In case you’ve recently acquired a new dog, and are wondering what to name it, look no further than the early fifteenth-century manuscript called The Master of Game. Appended at the end is a list of suitable names for your hunting dog. Here are some suggestions:

Nosewise

Swepestake

Smylfeste

Trynket

Amiable

Nameles

Holdfast

Absolom

Another medieval manuscript suggests Huiiau, which doesn’t quite roll off the tongue, and Blessiau, which would invite the inevitable snide rejoinder “But I didn’t sneeze.” Still, your dog would likely be the only one at the dog park with such a historically significant name.

Then again, there’s always Max or Cooper.

Source: Kathleen Walker-Meikle, Medieval Dogs 

Images: Miniature of Canis Minor, in tables from Ptolemy's Almagest, from the British Library

Harley 2278 f. 44v Lothbrok's dog from the British Library

Detail of a miniature of a Lothbrok's dog leading a knight to Lothbrok's body. Harley 2278   f. 45v the British Library