Heartlove Deary Emma Puffy: The story of her name.

Naming Bela was a process.
We went back and forth, round and round, tossing names out that the other would almost immediately denounce. Occasionally, we'd think on one, bounce it around...and then denounce it.

There were three main categories from which to work. 'Dog' names, human names appropriate for dogs, and then straight up human names.

We didn't like the dog names, in general. Spot, Blackie, Lucky (notice that most dog names are little more than adjectives). We actually toyed with the name Katherine for a bit. We would obviously have done this for our amusement only. Just think of it. Someone comes up to you on the street. 'What is your dog's name?' 'Katherine', we'd reply. We'd yell at her from across the park. We'd need to get her attention on a walk. "Katherine!-- "Katherine, come! Sit! Beg!"

We got my niece Olivia involved. 4-year-olds can have great clarity at times, in matters like these.
I told my sister to ask Olivia for a couple of suggestions.

Roughly five minutes went by from the time of request.
Then the text message came in:
Heartlove Deary Emma Puffy

Heartlove made a showing, but at the end of the day, we chose a human name that could work for a dog.
Béla. Hungarian. Meaning: Bright. Pronunciation: Bay-law.

I had heard of the name before in reference to Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, a band whose name I knew, but whose music I did not. I imagined Béla to be quite the woman, a statuesque African-American with her buzzing Flecktones working for her in the background. I later found out that Béla Fleck is a man. A white man.

Béla is traditionally a man's name. Had I recalled the 1984 Olympics (Mary Lou Retton's coach!), I would have been clearer on this. Remembering that Dracula was a Béla would have also helped.

Never the matter.

I heard a man (whose accent intimated that he may be closer to the origin of the name than myself) reprimanding his Béla (presumably a male) one day in the park.
BELAW!!, he bellowed!, BELAW!! -- while tapping his dog quite forcefully between the shoulder blades. The German Shepherd kept his head down, cowering.
Though this Béla's breed has always been my least favorite, that day I felt a sadness for the wiry-haired beast. He seemed to be ruled by this larger beast. And not in the most loving way.

Mike and I say her name a little more softly. Our pronunciation is without the W on the end. Bay-la, we say. Bela, we spell. (Usually without the accent, but we have recently mastered the alt+0233, so you'll be seeing the accent much more.) Not many grasp her name, though. Nearly everyone calls her Bella. Even close friends seem exasperated when I try to correct them. Her name is not Bella; it is Béla. It has an accent and one less L. It is deliberate in its difference.

When someone does recognize her name, I swell with pride.
I took her to to get her paws done recently, and the groomer asked her name.
"Bay-la", I sounded out.
"Oh! -- a beautiful Hungarian name", she replied.

I doubled her tip.