and we both know exactly who we are talking about instantly. No referring to charts and cross referencing. Simple.
I wish that everyone closely involved with the horses could reach an agreement on this and call the horses by one name. But I don’t think that will ever happen. Not sure why, but pretty sure it won’t.
So now on to this post. I promised in my recent 2013 Who Will Foal post that I would make a post especially for all of us to post our name ideas.
This year is the “N” year. So post your ideas, now that you have a list of who may foal. Give some thought to each mare and her name and history , what band she is in and post a name that would fit in with that band, or just a name that you really like.
I can not guarantee and of these will be used. But it will be fun to post our thoughts.
Sandy
“Nokota” for Galena’s foal – her foal will be Lakota’s grandchild and the name is similar to his.
I find the name “Nutella” very cute for Heritage’s foal,if it is a liver chestnut/chocolate color.
For Galaxy and Hera’s foal it would be cool if the foal is dark to be called “Nyx” which from ancient Greek means “Night”.The name “Nymph” would work for a filly too.
Other names that I like are Nialla,Neptune,Nelina,Nevena,Nikita. I would like to see some more foals named with native American names. This is where Pryors are located and the native american names sound more special than the others. Here are some that I found:
Nikiti(smooth) Nita(bear) Nina(strong) Nashoba(wolf) Nova(chases butterflies) Nituna(daughter)
Nutella would be very cute for a liver chestnut/ chocholate colored foal!
I like those! I am going to make a separate post (thanks Livi!) probably in early March listing all of the names given here.
A thought I just had was that it might be helpful to make some indication on the list if a name gets used.
Another great idea! I will be sure to do that Livi! 🙂
I like Starbuck because of star on forehead . And looks very frisky ❤
I will have to start getting names together!
P.S. I dont think naming wild horses is silly! 🙂
Thanks Sarah!
I just recently realized that all the horses born in the same year are given names that all begin with the same letter! It’s the same in France–if you have a purebred or a dog with a pedigree, you give your dog a name that begins with the letter assigned to that year. Apparently, the letter in France for dogs is I. Something about keeping track of purebred origins or something?
How about New York? 😀
On the more serious side:
Noel/Noelle (can work for male or female!)
Natalia
Naomi
Noah
Nixon
Neo (Keanu Reeves’s character’s name from the Matrix!)
Nahla (from the Lion King!)
Nessie (Lochness Monster!)
Nevada
Nymphadora (I’m pretty sure this is a character from Harry Potter)
Nova
Naima (pronounced Nah-ee-ma)
That’s all I’ve got for now. I especially like the Nutella name!
These are great!
I’l repost what I had mentioned in another post as well as few more I came up with.
Nighthawk, Night Sky, North Ridge, North Wind, North Star, Nebraska, Nevada, Nez Perce, Navajo, New Mexico, Nelson, Nightingale,and New Moon.
An idea I have for Galadriel if she has a filly is Nimrodel. I’m a LOTR fan and I read the books once a year, so this name stuck out at me for Galadriel. Nimrodel was a stream that ran out of Lothlorien where Galadriel lives. It was named after an elf maiden.
Or there’s Nenya, Galadriel’s Ring of Power.
I like these Clarissa!
I have to think on this one Sandy! That will be a good project for tomorrow as it is supposed to snow all day here!! I do like Nokota, Noel, Noah, and quite a few of the others mentioned!
I will try to come up with some others! Thanks Sandy for this blog!! It is fun!!!!
Thanks Lori!
I’ll have to think on it too. One that immedietly comes to mind that I’m sure others have thought of as well is New Moon for Half Moon’s foal. It would work for either a filly or a colt. I know that was Kiowa’s TCF name and I really liked it then. It’s just so fitting that I could see if being used again since it fits with the “N” year.
New Moon is cool Sarah, I like that one!
Oh and PS Sandy….Naming a wild horse is definitely NOT silly!!! But I agree that if everyone used one set of names then we would all know which horse is being talked about. Sometimes I get confused as to which horse a person is talking about…I am getting old and one set of names is all I can remember…HA HA!!!!
Running through the mother list, and not too many names are immediately hitting me, but I am sure more will come as I think about them.
For Galaxy/Hera, a filly could be Nova – meaning new, like his bloodline, and also an astronomical phenomenon.
