Naming and Numbering Our Sheep

You may be wondering how we choose the names or ear tag numbers for our sheep. To be honest, there really is no  rhyme or reason to how we choose their names. Sometimes my youngest children choose a name, and then we get names like, a spotted lamb named Spotty, or the daughter of Leela gets the name Weewa. :o) I admit that at first it was hard to let the children name some of the lambs. Some of the names would make me wince a bit, I'm afraid. But now I have come to love and appreciate their help with this special job. It is something that we all look forward to, and sometimes it gets a bit heated, as we banter back and forth about which sheep should be given which name, and why.

Sometimes names are chosen by the day they are born. Hence, our sheep Terra is given the Latin name for earth or land because her birth day landed on Earth Day that year. Lots of times they are named for characters in our favorite books, stories and movies. Our wonderful ram Tumnus, was named for one of our favorite characters in the C.S. Lewis book, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Sometimes I will use a certain letter of the alphabet for related families, such as Lindi, mother of Lily and Lucy. Or Greta, mother of Greela (another kid pick!), mother of Grace. Others are named for their physical characteristics... a black ewe named Shadow, a small ram named Burl (we thought it might boost his ego!), or an ultra white lamb named Snow White. Yes, no rhyme or reason at all, just whatever happens to strikes our fancy in the moment!

And for those of you that are wondering if we know them all by name, yes, all fifty something of them! Sometimes people will inquire on a specific sheep and use their ear tag number to identify them. Most of the time I won't know who they are talking about by number alone, and I have to go look it up in my record book or on my website!

We are always on the look out for unique, beautiful and interesting names for our flock, and we would love any suggestions you may have. Please post them in them comments below, and who knows, maybe one of our lambs will be named with one of your suggestions!