Layne is an animal lover and grew up in a household full of rescued critters. She is a registered veterinary technician.

How to Pick a Name for Your Mare, Stallion, or Gelding

We love horses! They are beautiful, intelligent, powerful, and graceful animals. Horse lovers know that a special horse or pony speaks to your heart, and they deserve a name that will celebrate how special they are.

Whether you have a mare, a stallion, or a gelding, there are some great name ideas out there to suit them. Here you'll find names for spirited horses, gentle horses, wild horses, and reliable horses. Whether an Arabian or American Paint, a Peruvian Paso, mini boy, or grade horse . . . a gelding or mare, there is a special name just for them.

Tips for Picking a Name for Your Horse

When picking a name, consider your personality and your horse's personality, because a bond between a horse and their human is so special—two become one:

• Coat Color: Is your horse black, bay or brown, chestnut, palomino, buckskin, sorrel, cremello, smokey, silver, champagne, gray, lilac roan, honey roan, or bay roan?
• Coat Pattern: Is your horse roan, dapple, flea-bitten, pinto, tobiano, calico, sabino, splash-pattern, spotted, speckled, snowflake, frosted?
• Personality: What is your horse's personality? What behaviors define them? Do they remind you of an element of nature or a character from a movie? Maybe they remind you of a famous horse? A famous racehorse? A famous person? Maybe your horse is graceful, strong, bold, goofy, stubborn, fearless, loving, gentle?
• Activity: Is your horse a draft horse? Sport horse? Pony? Western? English? Well-traveled?

Great Horse Names for Mares

More Unique Name Ideas for Mares

8 Most Beautiful Horse Breeds

Cool Name Ideas for Female Horses

Great Horse Names for Stallions and Geldings

More Horse Name Ideas for Stallions and Geldings

Best Horse Names for Male Horses

The Biggest Horses in the World

More Reading

• The Great Debate: Mares vs. Geldings
  A horse expert goes into details. "Like English versus Western riding, one of the most debated topics among horse owners is if they prefer mares or geldings."

© 2019 Layne Holmes

What's your favorite horse name?

Luna Valera on August 28, 2020:

Here are some I like and made myself

Black-Jack

Black beauty

Black-Gypsy

Black-Dust

Blsck-Fury

Blaze

Maze

Thunder-Jam

Riptide

Tesoro (Treasure)

Moonlight

Shadow

Aztec

Axel

Adela

Nieve (snow)

snowflake

stormy

Ice storm

Melody

Star-Fire

Starlight and Star-bright

Shimmer

Blue-Sapphire

Spartan and Pertan

Dusty Roads

Free-Spirit (spirit)

Raven

Apple-Jack

Dash and Flash

Laurane

Hazel

Bolt

Black-Stallion

Ginger

Ella

StrawBerry

Berry

Rosita (Rosa or Rose)

Annabel

Roxie

Mocolate

Chocolate

Thunder

Lightning

Silver-Soul

Foxy

Viki and Niki

Sandstorm

El Casador negro (the black hunter)

Estrella (Star)

Ezperanza (hope)

Luna (Moon)

LilyAnn

Viatrix or Beatrix

Sundance

Isabella(nickname: Issa or bella))

Nightmare-moon

Daybreaker

midnight-sparkle

Nico and Leo

Lamar and Lambert

Azure

Jewel

honey

jade

mango

misty

black-Rocco

peaches

sugar

wild arrow

ashe and asher

cisco

midnight

black-knight

majestic

ranger and roger

Everest

knox or lennox

paige on August 21, 2020:

hey what do you think would be a good name for a black missouri fox trotter with a snip

PonyMad on August 10, 2020:

my favorite horse name for a bay (Brown and black mane and tail) is Comanche

Anna on August 03, 2020:

Hi- what would be a good name for a bay mare with a black mane?

Hannah on July 13, 2020:

Heres some names that may help....

Everest

Savaro

Autumn

Rez

Reed

Vyran

Pismo

Pico

Elder

Zebarz

Santi

And a fun covid one Teepee

Jj on May 26, 2020:

Mavis is a good name

Ismay on May 04, 2020:

What is a good name for a flea bitten mare, who does western halter?

Aydin Eggleston on April 30, 2020:

What’s a good name for 2 miniature Pony mares ones a sorrel and the other is a really light bay buckskin grey looking

Jada Roller on April 18, 2020:

Hi, what would be some good names for a Gelding, miniature, sorrel?

Becks on March 27, 2020:

What are some good names for a flea-bitten grey connemara?

Kelly on March 15, 2020:

Any ideas for a buckskin grulla thoroughbred with spots filly. She's gonna be a trained racehorse and I need barn name and registered name ideas.

Layne Holmes (author) from Bend, Oregon on January 21, 2020:

Hi Aiyana, maybe Agate, Briar, Axle, Dreyfus, Malachi, Pluto, Jupiter, Cosmos, Solar, Sole, Flair

Aiyana on January 19, 2020:

Any ideas for a flea bitten American quarter horse stallion? He’s a race horse but also a normal horse

christina on January 19, 2020:

what do you think a good show name is for a flea-bitten gray pony?

Layne Holmes (author) from Bend, Oregon on November 28, 2019:

Hello Wilhelmina—maybe Arya, Rune, Stone, Magnificant, Rye, Bella, Plum, Violet, Solitaire, Cinder, Dove, Dusky, Sage, Tinder, Lady, Indigo, Astrid

Wilhelmina Schmidt on November 27, 2019:

What do you think a good majestic name for a flea bitten grey mare would be?

Layne Holmes (author) from Bend, Oregon on October 23, 2019:

Hi Kira, maybe Ripley, Riptide, Curly, Satchel, Copper, Randy.

Kira Franson on October 21, 2019:

Any ideas for a big red barrel horse gelding? I want it to be something cool and powerful if you know what I mean...

Layne Holmes (author) from Bend, Oregon on February 11, 2019:

that is a great rule! I love it. I think it's only fair!

Ellison Hartley from Maryland, USA on February 11, 2019:

This is such a great compilation of horse names! I have a horse naming rule where if a horse comes from a good loving owner no matter how much I dislike the name I don't change it. I feel it would be bad luck. If I get a horse with an unknown history or a bad situation, I always rename those horses to give them a fresh start!