Hataalii comes from Navajo, so, yeah
Innocentes – Naive? Not sure I like that as a name
Depending on sex, Nightingale or Nighthawk for Dove’s
I really like Nova!
Navy Blue?
Niagra Falls
Native Dancer
Nitro if Firestorm has another spitfire colt.
Noir means dark or black in French.
Still on the Lord of the Rings track, Narsil, Numenor?
Thanks Clarissa!
Navy Blue could work for a Blue Moon foal. That is if I’m correct in remembering that Flint’s BLM name is Blue Moon.
That is a good one Livi!
Hi Sandy.
Just wondering if there is a place where we can find the names and reference pictures of the Pryor Mountain herds.
As for as names I like:
Nakota
Nebraska
Noel
Nasa
Noah
Nolan
Nitro
Night Hawk
Hmm I’m sure I’ll think of more later 🙂
Hi Maleah! If you click on Shawn’s Flickr account to the right, he has some of the horses up with their photos and ID. If I can help you ID a horse, just let me know either here or by emailing me! Thank you! 🙂
Thank you very much!
Here are some names I found online.
Unisex:
Nikita
Nox
Nyoka
Nitzan
Female:
Naava
Nadie
Naeva
November
Nona
Niamh
Nile
Nika
Naya
Nissa
Male:
Nero
Nikolai
Nirav
Noor
Novak
Nye
Thanks Livi!
Hi,
Your blog is fantastic; I love reading it. I’ve thought of some names, I like most of them mostly for their meanings, so I’ll post those too.
Nemesis (a Greek goddess; winged balancer of life, daughter of justice). Could be for Fiasco as a balance name.
For Hera and Galaxy babies:
Nasa (NASA)
Neptune (planet; god of the sea)
Nike (Goddess of victory; victorious)
Naolin (Aztec god of the sun; Spanish)
Nemesis
Namid (Star dancer; Native American word) for a baby with Morning Star as a father.
Naveen (beautiful, pleasant) Irish name for Gaelic Princess baby.
Feldspar:
Nebula (since she is in Cloud’s band)
Nickel (mineral)
I also had though of Nitro (also a type of mineral)
Noble for a Duke baby.
Naolin as a possible for Isadora since it is a Spanish name.
Just some other possible names:
Nadie- wise (Native American)
Nina- favor; grace (Native American)
Nacoma- wanderer (Native American)
Nero- black; stern, powerful (Latin; Spanish)
Nirvana- enlightenment, bliss; oneness with God
Nizhoni- (nee-zhoh-nee) comes from Navajo word meaning beautiful
Niyol- wind (Navajo)
Thank you so much Shaila! Those are some great “N” names!! 🙂
I like a bunch of those!
Nebula is cute, and I think Neptune for Half Moon’s!
I like those Lori, especially Neptune!
I also think that “Namib” is a good name for Firestorm’s foal, it will continue the tradition from Kalahari.And I really really love the name “Nomad”.
Thanks Maria!
How do you pronounce that one? “Nam-ib”? short or long A?
I like Nomad!
For a Blue Moon daughter, I like Nokomis from the Longfellow poem, “Hiawatha.” It says “from the full moon fell Nokomis, daughter of the moon, Nokomis,”
I really like that Laura!!
Me too Laura! Or even for Half Moon’s foal!
I like that too. It would definitely work for both!
We have a few Washington state tribes that begin with the letter “N”: Nisqually (people of the grass land), Naches (pride or joy), Nooksack (mountain men or people), Neah (Moving or descent). I also like Nonet (meaning the 9th one) for the ninth foal.
Thank you Elizabeth! Those are all really great!!!
Ok so I thought things through and well I think Doves foal should be named Noah because of the story of Noah and the dove. If the foal is a filly then Noelle.
I think Galaxy and Heras foal should be named Nova or Nasa.
For Fools Gold I think November would be a cute name.
Other names could be:
Nora
Norman
Niko
Nikoli (invis. e so i says name)
Nelly
Nelson
Nymphus
Hmm I’ll try to think of more
Hi Maleah! I really like those. Hopefully with all of these names we have suggested, some will be used! 🙂
I’m not sure if someone has thought of this or not, but another name I like is North. Variations could be something like North Star or a name with Northern in it.
