The goose most likely to need a name this year is made of concrete. The porch goose, also called a lawn goose, peaked in the 1980s, stayed common in the Midwest and came back in the 2020s, and it is usually named after the outfit you put on it rather than anything it does.
So these goose names are split by which goose you have — the one on the porch, the one on your desk, and the one in the paddock that will chase the postman. The names overlap more than you might expect, but the reasons for picking them don’t, and it helps to know which kind you are shopping for before you start.
A Porch Goose Is Named for Its Wardrobe
Owners of concrete geese dress them in costumes for seasonal holidays, to match the weather, or just as decoration, which means the goose changes character several times a year. A name has to survive all of it. Porch goose names with a bit of theatre about them do that better than a plain pet name.
The hobby is larger than it looks from the pavement — considerably larger. The Porch Goose Club of America, a Facebook group an Ohio homeowner started in 2022, had more than 200,000 members by May 2025, and the outfits in that report ran from a yellow raincoat to a gardener’s straw hat, a Christmas cloak and bonnet, and an Eagles jersey reading GO BIRDS.
Names with a sense of costume: Gloria, Dolores, Bernadette, Marlene, Fifi, Coco, Liberace, Cher, Dolly, Mae, Bette, Joan, Ginger, Loretta, Vivienne, Pearl, Dame Edna, Lady Honksalot, Duchess, Mademoiselle.
For a goose that will spend most of the year in a raincoat: Puddle, Drizzle, Mackintosh, Wellington, Galoshes, Brolly, Monsoon, Misty, Showers, Squall, Paddington, Sou’wester, Splash, Nimbus, Stormy.
One keeper on r/namenerds recommended exactly that: their goose is RoBIRDa, and a rain coat is, in their words, definitely her cutest outfit. RoBIRDa is also a good model for the form: a real name with the bird worked into it, which reads well on a sign by the door.
Names that follow the calendar
A porch goose goes through the year in a way no live pet does, and some owners lean into it by picking a name that belongs to one season and letting the outfits argue with it.
Spring and summer: Clover, Posy, Tulip, Daffodil, Easter, Bonnet, Blossom, Sunny, Picnic, Lemonade, Firecracker, Sparkler, Sundae, Parasol, Solstice.
Autumn and winter: Pumpkin, Harvest, Hayride, Cider, Maple, Acorn, Candy Corn, Turkey Trot, Jingle, Tinsel, Cranberry, Chestnut, Snowflake, Mitten, Figgy.
Desk Geese, Plush Geese and the Loosey Goosey School
Goose names for desk and plush geese are chosen almost entirely for the pun, and the most economical one on record belongs to another r/namenerds keeper, whose desk goose is Lucy, as in loosey goosey. It is the whole joke in four letters, which is the standard to aim for with an object that sits beside a keyboard.
The same thread began with a teacher who had bought a pretend mini porch goose for a classroom and wanted a punny name. The goose had no gender, and it already owned a shark costume and a frog costume, so the brief was really for a name that would survive being a shark. Au-goose-tus was one of the answers.
Puns built on goose: Lucy, Au-goose-tus, Goosifer, Goose Almighty, Mother Goose, Goosebump, Caboose, Mongoose, Vamoose, Goosey Lucy, Charlotte Gooseberry, Goose Lee, Brucey Goosey, Obtuse Goose, Juice, Moose, Zeus, Seuss, Bruce.
Puns built on honk: Honkers, Sir Honkers the Third, Honk Hogan, Honkey Kong, Tonka, Honkytonk, Hank, Honkers McGee, Honky Dory, Honkette, Hootenanny, Bonkers.
The honk puns come with a pedigree. Asked for names for a goose someone had been given as a Christmas present, r/geese produced Sir Honkers the Third, ruler of Gooseland, and one commenter backed it on the grounds that they have a real goose named Honkers. Caboose and Bruce were close behind.
For a Goose That Actually Honks
Live geese are descended from two wild birds, the greylag goose and the swan goose, and the common breeds still wear the difference. A breed that looks like its wild ancestor suits a different sort of name from one that looks like nothing in nature.
- Toulouse. These look almost identical to the greylag in plumage, differing only in structure, which makes the French names the obvious register. Names: Colette, Margot, Pierre, Gaston, Aurelie, Bastien, Camembert, Brioche, Cassoulet, Garonne, Lautrec, Madeleine, Toulouse, Babette, Josephine.
- Chinese. Marked by the large knob at the base of the bill, which gives the head a crowned look. Names: Crown, Knobby, Regent, Mandarin, Monarch, Tiara, Duke, Empress, Swan, Lotus, Jade, Mingo, Bishop, Marquis, Coronet.
- Pilgrim. The breed that tells you whether you have a gander or a goose before it has any feathers, which the next section covers properly. Names: Plymouth, Mayflower, Brewster, Bradford, Priscilla, Constance, Prudence, Mercy, Providence, Endicott, Winslow, Standish, Alden, Carver, Hopkins.
Mixed flocks usually include ducks and chickens as well, and our duck names and chicken names lists cover the rest of the yard.
The Breed That Settles Boy or Girl at Hatching
Most goose keepers name a gosling and hope. The Pilgrim is the exception, because it is auto-sexing: male goslings have silvery, light yellow down and a light bill, while female goslings have deep greyish-green down and a dark bill. As adults the ganders turn creamy white with blue eyes, and the geese stay mostly olive-grey with white around the eyes that forms a pair of spectacles.
