Can I name a Cria anything I want or are there guidelines?

I am going to go over some basic rules on the policy & procedures of ARI on how/what you can and cannot name a cria.  If you are a member of ARI - then all this info is readily available on the ARI website and I will quote sections so that you can read the info for yourself.  If you are not an ARI member - you will not be able to access this part of the ARI website.

Breeder Identifiers - A breeder identifier is a unique identifier chosen by the Indicated Owner and approved by the Registry for owners of ARI registered alpacas. (Section 04-03) of ARI Policy & Procedures

Why should you have a breeders id?

1. It says to the world that you bred and created this animal.  This is a real feather in your cap especially if he/she was sold and has gone on to have a very successful show career or produced progeny that were successful .
2. It makes it much easier to name a cria.  For example - there may be a ton of animals named "Apollo" or "Thor" but once you attach your breeder's id to that name - it makes that animal unique to your farm and unique in the ARI database.   

Naming crias -

Usually these rules involve breeder ids:

One of the specific rules regarding naming an alpaca is :

"An alpaca name cannot include a breeder identifier other than that of the Indicated Owner of the dam at the time of service without permission of the Indicated Owner of the dam at the time of service. " (Section 04-03) of ARI Policy & Procedures

This is something that often confuses a lot of breeders at the time of cria registration.    Translated, this simply means that unless you owned the DAM at the time of conception/service, you CANNOT name the cria with your breeder id WITHOUT the express permission of the DAM owner at time of conception/service (usually the seller). 

EXAMPLE  1 -  I will use my breeder id "Alma Park"  and the generic name "Some Alpaca Farm" as the other breeder id.   Alma Park finances a dam  to Some Alpaca Farm.  The date of the contract is March 1 2009, and the last payment is scheduled to be made on March 1, 2010.  This dam is bred on May 25, 2009 with an expected due date of May 16, 2010.   Some Alpaca Farm makes all his payments on time and the Dam's ARI is transferred on March 15, 2010.  The cria is born on May 14, 2010.  What are the possible names that the baby can be registered as  :

1 - Some Alpaca Farm Butterscotch
2 - Alma Park Butterscotch
3 - Butterscotch

Number 1  -  would need express authorization from the Dam owner (Alma Park) at time of service.   Many established breeders/sellers are building a brand and it is doubtful as to whether they will let this be authorized. 
Number 2 - this too would need express authorization from the Dam owner (Alma Park) at time of service.  Many established breeders/sellers would let this go through no problem
Number 3 - a quick search of ARI shows 90 alpacas with the name Butterscotch somewhere in them and generic names like this are ofter auto-rejected by the ARI system.  But if it is a unique enough name - these one word names would go through no problem as it does not violate any ARI policies or procedures.

EXAMPLE 2 -  I will use my breeder id "Alma Park"  and the generic name "Some Alpaca Farm" as the other breeder id.

A Dam was purchased for cash on April 13, 2008 pregnant and due Oct 12, 2008.  The ARI was transferred on April 25, 2008.  Sometime in August of 2008, the Dam lost her baby and it did not survive.  The Dam was bred back in Oct 2008 and gave birth to a healthy boy on Oct 15, 2009.  What can this cria be named:

1 - Some Alpaca Farm Apollo
2 - Alma Park Apollo
3 - Apollo


Number 1  -  since the dam was owned by Some Alpaca Farm at the time of service - this is a perfectly acceptable name
Number 2 - this would need express authorization from Alma Park and I am not quite sure why the new owner would want to do this.  It is up to the individual breeder/seller to decide if this is ok. 
Number 3 - This would pose the same issue as number 3 in our last example. 


The Dam owner at time of service would still need to sign off on this cria.  The stud owner will also have to sign off on this cria.  Just remember the sire and sire owner HAS NO bearing on how you can name a cria.   It is ONLY the Dam owner at time of service /conception.  My saying to new people is "whoever owns the uterus at service gets to name the cria" . . . .


Changing the name of an alpaca -
Name changes shall be allowed for alpacas having no registered offspring. (Section 04-05) of ARI Policy & Procedures

Proposed name changes must also comply with the naming requirements of policy ARI 04-04 Alpaca Names. (Section 04-05) of ARI Policy & Procedures

While I have never had the desire or need to change an alpaca's registered name -this does happen and there are valid reasons for it.

Translating these 2 sentences of the code means that if an alpaca has no registered offspring, a name change is rather easily accomplished if the change complies with the naming requirements in section 04-04 of the ARI Policy & Procedures code which we spoke about above.   If there are registered offspring then there has to be a petition made to the BOD of ARI. 


EXAMPLE 1 -  I will use my breeder id "Alma Park"  and the generic name "Some Alpaca Farm" as the other breeder id.   A Dam was purchased and financed with cria at side on March 1, 2009.  Cria was less than a week old when Dam was purchased. The cria came with the Dam and there was no value placed on the cria.  Dam was not paid off until March 1, 2010.  The cria was named Alma Park CutiePie and the ARI certificate was in the sellers name.   Once the dam was paid off and both the ARI for the Dam and Cria were transferred to the buyer, the buyer attempted to change the crias name to Some Alpaca Farm CutiePie.   This would obviously be denied.  Firstly, the cria was born prior to the buyer even entering into a contract for the Dam and the seller obviously made the breeding decision for this Dam and owned the Dam at time of Conception and owned the Dam at time of birth of the cria. 

EXAMPLE 2 -  I named an alpaca "Alma Park Snook'ems" cause he was so adorable at birth.  Well as Snook'ems grew up, he did amazingly well at shows and was really destined to be a herdsire.  Since Snook'ems did not sound like a regal enough name and had not started his breeding career and had no registered cria, it is quite easy for me to go into the registry and change his name.

Change - Alma Park Snook'ems to Alma Park Stud Muffin

I was the dam owner at conception so I did not have to ask anyone's permission even if I had no longer owned the dam.


Other items in name such as "Bolivian", "Peruvian", "Accoyo" etc etc -

There are no specific guidelines in the ARI Policy & Procedures for this type of additions to names.  When I started breeding 8 years ago, it was very common to see these types of items in names and many farms use it today.  It is largely for marketing.  I personally do not use this when I name any of my crias simply because I prefer to use unique names that are fun and have a story behind them.  Many people also like to add the Sire's name, again, this is great for marketing especially if it is a well known sire.