the perfect name

sitting framed on a shelf in the kitchen is a list of names. you can see some of the list above. the old devil. the shire horse. the seven stars. the blue cow. boot and shoe. the black horse. white house. the grapes. the names go on and on. what are these names? where did these names come from?

here is another list of names. can you guess what these names are? the peach tart. the pop eye. 5 orange potatoes. whiskey marie. the best life ever. pants with names. not enough mud. the blue yak. the time crook. slugs in the refrigerator. lobster and swan. skybluesea. the gentlebear....

give up? the first list shows pub names in great britain. one time when we were traveling in the north of england, i wrote down all the names of the pubs we encountered as we were driving. and no, we didn't enjoy a pint in every one of them (just some of them), but we were tempted.

the other list is blog names. i follow a couple of these blogs. to be honest, what gets me looking at something is, in fact, that oftentimes i am lured by the name. i love names. how do people come up with names?  how do people finally decide on what, to them, will be the perfect name, be it person, pet, pub or blog?