THE CHOICE OF MY KENNEL NAME

Why did I choose Zeni?

It always fascinates me to KNOW why people choose a particular name for their kennel or even their dog so I will take a moment to explain to you where my choice comes from! I am the kind of person who thinks long and hard about all the names she gives to her dogs so it was impossible for me to come up with a name without a true meaning for the name of my kennel.

 

 

This project is so important to me that it had to have a perfect name, which will be easily remembered and which was short to have enough room for the registration names of the puppies, which will be just as thoughtful!

For a while I thought I would call my Rhodesian Ridgebacks kennel, Mahalo, for the way it sounds to the ear as well as its meaning in Hawaiian. But after a while I thought to myself that an Hawaiian name for an African dog kennel didn't make sense. I then thought of other names including Zikomo which meant the same thing as Mahalo but in Chichewa, a language spoken in Zimbabwe, otherwise the Republic of Rhodesia, hence "Rhodesian Ridgeback".

As a graphic designer by profession, I often do business with several professionals in the field, including a printer whom I like dearly. Following one of my visits to her printing press, she told me just as I was leaving that I was one of her favorite people because I am genuine. This message touched me and made me think a lot.

When you breed a breed that you love, you want it to be genuine to this breed. Let our future dogs have the structure, the temperament and the energy to do what they were created for. Genuine to their heritage, so we work for hours and days to make sure we choose the right breeding dogs and to "build" the ideal temperament!

It was then that I began to look for ways to say Genuine in dialects spoken in Africa, more precisely in Zimbabwe or even the Republic of Rhodesia. The following dialects offered me different ideas with google translate:

1. Chewa (Chichewa): zenizeni
2. Shona: zvechokwadi
3. Sotho: ‘nete

It’s nice to have Google Translate but it is clear that sometimes the translations are not 100% real so by doing other research I came across a Chichewa dictionary. Here is the translation for genuine and "zenizeni" on this website.

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Genuine 1.-eni-eni; this is a genuine answer = ili ndi yankho lenileni; 2.-ona; also: honest, sincere; real 3.-sakhala cha bodza; 4.-chindunji; zenizeni 1.truth/ good things/ real things (with nouns of the zi- class); zinthu
Zenizeni = true things; kuchita zenizeni = doing good things/ doing genuine things/ doing exact things/ doing remarkable things; kukhala zenizeni = being real/ being unequivocal; kunena zenizeni = saying the truth/ being candid/ being frank and honest; 2.specifics

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These description stuck tome right away. It was then that my choice was made! I would use half of the zenizeni world to come up with Zeni, a name with a beautiful meaning, short and that sounds good. The only part left was to have my first choice of name with the Canadian Kennel Club to be accepted! You know how it turned out! :)

Thank you for your time!
Sabrina :)