Alpaca Names
After nearly a year of waiting, your cria is finally born! Not only are you thrilled about your new arrival, but you are also excited about naming the little critter. If you are like me, you may have been thinking about names for months. But you really cannot choose the right name until you actually observe your new cria. What does it look like? What is its personality? There are lots of things to consider before naming your diminutive alpaca. Some farms have themes for their alpacas. For example, a farm with an astronomical theme could name their alpacas Luna, Nebulla, Polaris, etc. Another farm with a musician theme might use names such as Bach and Beethoven. Other farms name the offspring after one of the parents in some manner. For example, if the mother was named Princess, the girl offspring could be Princess Jasmin, or Princess Diana. If the sire is well-known like Caligula, sometimes the cria is named for him – Caligula’s whatever. This approach effectively capitalizes on the reputation of the sire for marketing your alpaca through name recognition. Future herd sires should have a macho sounding name that makes him seem powerful and studly. Wimpy names will not do much for his breeding career. Some farms prefer to emphasize the national origin of their alpacas. You will find a lot of alpacas with Peruvian in their name since the imports from Peru a decade or two ago were high quality. Personally, I do not believe that Peruvian alpacas are any better than mixed alpacas now since alpaca breeders in the United States have accomplished so much with their breeding programs. You will also see names that look like they are stuttering such as PPPeruvian and 4Peruvian. What is that all about? There were several importations from Peru which were designated as first, second, third, fourth, etc. The number of P’s indicate their importation number. Personally, we are rather eclectic and prefer unusual combinations of names with some personal meaning. For example, we named our first cria Knight Shine because his fleece is so intensely bright and he has the presence of a true knight. We also liked this juxtaposition because night is the opposite of day which is bright. I keep a list of catchy names as I think about them. So far, we have not used any names on that list, but it is reassuring for us to have a back-up in case we cannot think of any alpaca names when we need them! So, what are those strange initials that appear in some alpaca names? Those initials are called breeder identifiers, and they identify the alpaca breeder, of course. You can obtain a breeder ID from Alpaca Registry for a nominal cost.
These breeder identifiers are used mostly for marketing purposes for your farm. The ID is also a way to distinguish your alpaca from another alpaca with a similar name. Breeder identifiers can also be whole words. For example, our breeder identifier is Sweet Creations. We would have preferred to use initials, but all of the initials that made any sense for Sweet Creations Alpaca Farm were already reserved. So, we decided to use Sweet Creations. You can use your identifier in various combinations in the name of your alpaca. You can place it in front or in back. You can add an apostrophe, too. For example, our first cria is officially Sweet Creations’ Knight Shine. But he could have been Knight Shine of Sweet Creations or Sweet Creations Knight Shine. He could also have been Knight Shine Sweet Creations but that does not really make much sense. By the way, you can use your breeder identification differently for different alpacas. What if you want to change the name of your alpaca? You can do so if the alpaca has no registered offspring for a small fee to the Alpaca Registry. It is best if you choose your alpaca name wisely the first time. So far, I have been discussing alpaca names per the guidelines set up by the Alpaca Registry. However, if you do not plan to register your alpaca with the Alpaca Registry, you can name it anything that you want. Good luck with your alpaca names! Return to Top of Alpaca Names Page
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