• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
The Growly Books

The Growly Books

Adventure is waiting ...

  • Books
    • About the Books
    • How to Read The Growly Books
    • Reviews
  • Authors
  • Explore
  • Blog
    • Folklore
    • Behind the Scenes
    • News
    • Reading Fun
    • Children’s Art
  • Contact
  • Shop
  • Show Search
Hide Search

What Do You Name a Bear?

What do you name a bear?

There have been many famous bear names down through history. Winnie-the-Pooh, of course. Paddington, Baloo, Gentle Ben. And there are countless names of dearly loved teddy bears that are a part of our childhoods. Mine was called Sooty. Named after bear in a story book named … well … Sooty.

But how do you name a whole lot of bears … and monkeys and people and birds and even a rabbit or two. I’m sure there are a lot of ways. Some people I know can invent names with what seems like the greatest of ease. That’s not me. And it may not be you. But thankfully there are some wonderful tools that are made for people just like us. Whether it be bears or baboons or racehorses or robots, here are a few things that have proved to be a huge help to me.

I would list them as “Old School” and “New School,” but I don’t think that’s really a thing, and even the “New School” things are really “Old School” if you were born in or after the 90’s. Does that make sense? Whew! 🙂

Ok. If I were to say (truthfully) “Old School,” a baby name book can be a wonderful friend. (I used a baby name website, which is kind of modern I guess, though it is basically the same.)

Starting at “A,” I went through every single name, writing down everything that could be a Growly Books possibility. I had four categories in mind as I was looking at names: Bears, Monkeys, People, and Other Animals.

After writing down all the possible names, I went through and marked whether the name sounds Bear-ish, Monkey-like, etc. There wasn’t really a science to this. Sometimes it was just Erin saying, “Definitely Monkey,” or just a feeling that “that’s a good Bear one.” What was important was that monkeys, bears, and people had very different histories and cultures, and there were certain names that just seemed to fit.

I tried to avoid names that sounded too familiar. Or names of people I know. (Not everyone wants to be a bear. 😉

For places, I tried to imagine what the founders might have been thinking when they envisioned the city or village. Towerwood, named of course for its enormous trees. Haven, named because it is where the bears of Hegel’s time found a place to rest. For ancient, abandoned places … names that sounded mysterious and old. Often, like in our world, place names can be a mixture of languages, and this can be a fun way to create a place that is familiar but also mysterious.

There are quite a few tools you can find online to help you if you get stuck. Name generators can be a lot of fun. You can Google “castle name generators” or “island name generators,” etc. (Just a warning though. Some of these sites might have viruses, so be careful). I just Googled “bear name generator,” and there actually are some! Why didn’t I think of this earlier?

One more thing I have learned about names. They will grow in meaning along with their character. So find one that sounds good to you, and don’t worry too much about whether it is perfect. You can always change it in the final edit if it still doesn’t fit by the end of the story. But I’ve got a feeling you probably won’t need to.

*One more way to name a bear. 🙂 I was stuck in traffic a week or two ago and saw this:

I think he or she will be making an appearance in the future.

Written by:
Phil Ulrich
Thoughts:
4 Comments

Categories: Behind the Scenes

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kerry, Emma and Ava

    November 8, 2022 at 12:02 am

    We are so excited for book 6!!! We love this blog and using the name Doosan! It’s perfect.
    Can’t wait to see that name in the new book.
    Who knows where inspiration will come from. You will probably never forget that day in traffic.

    Reply
    • Phil Ulrich

      November 13, 2022 at 4:24 pm

      Kerry, Emma and Ava. So glad you are excited for book 6! Can’t wait to share it with you. You might have to wait a bit longer to meet Doosan though. Doosan will be making a first appearance in book 7. There are a lot of new characters in book 6 though. Thank you so much for commenting.

      Reply
  2. Sara Masarik

    November 9, 2022 at 10:54 pm

    That was adorable! I read it aloud to my big kids and we enjoyed it. As a matter of fact, Jack is currently re-reading Morning – sitting across the living room from me right now…

    Reply
    • Phil Ulrich

      November 13, 2022 at 4:25 pm

      Thank you Sara! I’ll have to be diligent and write more here. So fun to hear Jack id off on Adventure again.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Discover more

Enter your email address to stay up-to-date on all the Growly news!

Footer

The Growly Books

P.O. Box 80282
Simpsonville, SC 29680

Copyright © 2013-2023 Philip & Erin Ulrich · Site by Erin Ulrich Creative

Keep In Touch

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Vimeo
  • The Books
  • How to Read the Series
  • Reviews
  • Shop
  • Connect
  • Privacy Policy
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. You can opt-out if you wish. Accept Reject Privacy Policy
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT