Why do all race horses have funny names?

Question

they have kinda unusal names, what is the reason behind it?

Answer 1

its more like a luck in the name....so its not considered weird.  Its like an Indian name, the name represent who he/she is......

Answer 2

All names are submitted to the Jockey Club for approval. They  must be  no more than (last count) 18 characters in length , no numerals,and no repeats of any previous given name UNLESS the previous named horse is deceased for a specified number of years, has no offspring  or has never raced. Some names like Man O War , Secretariat, etc are permanently registered and can never be used again. The JC registers about 20,000 horses a year. Sometimes you have to be pretty creative to get it done on the first submission

Answer 3

Its pretty common to name race horses with a combination of their parents names.  Funny Cide for example = his dad was Distorted Humor (hence the Funny) and his mom was Belles Good Cide (hence the Cide).  

Thats not the only way they name them though.  Sometimes they name them after a stable, for example Bear Stables names all of their horses with the word Bear in it.

The horse that won the Belmont, Da Tara, is named after a character in a book.    

There's probably a million other ways they think up the names.  There's no rule that says they have to sound funny or unusual.

Answer 4

Naming a horse is all down to the owner.

Some owners like to use a "theme" when naming their horses, others like to use a combination of the sire (father) and dam (mother) names.

Sheikh Hamdam of Shadwell Farm likes to name his horses using Arabic names.

There are some that have to be followed when naming a horse.  Some of these are:

You cannot use a name on the "protected" list - eg names like Man O War, Shergar, etc.

The name cannot be deemed to be offensive or rude, in any language.

The name must not be longer than 18 characters, including spaces

Names must not be followed by a number

Names cannot be that of a public person unless you have gained their, or their families, permission

There are 13 rules in all, under the British Horseracing Authority, relating to naming of horses.