ADGA Goat Naming
When you go to name your goat it can be as hard or as easy as you want it to be. Here I’m specifically talking about the constraints of ADGA Goat Naming. Are there rules for naming goats? Yes, but there are also fun conventions too!
The main rule when you register a goat with ADGA you have 30 characters including spaces. It also can’t be a duplicate nor inappropriate.
Herd Name
The first part of a goat name is the herd name. For example all goats I’ve bred start with “Floof Farm”. There are situations where goats are registered with “The” instead of a herd name. If you do not have a herd name then all the goats you register will have “The” in their name.
The herd name doesn’t have to do anything with your farm name and it also could be an abbreviation. My advice would be to not make this too long so you have more letters for the name of the specific goat. If I did it all against I would have made my herd name “Floof’s” or “Floof” for the sake of space.
Nod to the Bucks
Often people like to make a nod to the relatives in naming. It is common after the herd name to have the initials of the buck or an abbreviation of the buck’s name. For example in R Serenity CF Katana’s name the CF is a nod to R Serenity E Cadbury Freddo. The “E” in Freddo’s name is a nod to Castle Rock Elika.
Other herds do it a different way, Moss-Ridge Cal’s Twyla has “Cal’s” which is a nod to Royal Cedars Sebastian Caliber. She is bred to Moss-Ridge Rhem’s Jupiter where “Rhem’s” is a nod to Legendairy RHS Rhembrandt.
Some herds do this in other ways as well, such as a theme related to the animal name.
The Name Itself
In ADGA goat naming other than the 30 characters and the name not being judged as inappropriate or being a duplicate you are free to put whatever constraints you want. Some herds just name their goats without a bunch of ceremony, others go deep into it. I personally really enjoy naming goats, so I’m more on the deep side of it. I enjoy naming them like they are miniature race horses, horse names are such a big deal there is an entire book about them.
Personally I like to have legacies in my goat naming. My most famous family collection is the “Kat Goats”. This all starts with the foundation doe CH Night Heron Farm JB Katniss and began with R Serenity. Many other herds have continued the trend of having goats with Kat in the name, myself included. I have Katana, Katsu, Kitty Kat, Katsuta, Katsu Koto and the list keeps growing. I also have continued Diji Farms “Bryde” line as well and as few others too.
Last year I brought in a buckling SDS Farms ZQ Big Tuna Quinn from Sunny Days Farm in this case Quinn is a nod to Quinn line started with Old Mountain Farm. I’m excited to have a whole school of fish goats from Tuna. While I don’t purchase goats based on names, I do like to have fun with it!
Do I have to do all this?
Did the last section make you eye roll and you think I’m a bit silly with the names? That is okay we all can goat in our own ways. I also know of people who outsource their naming to friends that enjoy playing with it. You can also just name all your goats Herd Name Jane 1 there is nothing stopping you.
What is your favorite name?
New kid impatiently waiting his name, I mean bottle…