The Donkey Breed Society

Naming Your Donkey

You can, of course, call your donkey (or any other equine you wish to register with us) any name you wish – as long as the name is not mis-leading, distasteful or use a prefix / suffix incorrectly. It must also be not more than 25 characters long, including any spaces. You can therefore happily apply for registration with a name such as 'Smokey' or 'Bramble', but please do not attempt to register a name that is likely to cause offence (and who would want to do that with such a beautiful creature as a donkey?).

Once a donkey (horse, pony or mule etc) is registered, its name cannot be changed, nor have any additional prefix / suffix added to it.

Registered Suffix / Prefix.

If you would like to use a suffix or prefix, e.g. 'Superdonks Neddy' or 'Neddy of Superdonks', you can only do this if the suffix / prefix you use is registered for use by you and is used in the correct manner. The Donkey Breed Society is a member of the Central Prefix Register (as are a great many reputable equine breed societies). If you wish to use a name as a suffix / prefix. you will need to register it with the Central Prefix Register, via our Registrar. The name you chose must be a single word, and must not be identical to, or too similar to, any other word that is already registered. Please contact our Registrar, requesting a prefix / suffix registration form. For current fees click. You may also like to access the Central Prefix Register's website (www.centralprefixregister.com), where you can check out if the name you are hoping to use is already in use.

You may like to consider the length of suffix / prefix you are selecting – any animal to be registered must have a full name, including any suffix/ prefix and spaces, which does not exceed 25 characters. A long suffix / prefix can therefore 'use up' quite a lot of this, leaving you with just a few for the individual animal's name – so be aware of this when choosing your suffix / prefix!

When you register the prefix / suffix, you will be granted sole rights to it, across all member breed societies. You will, however only be able to use it in societies where you have paid the necessary fee. For example, if you were to register the name 'Superdonks' with the CPR, no-one else could use this name. No other breeder, of donkeys or any other member equines society, would be able to register animals using this name. You would only be allowed to use it within the DBS, unless you paid a secondary fee to any other society, in which case you would be able to use it with them also (e.g. you could also breed 'Superdonks' Arabs if you registered 'Superdonks' with them also).

The rules of use of registered prefixes / suffixes within the DBS.

When registering an animal with the DBS, we will only permit the use of a prefix / suffix where you own the prefix / suffix and it is registered for use with the DBS. In addition, where you have bred the animal (i.e. owned or leased the mare at time of foaling) you MUST use the prefix for any foal e.g. Superdonk Fluffy.

Although every animal is legally required to have a passport from 1st July 2004, there will probably be cases of owners purchasing a donkey (or other equine) where the previous owner has not complied with the legislation. In this case, as the animal; is not already registered, you can choose whether to register the animal with or without your suffix, e.g. just as 'Blackie' or as 'Blackie of Superdonks'.