If you had a dragon, what would you name him/her?
I had a fairly long discussion about this with Jim the Editor and didn’t really come to a satisfying conclusion; I think I’m possibly going about the question the wrong way. See… when I take it upon myself to imagine a dragon, I sort of… picture something that would come with a name? Like, a dragon to my mind is an intelligent creature that might not necessarily want me to name it, or might expect a name from its own language. Y’know, you can’t name a dragon the way you’d name a pet dog or whatever because it’s going to understand the name and has to like it, but it’s also weird to just give a dragon a normal human name like “Kyle” – which is a name I genuinely like and could imagine giving to a kid, but is undeniably a weird name for a dragon.
Can you do that? Can you name a dragon “Kyle”? Kyle the dragon?
I mean, I’m committed now; I guess if I ever get a dragon, then this is what’s happening and we all just have to live with that.
Pokémaniacal 
I mean, you’re assuming sapient dragon here, and even that’s not a given. Dragons are HAZY. If I got a dragon cub I’d name it something cute, like, Marshmellow for a white one, or Daffodil for a yellow one, and if it got sapient when it grew up it’s nickname time. Don’t blame me, Mars/Dill.
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I think the thing is, “dragon” is such a broad term with so many interpretations that you kinda have no choice but to make assumptions and picture what *you* understand a dragon to be. And I understand dragons to be sapient. You might not, but if we have to agree first on what a dragon actually *is*, then the question is pretty much unanswerable.
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If a dragon can be named Pete, why not Kyle?
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The Dragon wasn’t named Pete, the kid was named Pete, I thing the dragon was named Elliot.
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Well point taken but that’s just as odd of a name for a dragon!
Though to be honest I was thinking Puff the Magic Dragon when I wrote it, no idea why. I was thinking of that song and not the movie. 😂
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welp
I guess when a dragon shows up in my D&D campaign he’ll be named Kyle
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Ok but how is naming a sapient dragon cub different from naming a baby? (I know the ask didn’t specify it, but once we go sapient in our assumptions, I’m sure we can make plenty)
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I would say because when a dragon cub is born, in my mind, it is effectively more of a toddler than a baby, and as such, it would at least be sapient enough to want approval for any name given to it.
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Freshly hatched DnD dragons are already as smart or smarter than the average adult human. And already more than capable of ripping that adult to shreds. One Third Edition book focused on dragons has penalties for dragons that explicitly only last an hour after hatching because they’re already combat-capable at that point!
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