Oh, they're family...definitely!
Usually a personality trait comes out and BAM! there's the name. My pug? Had the WORST gas as a puppy. I was watching Toy Story when she let one go while curled up in my lap, and "Stinky Pete" was on screen. Well, couldn't name a female dog Pete...but Kelsey Grammar was Pete's voice, so...Kelsey it is. My border mix had a bad eye from the start (puppy mill injury) and we eventually had to take it out. Morgan, my one-eyed pirate dog (Cap'n Morgan). My current husky? Totally fearless as a puppy, went after EVERYTHING and never thought twice about it. One of my favorite Bruce Willis movies is Hudson Hawk, a character who also (rather carelessly) regularly leaps before looking...so he's Hudson. But so far...other than being a puppy (gogogogogogoBAM, crash) she's just been a cool dog so far. No barking (yet, I'm sure that's coming soon though). Lots of whining at night because she still has separation issues from her pack, and from us when we're not paying attention to her or touching her.
I dunno.
I've been looking in mythology. Other-language words for "dog". Names based on color. Names based on size. We thought briefly about Olivia or Sandy, as an homage to Olivia Newton-John who passed about the exact same time we got the puppy...but nothing has really hit us as "that's IT!" yet. And since my dogs have a habit of living well into their teenage years, it's a name that'll be around for a while. I don't want cliche. I don't want "obvious". She's gonna be unique, so I want her name to be as well. Just haven't figured out what her uniqueness IS...yet. I like Kona. I like Mocha. I like Fergie...but not because of the singer (which is what everyone will assume). I like it because my ancestry goes back (in part) to Clan Ferguson in Scotland (and Fergus is too masculine...).