To call my black dog Sooty?

[PaxMalmKallax]

DH says we can’t name our new puppy Sooty because he is black and people might get offended. Is that the case? Sorry for my ignorance.
Puppy gets microchipped by the breeder next week and I’d like to have named him by then. Any better ideas are gratefully received!

Sweep?

How the fuck is sooty racist?

My black horse is called Ebony! Is that racist?

I didn’t think anyone called dogs Sooty any more — it sounds like a throwback to the days when all dogs were called Spot, Rex, Prince, Bingo, or Lassie.

Don't really see a problem. The 1st thing I would think of is the puppet tbh.

No, would say that's unreasonable or offensive . My sister in law had a white dog called Snowy!

Soot isn't a race though. It's a by product of burning coal etc.

Bert (im thinking chimney sweep scene in mary poppins)

Can we see a pic?

No your dp has got it wrong.

My cats were called sooty and sweep. I don't think anyone thought anything of it.

Just remembered someone I knew called their black cat soot it was not a problem.

I’d swerve it I think. It does have a whiff of racist connotations. It was definitely a derogatory nickname.

Sooty not soot

I considered Sooty for my dog and my parents in their 70s told me it was not appropriate. Perhaps it was used offensively in the 60s/70s? Anyway, I was not aware of this but did not use it anyway.

I think Sooty is fine, Guy Gibson's dog's name clearly isn't.

I used to have a black cat called Enoch.

The Sooty puppet was orange if I remember correctly and the Sweep on was grey.

I can't see an issue at all and I have black relatives. But if your dh has mentioned it then I would think of something else as he will now think of it as inappropriate and there's plenty of names out there.

Well it’s a bit naff to be honest if nothing else. But like people who call their car socks because they have white feet.
Can’t you be a bit more imaginative?

Wasn't there a lot of fuss a few years back whereby Prince Charles was criticised for calling his friend Sooty? It was the nickname by which he was known by all his friends and had been for years and years, but Prince Charles got lots of flak for it.

We have two cats called Sooty and Sweep (Sooty is black). No-one has ever commented on it tbh

Well “Sooty” is included in a list of racist slurs (Says it’s a US term for black people). It’s certainly not the most common of racist slurs. And not really used in the U.K. But why would you? The connotation is that the most important thing about your dog is it’s colour. I appreciate that this is an animal not a person, but it’s still an unpleasant message to put across in my opinion. So, in answer to your question, whilst not overtly racist like some names might be, there is an unpleasantly racist edge to the name, in my view, that would be best avoided.

Thanks all... we were all set to call him Monty and then yesterday my cousin announced the birth of her son Monty!! So now we’re trying to think of something else.

Post a picture of your pup in The Doghouse and you'll get loads of better name suggestions to choose from.

I wouldn’t call it that name. There are loads of names to choose from. In my opinion, it will be offensive to some people.

Pepper?