Tika - formerly known as Atlas - originally named Quanah
Funny story... this whole name changing bit.
When I brought Tika home, his name was Atlas. I didn't really like the name; I liked it even less once I looked into the etymology of the name. Commonly associated with the Greek God Atlas, or 'Bearer of the Heavens', it is also derived from meanings such as 'to endure, to suffer, to bear'.
What I really wanted for him was a name he could aspire to. Because of his Paint heritage, I was looking for a Native American name. I first looked only at Comanche and Apache names, as these were the first tribes documented to have worked with and bred the Paint horse. I did consider his original name Quanah - which is, in fact, Comanche, and means 'fragrant' or 'fragrance'. I was told that his name was a combination of his parents' names. Hm. Not quite what I was looking for.
I then came across the Sioux name 'Tika' - meaning 'Brave One'. There. That's much more like it. So, Atlas became Tika. And, as a side note... he is becoming much braver.
A few months ago, thanks to Social Media, I made contact with a now young lady, whose parents owned his dam and on whose farm he was born. She was a young girl in High School then. Not only did I get itty bitty baby pictures of my boy, but I also learned about his original name. It had nothing to do with his dam or sire's names. It came from a book this young girl was reading at the time... about an Indian warrior. I'm guessing, she read about Quanah Parker. Had I known this, I would have reverted back to his first given name - but, he seems quite happy with Tika.
There is an interesting side story to this as well: When our former vet, now turned animal communicator first met Tika (then Atlas), she called him a warrior horse. Admittedly, I kinda snickered.. 'Clearly, you don't know my flighty little horse'. But, she insisted that he was born a warrior. Well, if he was named after Quanah Parker... then yes, he should definitely be a great warrior. 