Trying to name our baby GW @#$^&

[The Happy Parrot]

Hello Everyone,

Long time parrot person here

I am a single parent with 3 kids for about 10 years (daughter 22, son 18, son 16)

We lost our Zon last year, he was with me for 20 years and with my father before me for 20 years
He died the day my daughter got out of the hospital after a 17 day stay, The birds name was "Poe" and he died on Edgar Allan Poe's death day (really weird)

We grieved hard, cried a lot, and after 7 months decided it was time to get another bird
We are all parrot people and a very close family (we do everything together)
I agreed to get the bird because my children promised to keep the bird forever
(It will out live me for sure)

The bird was hatched March 21st and we bought him from M&D bird farm in Delaware on May 26th
We live in PA and drove 240 miles round trip to visit the bird 10 times holding him and loving him so he would get to know us

We brought the bird home July 24th (about 18 weeks old, which I think is a bit soon), after being with us for a week and weighing him everyday he was losing a few grams and going into the feeding response a lot (I am the momma bird as you see the feeding response in my sig on the right, on one of our early visits in the store)

His weight went from 1050 grams to 980 grams, (I know they lose weight when they fledge, but the bird already fledged and flies, And he was not eating enough) My vet told me to start hand feeding twice a day and let the bird wean at his own speed, which I agree with (BTW before everyone jumps on me about the dangers of hand feeding, I have been hand feeding since I was 12 years old in 1971)

Anyway, The birds weight is now @ 1150 grams, and he gets formula an hour after uncovering him in the morning (to give him time to learn to get adult food from his bowl) he spends most of the day out of the cage on one of us (My daughter works from home, and youngest son are home all day, My oldest son and I work together and come home for breaks all day)

We set a timer to make sure everyone gets even time with him, he has learned so much already, one thing he learned FAST was "Poo" and now does not poo on us at all, after ten mins or so we take him to his stand and say "poo" and he poos as we say it, sometimes he makes noise to go to his stand and then poos right away and then lifts his foot to go back (so cute)

Anyway, We just got the DNA back and it is a boy, my daughter is making it VERY hard to name our new baby, We have gone through a lot of names since Friday We stayed up till the wee hours of Sat morning, and then continued after we woke up Sat

I think the problem is my daughter is disappointed because there are so many good girl names

The boys and I like the idea of naming this giant mac "Wolfie" LOL
"Com'on Wolfie, lets go Wolfie" Just has a funny ring to it
(it is also a reference from an old Sci-fi movie for you older Sci-fi people)
My daughter hates the idea and says it makes her think of dogs in general and the movie too
(she also says its too macho )

Here is my daughter's list of names (a bit "out there")

Abha (Sanskrit, "brilliance, shining, luminous")
Akul (Sanskrit, "transcendental", associated with constellation "Aries")
Arun (Sanskrit, "reddish glow of the rising sun")
Bard (English, "singer, minstrel, poet")
Eros (Greek, "God of Love")
Inti (Incan "Sun God")
Javed (Persian, "eternal")
Kiran (Sanskrit, "Beam of light")
Merlin (Welsh, wizard)
Milo (German, "peaceful")
Raja (Sanskrit, "the radiant, king", Arabic, "hope")
Ravi (Sanskrit, "Sun)
Vayu (Sanskrit, "Air, wind")
Zenith (Late Middle English, "the highest point reached by a celestial or other object, point in the sky or celestial sphere directly above an observer")

Here are names that have gotten enough votes to make it to the list

Draco (from Latin meaning dragon BUT I just think of Harry Potter)
Milo
Pharaoh
Wolfie
Zenith (meaning highest point in the sky BUT being an old guy I just think of TV's)

Here are some videos so you can get to know him

His First Ladder Climb July 26th
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_7XOiBdxdI

First Sofa Love July 31st
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azct8Uz3fsE

First Sleep on Daddy August 1st
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIwsGzQCAN0

Mushsy Rollover Mac August 7st
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2an-bFcE2s

Daughters Knee Perch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggJ_rTJFcJw

[Wolf]

Sounds to me like your bird has moved into a very caring family and he will no doubt be very happy with all of the attention that he gets from everyone. He looks to be a wonderful little( maybe not so little ) boy.
It sounds like your daughter has a major romantic streak running in her mind, just going by her list of names. I am looking forward to learning how the naming progresses and what the final name will be. I am not the greatest at coming up with names but most of my birds came with a name that they were already accustomed to, but if I ever get another bird, one without a name, I want to call it Doc. There is no real reason for it, perhaps Bugs Bunny. I just like it.
Well good luck on finding your baby's name and thank you very much for sharing with us.

[Harpmaker]

You have my sympathy on losing your old Zon, and congratulations on your new baby.

Your daughter seems to have a preference for Sanskrit. Why would she want to give a South American bird a Sanskrit name?

[Navre]

I like "Merlin," but after watching a video of him I just think he seems like an Orville.

[The Happy Parrot]

Sounds to me like your bird has moved into a very caring family and he will no doubt be very happy with all of the attention that he gets from everyone. He looks to be a wonderful little( maybe not so little ) boy.
It sounds like your daughter has a major romantic streak running in her mind, just going by her list of names. I am looking forward to learning how the naming progresses and what the final name will be. I am not the greatest at coming up with names but most of my birds came with a name that they were already accustomed to, but if I ever get another bird, one without a name, I want to call it Doc. There is no real reason for it, perhaps Bugs Bunny. I just like it.
Well good luck on finding your baby's name and thank you very much for sharing with us.