That gives you the rare luxury of choosing a boy or girl name on day one, and even a colour to hang it on. Even the breed’s name is disputed. One account credits geese brought over by the Pilgrims, while Oscar Grow, who said he developed the breed in the 1930s, said his wife named it for the family’s pilgrimage from Iowa to Missouri.
For a gander, the male: Silver, Sterling, Frost, Ivory, Blanco, Dover, Cloud, Walter, Gordon, Harold, Arthur, Rupert, Ferdinand, Gilbert, Ambrose, Wilfred, Cuthbert, Horace, Lionel, Percival.
For a goose, the female: Olive, Sage, Moss, Willow, Juniper, Fern, Myrtle, Specs, Spectacles, Mabel, Agatha, Winifred, Hilda, Beatrix, Maud, Edith, Florence, Harriet, Dorothy, Esther.
The white spectacles are the sort of detail a name should carry, and Specs is the one I’d reach for first.
Names for a Goose on Guard Duty
Geese have been trusted as alarms for a very long time — at least since Rome. In the story Livy tells, Juno’s sacred geese warned the Romans as the Gauls approached the Capitol in 390 BC, and the job never really went away. In late-1950s South Vietnam the air force used flocks of geese to guard parked aircraft at night, and during the pandemic about 500 geese helped patrol part of the border between China and Vietnam.
Names for a goose that takes the job seriously: Juno, Capitol, Livy, Sentry, Warden, Sergeant, Major, Colonel, Constable, Bouncer, Bailiff, Marshal, Ranger, Picket, Tripwire, Klaxon, Siren, Alarm, Rampart, Gatekeeper.
Anyone who has been seen off by a gander will understand why none of these is meant as a joke.
Naming a Gaggle, a Skein or a Plump
Geese on the ground are a gaggle and geese in flight are a skein, a team or a wedge, while geese flying close together are a plump. The vocabulary is almost too good not to use, and it suggests naming a small flock as a set rather than bird by bird.
- A pair: Gaggle and Skein, Salt and Pepper, Bread and Butter, Sauce and Gander, Fish and Chips, Tweedle and Dee.
- A trio: Plump, Wedge and Team; Abigail, Amelia and Waldo; Wynken, Blynken and Nod.
- A four: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter; North, South, East and West; Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Sauce and Gander comes from the old line about sauce for the goose, and Abigail, Amelia and Waldo come from The Aristocats, whose twin geese Abigail and Amelia Gabble have a gander uncle called Waldo.
Geese With a Reputation of Their Own
The best-known geese in print and on screen give you a shortlist with a story attached. Petunia, Roger Duvoisin’s proud and silly goose, first appeared in 1950, found a book, and decided that owning it made her wise. Mother Goose is the fictitious author of the nursery rhymes, and the 2019 Untitled Goose Game made a whole game out of an ornery goose loose in an English village.
Names with a story: Petunia, Mother Goose, Abigail, Amelia, Waldo, Untitled, Honk, Golden Egg, Aesop, Silly Goose, Grey Goose, Gander, Goosey Gander, Loosey.
Choosing Which Name Goes on the Sign
- Decide which goose you have. A porch goose needs a name that suits a wardrobe, a desk goose needs a pun, and a live goose needs something you can shout across a field.
- For a porch goose, picture the worst outfit. If the name still works under a Santa hat and a bikini, it will work under anything.
- For a live goose, check the breed first. A Pilgrim will tell you its sex at hatching, so there is no need to hedge.
- Name a flock as a set. Three geese called Plump, Wedge and Team are funnier together than any one of them alone.
FAQ
What is a good name for a goose?
That depends on which goose. For a porch goose, a name with some theatre works best, such as Gloria, Dolores or Lady Honksalot, because the outfits change all year. For a desk goose, a short pun such as Lucy, as in loosey goosey. For a live goose, something you can call across a field, such as Mabel or Rupert.
What is a famous goose name?
Petunia, the silly goose from Roger Duvoisin’s 1950 picture book, and Mother Goose, the fictitious author of the nursery rhymes, are the best known. Abigail and Amelia Gabble, the twin geese from The Aristocats, are a close third.
What is a nickname for geese?
The collective nouns are the most useful: a gaggle on the ground, a skein, team or wedge in flight, and a plump when they fly close together. As a pet nickname, Goosey and Honkers are the two you will hear most.
What are some famous goose characters?
Petunia from Duvoisin’s picture books, the unnamed goose of the 2019 Untitled Goose Game, Mother Goose, and the Gabble twins and their Uncle Waldo from The Aristocats.
What should I name my porch goose?
Something that survives every costume. Porch geese are dressed for holidays and weather, so a name with a sense of costume, such as Gloria, Bernadette or Dame Edna, or a weather name like Puddle or Mackintosh for a goose that lives in a raincoat, holds up best.
What is a male goose called, and what should I name one?
A male goose is a gander, a female is a goose, and the young are goslings. For a gander, names such as Rupert, Horace, Ferdinand or Sterling suit a bird that turns creamy white in a Pilgrim flock.
What are good girl goose names?
Old-fashioned names suit the bird: Mabel, Agatha, Winifred, Hilda and Maud all work. For a female Pilgrim, whose white eye markings form spectacles, Specs is hard to beat.
