In 2018, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry, and Meghan Markle adopted an adorable black Lab. After two years of speculation and mystery, the world finally learned the royal dog’s meaningful name in 2020: “Pula.”
Pula is the official currency of Botswana, the African country where Harry and Meghan traveled when they first started dating in 2016 and fell in love. In other words, their dog’s name honors the foundations of their relationship.
Hearing that background, you might think Pula’s name is sweet and fitting. Well, it turns out the word “pula” actually means something much different in Romanian.
Social Media Laughs At A Double Meaning
While the media began reporting that Harry and Meghan’s dog’s name has “a special meaning,” people who speak Romanian were confused. If you don’t speak the language, the word “pula” means, um, male sex organ in Romanian. Whoops.
“[Y]ou understand of course that Pula in my country means penis,” @ally_sima replied to an InStyle announcement of Pula’s name dubbing it “cute.”
The story of Pula getting her name is a lot less cute when you hear it as a slang word for penis. Another tweeter replied to The Independent’s coverage:
“Oh, yes, a very special name indeed: in [R]omanian the word “pula” is the vulgar word for penis and in [A]lbanian [it] means ‘chicken.’”
Technically, pula also means “rain” in Setswana. Because it hardly rains there, many locals consider rain, or pula, a valuable blessing. Unfortunately, that additional meaning is just not as attention-grabbing as “your dog’s name means ‘penis.’”
Oh well. As long as Pula still has that intended special meaning to the dog’s parents.
Harry & Meghan’s Dogs
By now, you know all about Pula, the black Lab who joined the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s family in 2018 (and whose name was not supposed to mean penis.) The couple also has another dog, a rescue Beagle named Guy.
Markle has always been a dog person since before her relationship with Prince Harry. And of course, Harry is from the royal family famous for their multiple Corgis.
Unlike the Queen’s Corgis and the Duchess of Cornwall’s terriers, Guy and Pula are in the public eye a bit less often. There was that one time in 2020 when Pula made it into the background of her parents’ TIME 100 video message, though.
Of course, Harry and Meghan also have two human children, Archie and Lilibet, but we tend to focus on the dogs here.
H/T: Daily Star
Featured Image: Instagram