Thank You Mr. Wolf, yes for the first time in a LONG time my daughter is very happy, I was worried about her handling this large mac but so far she has not let the bird dominate her and understands the concept of "Top Bird" LOL, starting with a baby is an advantage of no bad habits or mental problems from bad owners

I will be sure to let you know when a name is picked out but I feel like me and the boys will just be calling him "Bird" for the next month or so

"Doc" is a cool name, you made me smile thinking of Bugsy !!
Saying your birds all came with a name tells me you must have done some loving rescues !!
I am 55 years old and this is the first "baby" bird that has ever been in my life, I just felt like I deserved one once in my life, we are so blessed to share our lives with these Magnificent Creatures!!

You have my sympathy on losing your old Zon, and congratulations on your new baby.

Thank You, most bird lovers know the pain and can take solace sharing with other bird lovers, holding each others hands through it

The Zon was a big part of our lives, it was the first death I could not shield my children from, my then 17 year old son cried hard for the first time



Poe and our hairless cat "Ra", the bird was not scared of the cat, and the Sphynx cat is not a "typical" cat, mine has no real mousing instinct


Poe and Me in the Park on a Beautiful Spring Day, Should have seen the look on the guys face next to me when I Popped Poe Out The Window !!

Your daughter seems to have a preference for Sanskrit. Why would she want to give a South American bird a Sanskrit name?

LOL, I am going to have to get you to have a talk with her, She leaned towards Sanskrit to pay tribute to what is considered to be the first and oldest language known to mankind, We were looking at lists of the "true" people of South America, the indigenous peoples of the Amazon, we did settle on one of the tribe names but it sounds feminine (and most of them do) and now that we know its a boy

Can you suggest any South American names?

I just brought this fact up with her and she is now starting the search over for a tribe name that sounds more masculine

I guess you don't like Wolfie either ?

I like "Merlin," but after watching a video of him I just think he seems like an Orville.

Orville !! Ha HA Ha, I LIKE IT !! (fade to the popcorn dude Orville Redenbacher)



BTW, my name is Joe

[Pajarita]

Welcome to the forum, Joe. If you are going to do research on names based on the geographical area where WGM come from, you'll have a job and a half because they are distributed over almost all of SouthAmerica, from Panama to the North of Argentina and that's A LOT of different dialects and languages but how about Cacique? It was a word used by several different civilizations throughout the Caribbean and South America and it means chief in all of them (and all the chiefs were powerful men so it's very masculine, too -LOL). BTW, it's pronounce Kah see Keh (no 'ey' sound at the end, a hard 'e' only).

[Wolf]

Well my first bird was Kiki, a Senegal, who basically rescued herself. She just appeared one morning, hungry, thirsty and half frozen. To make it worse we had a storm front moving in, so she took a chance and landed on me and I brought her in.

I did find the original owners, about 9 or 10 months later. but after talking to them, in my house with Kiki present, and listening to how they kept the bird, I didn't say anything and after looking at Kiki for a while, Kiki hated them, they decided that she wasn't their bird anyway. Her name came from a sound that she makes.
Kookooloo, is my Congo African Grey, and she came with the name and knew herself by it. I don't care for the name, but she is good with it. She came up from Florida to live with the same people that Kiki, escaped from. She refused to accept them at all and they gave her to me before winter set in. Since their idea of good parrot keeping included the bird being kept in a cage outside, covered with a tarp with a heat light for warmth, and the fact that Kookooloo was plucked naked, I doubt that she would have survived the winter.
Mimi, our Yellow naped Amazon, was given to us after the people lost several other birds to disease and finally decides that they could not keep her. They had her for 14 years and the bird is still as loony as a crazy bird. But she is getting better, slowly.
Paquita, the Celestial Parrotlet, was in New Jersey and needed a home so I drove up there, 1200 mile round trip to get her. She is a real trip and has no idea that she is smaller than anyone in the entire house. I just got her a hamster ball so that she could safely wander about on the floor. She really seems to like it. I call her Keeta.
I also just acquire a dove ,and am working on a new ,better home for her.

That is my birds, and the thing is that both myself and my Lady never intended to have birds like this as we both think that they belong free outside, but these can't survive that way, so what do you do? We chose to help them to have a good place to call home.

[Navre]

Magellan struck me as a good name, too. And it has a South American connection, if not indigenous.

As an added bonus, you'll have the phrase, "No yellin' Magellan."

[Harpmaker]

Can you suggest any South American names?

I know are a few words in Quechua, which is the language spoken by the Inca.

Chicha pronounced chee-chuh is the name of a purple drink made from corn, sometimes non-alcoholic. It is the ceremonial drink offered to Pizarro, when he angered the Inca by pouring it on the ground.

Quipu (kee-poo) is the name of the knotted strings that they used to transmit news. Quechua is not really a written language(so spelling is inconsistent still), but they sent news and tax records across the empire with quipus. Maybe for a great talker?

Pachacuti means something like "He who shakes the Earth" and was the name of the Inca who started the conquering phase of the empire. Machu Picchu (means old peak)was probably his royal retreat.

Yupanqui is sort of like the family name of the Inca rulers. It means something like "with honor"

I'll try to remember to look up some more when I get home.

[Pajarita]

I am pretty sure that Yupanqui means 'he who tells stories' but if we are going to go with Quechua, a good name would be Atahualpa (also Atawallpa) because it means 'bird of fortune' and also 'bird from far away' (it was also the name of the last Incan emperor, betrayed and killed by Pizarro).