Lao Language Dog Names

When you give your pooch a Lao language dog name, you can end up in a bit of a predicament. How do you explain to people that for some unknown reason, your dog’s name is in the Lao language? If you’re going to end up putting that conversation in the “too hard basket,” then consider having a plan B: a dog name in pop culture.

An excellent example of a dog that relates to both pop culture and the Lao language is Ubu Roi. The Roi part of Ubu Roi relates to Roi Et Province, a northeast Thailand province that speaks the Lao language. As a dog, Ubu Roi is Ubu Productions’ mascot – and one that has been a significant success since the early 1980s.

In 1982, TV producer Gary Goldberg founded Ubu Productions. Straight away, he involved his black Labrador Retriever Ubu Roi. Ubu Roi got his name from the 1896 Alfred Jarry play ‘Ubu Roi,’ a precursor to Theater of the Absurd. Ubu Roi, the dog, became the mascot for the production company and traveled the world with Gary once he left college.

The closing tag in all Ubu Productions shows such as Brooklyn Bridge, Spin City, and Family Ties became “Sit, Ubu, Sit! Good dog!” along with a photo of Ubu Roi with a toy in his mouth.

Even after Ubu Roi died in 1984, he became a standard reference in pop culture. Gary Goldberg wrote a book involving Ubu, the phrase appeared in several TV shows, and it even formed part of a question in a trivia show. Giving your dog a name that relates to such an icon of the TV world is bound to earn you a lot of praise.

Once you finish explaining this connection, you can then move onto offering information about the relationship to Lao language and Roi Et province. The name Roi Et means ‘one hundred and one,’ but a mistranslation hundreds of years ago ended up proving that meaning to be false. Instead, Roi Et refers to the 11 ancient gates for vassal states.

Roi Et came into existence during the Khmer empire when Lao people made their way from Champasak. Now, it’s home to nearly one and a half million people, covering over 3,200 square miles. It includes 20 districts, 193 subdistricts, and earns much of its money from rice farming. Roi Et is also in the northeast part of Thailand and has Surin, Sisaket, Kalasin, Yasothon, and Mukdahan as its neighboring provinces.