Koolfie: Story Behind The Name

Fun story of how we ended up naming our first dog Koolfie.

Like most other dogs, Koolfie thoroughly enjoys her life. Koolfie is a unique and a cool name, isn’t it? Let me tell you the fun story behind it.

Spoiler alert: Kulfi is a famous Indian dessert, which is a frozen dairy popsicle of a variety of flavors

One of the life goals for my wife and I was to get a dog as soon as we have our own house. You can call it a shared bucket list item. Having a home to our name was required to provide the necessary freedom to our pup that a rented apartment cannot.

My wife and I knew we were going to rescue a dog. Buying a dog when there are so many precious ones out in this world waiting for adoption into a loving home just didn‘t feel right. We also knew we wanted a puppy rather than an adult dog simply because it made sense to bond with our first pet as early in its life as possible.

I wanted a bigger dog such as a boxer or a retriever but my wife was inclined toward a smaller breed, a beagle for example. As a best of both worlds, we agreed on getting a mix breed that has a combination of the breeds we were longing. My wife tirelessly searched for every adoption advertisement from animal rescue organizations nearby. At last, she found the one we were searching for: a cute bunch of 6 week old boxer-beagle mix puppies listed for adoption about 20 miles from our home. She didn't waste a second to book an appointment, even before letting me know about it.

It all started with Candy

We waited anxiously for the weekend to arrive and meet these puppies. On that Saturday, we were the first couple waiting outside the local PetSmart where we were going to meet the puppies. We had an adoption request form already filled out to beat the rush. As soon as the puppies arrived from their kennel, we got our hands on them. My wife instantly fell in love with the biggest pup of the bunch. Her name was Candy!

Why Kulfi

Given our enthusiasm and genuineness of the application, we were able to get past the interview process and had our application approved by the adoption center. We were all set to bring the puppy home next weekend after ”home visit” by a couple of representatives of the adoption center. During the visit, one of the representatives told us that adult dogs typically respond to sound of first syllable in their name but having a similar sounding name wasn't going to be an issue with Candy. She was less than 2 months old and was not responding to her name yet. Anyhow, my wife and I had decided a couple of years ago that our daughters will have their names starting with a K to align with my name while sons‘ will have theirs starting with an S to align with hers. What the representative told us about how dogs respond typically to first syllable of their names was an omen that we had to name our pup with something starting with a K.

After much deliberation, my wife and I shortlisted a few names including Kandy (variant of Candy) and Kookie (variant of Cookie). When we told my father about this list, he was surprised and told us to consider my favorite dessert Kulfi instead. My wife and I looked at each other only to share the excitement that engulfed us instantaneously!

Kulfi to Koolfie

Having the name finalized, my entire family including my parents visited the adoption center on the day of adoption. Without much wait, we got to hold our baby and started calling her Kulfi. Everyone at the adoption center loved the name and praised us for its uniqueness. As I was getting ready to sign the adoption paper, my wife grabbed the pen and wrote “Koolfie” on the paper! I was surprised how cool our puppy’s name looked in the black and white.

Fitting name to a snow-lover

So there you have it. The credits for her name go primarily to my father but the copyright for its coolness belongs to my lovely wife! And to stamp her approval, Koolfie doesn’t hold back in showing her love for cold things - whether preferring frozen treats over typical room temperature food or snacking tirelessly on white flurries on snow days!