How 'Fido' Became The Name For A Dog

Why is Fido shorthand for a friendly dog? Learn more about the origins of the dog name Fido in this BrainStuff episode.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to brain Stuff from how Stuff Works. Hey, brain Stuff,
it's Christians Zeger. Here. You may have met a furry ace, bandit,
Jack or Sparky, but the chance of being introduced to
a Fido are much much lower these days. Fido doesn't
even make the top one hundred, but the once popular

(00:22):
name for male dogs has become a generic shorthand for
dog itself. So just why is the dog name Fido
such a part of the American lexicon. Well, the credit
goes to Abraham Lincoln, America's sixteenth president. Before he was
commander in chief and still lived in Springfield, Illinois, Lincoln's

(00:42):
household included several dogs and cats. One particularly therapeutic dog
was Fido, a mixed breed dog of yellow hue whose
name is Latin for faithful. Fido became Lincoln's near constant
companion about five years for the then lawyer became president.
According to the Presidential Pet Museum, Fido enjoyed scraps from

(01:07):
Lincoln's plate at meals, patiently waited outside the barbershop or
any other establishment Lincoln patronized, and generally became well known
as a good natured dog around town. In eighteen sixty three,
as he prepared to move to the White House, it
became apparent that Fido was a little too friendly and
perhaps ill mannered for high office. In fact, a nineteen

(01:30):
fifty four profile of Fido published in Life magazine called
him a frisky mongrel. To ensure Fido had a good
life back in Springfield, Lincoln decided to have a local
carpenter and his family take care of Fido, leaving them
detailed instructions for the dog's proper care and spoiling. Fido
was never to be chided for having muddy pause in

(01:52):
the house, and he was to be given scraps from
the table at meal time. To help soothe the sense
of loss, Lincoln had Fido's formal portrait taken with the
relatively new photographic technology, or so the story goes, Regardless
of its providence, the photo made its way into numerous newspapers,

(02:12):
and shortly thereafter Fido, both the dog and the name
skyrocketed in popularity. The name's meteoric rise continued during Lincoln's
presidency and was further fueled by his assassination in eighteen
sixty five. As mourners flocked to Springfield for the President's funeral,
the carpenter returned to Lincoln's home with Fido and let

(02:35):
the morning public meet the dog. Justice Fido's master was
killed by another man, so too did Fido meet an
unfortunate end at the hands of another In eighteen sixty six,
a year after Lincoln's assassination, Fido, ever the trusting and
people loving dog, came across a man apparently sleeping on

(02:55):
a sidewalk. Fido started to lick the man's face, which
prompted the man, who was drunk at the time, to
awaken panic and pull a knife at the sight of
the dog's mouth so close to his face, stabbing Fido
in self defense. With the popularity of the name peeking
in the late eighteen hundreds, Fido made its way into

(03:16):
the public consciousness during an era when mass media was
taking hold in the country, and remained there for years
to come. While Fido met a tragic end, his name
lives on in popular culture, signifying the platonic ideal of
a friendly, faithful hoop. Today's episode was written by Laurie L. Dove,

(03:41):
produced by Dylan Fagan, and for more on this and
other topics, please visit us at how Stuff works dot com,