Another good idea Livi! Keep them coming! 🙂
I think Northern Lights was the direction I was going with that.
Some more I thought of:
Nicola
Nayeli- I love you (Native American)
Narnia
Nyla- Cloud or champion (Gaelic)
Thanks Shaila! Some more really good ones! 🙂
I vote for Narnia.
I still really like Nolan and Nimbus. Also really like Nebula
Here are a few more names that I have found. Some are cute and some are meaningful. I did not research names for any specific foal, but that can come later!
Nabisco; Nalda or Naldo is Spanish for Strong; Narcisa is Daffodil in Spanish; Neiva is snow in Spanish; Nanook, Nemo, Niko, Nutmeg, Nickles (for John, president of the PMWMC); Neon; Narnia;
The following are Native American: Nahele means forest; Namid (Star Dancer) is Chippewa; Nina (strong); Nituna (daughter); Nodin (wind); Nova (chases butterfly) is Hopi;
and finally Nabil means noble in Arabic.
Anyway, there are several more to think on.
I will find more before springtime when we have babies out on the range!!!
Those are great Lori. I especially like the Native American ones.
One more comes to mind: Newton, for Isaac Newton, he was an English mathematician, astronomer, inventor, and natural philosopher.
I’m not sure if this has been mentioned, but Nano is another name I thought of.
I had some time to think a little about N names, so I’ll post some ideas I like in case you want to add them to the long list. They are Native American origin.
Female:
Nahimana—Mystic
Namid—Star Dancer
Nita—Bear
Nova—Chases Butterflies
Nuna—Land
Male:
Napayshni—Courageous (Napi for short?)
Nashashuk—Thundering
Nashoba—Wolf
Nikan—My Friend
Nitis—Friend
Nohosi—Bear
Great names Linda!
🙂 In looking back at other posts, I see Lori and I have a couple of the same ones. Neat 🙂
🙂
I like Nokota, Native Dancer, Nokomis and Nyla from the above posts. I really like the Native American and Spanish names for the Pryor’s and other Spanish types. Nina is really good as Nina or Nino (with an ~) in Spanish is little girl or little boy. Also Nita- little sister or dearest sister, Norte is north but also your inspiration or guide. In Northern New Mexico, we say Novedoso or Novedosa for a curious, nosy or one who listens to gossip. Nieto/Nieta is grandson/granddaughter. Noche is night for a black foal and Nieve is snow for maybe an early foal born in the snow. For White Cloud’s foals, Nube is cloud and Nublado/Nublada or Nubloso/Nublosa is cloudy.
Thank you Michael, I really like all of those!
I completely forgot about this post and I came back to check on more name suggestions. I’m so glad people like my suggestion of Noel/Noelle (can work for either gender).
Nieves is actually a first name for girls in Spanish-speaking countries, or at least it is in Spain. 🙂 So I like Nieves (not just Nieve, it looks weird to me without the S) a lot.
Other human names I came up with:
Nicole, Nadia, Nadine, Nellie/Nelly, Natalie, Nathaniel (Nate for short), Napoleon, Nelson, Ned
Place names:
Navacerrada-town outside of Madrid, Spain
Nairobi-city in Kenya
Navarra-region in Spain
Nagasaki-Japan
Nagoya-Japan
Naples-plenty in the US and the original in Italy
Nazareth-Israel
Nantucket-MA, US
Random:
Narciso-means daffodil in Spanish
Nor’easter
Nutcracker
Nougat
Ninja (blame this last one on the fact I work in the comics industry and am surrounded by geeks all day long. I wouldn’t actually name a horse this but I just thought it would be funny to add to the suggestions)
Here are some names! 🙂
1. Northern Dancer
2. Northern Lights
3. Nimbus
4. Night Dancer
5. Nokota
Thanks!
~Kylie
Thanks Kylie! 🙂
And also Nova for another name! 🙂
I love Nova. I think that would be a good one for Galaxy’s foal if Hera has one! 🙂
That would be very cute for Galaxy and Hera! 🙂
Also,
1. Noel
2. Neveah
3. Nala
4. Nakaya
For 2015 and the letter “p”, the names I thought of are Phil, philox, petunia, peanut, pharaoh, pokey.
Thank you Tracy! I like those!
Can you post this on the 2015 name post? Thank you Tracy!!