French Naming Convention - "Why do the registered names start with specific letters?"

For almost a century, the French registry for dogs (SOCIÉTÉ CENTRALE CANINE​) has followed a system for naming that makes it easy to determine the age of a dog by its registered name. The first name begins with the designated letter for the year, followed by the kennel name (some kennel names may proceed the letter but in France, it is almost always a suffix). Over the years, the letters K, Q, W, X, Y and Z were eliminated because it was difficult to find French names beginning with them. Every 20 years the alphabet starts over.

While there are no similar naming rules for registering dogs in the United States, many Beauceron breeders and owners choose to follow the French tradition. The charts below show the letters used from 2005 - 2024 and then from 2025-2044 when the system restarts to "A".

​

Not every breeder follows the naming convention in America and that's okay but all of the French breeders do and at Vaillant Feu, we are respecting tradition as much as we can.