Where'd you get his name?

When I told my parents that we got a puppy and named him Riley my father said, "What kind of Jewish name is that for a dog?" Given that Michael's father and our next door neighbor said similar things, let me just say: THE DOG ISN'T JEWISH.

That said- it's kinda cool how Riley got his name.

We went down with a list of names we liked for a boy dog. We knew we were getting a male as there is no way in hell that Phoebe would tolerate another bitch in the house. This was the list we had written down on the airplane ride:

Jackson
Silas
Tyler
Oscar
Josh
Tripp
Frasier

We were really going between Jackson and Silas. Notice; Riley wasn't on the list. Michael had suggested it earlier but I was quick to knock it off the list because I had a bad association with the Jack Russell Terrier next door to me name Riley when I lived on 20th Street in Chelsea who barked all day/night.

So, during our entire first meeting with him we were calling him by both names, seeing if one felt better or if he responsed to the sound of one better than the other. But that didn't happen. Then, we were driving away from the house, talking about him and how excited we were to pick him up the next day and take him home to New Jersey and it just fell out of my mouth. I refereed to him as Riley! I have no idea why. I thought I had said Silas, but I said Riley! And Michael stopped and stared at me and there was this knowing look between us. I said, "Oh my gosh! I just called him Riley! Why'd I do that?" And, smiling, Michael said, "Because that's his name. He's a Riley." It took us a moment, but we knew it was right. He wasn't a Jackson. Not a Silas. He was Riley.

Now, the title for his AKC registration? Well, that's another story....

Obviously, the first part, "Coosa Creek's..." is homage to his breeder. This is typical and requested in the adoption process. For the latter part; We often joke that Chandler and Phoebe live the attended lives of Royalty. We jokingly refer to them as The Baron and Baroness. Full titles, Phoebe, The Baroness Von Peebleschnapps (a name I made up) and Chandler, The Baron Von Kamplemacher (Kamplemacher is Michael's paternal great, great-grandfather's original name before he took his wife's name in marriage, changing the patrilineal surname to Suchman.) It's been a joke for years with us- The Baron and Baroness.

So would Riley be a Duke? An Earl? No-- he would be the Lord of the Manor. And given that we live in Essex County, he thus became Sir Riley, Lord of Essex.

Yes- we are COMPLETELY insane.