The Peruvian Inca Orchid’s name in Quechua, the language of the Incas, translates to “dog without vestments,” or naked dog, but fans of the breed today simply refer to them as PIOs. The breed also been known as the Peruvian Hairless Dog, Inca Hairless Dog, or, as the Spanish conquistadors who found them dogs living amidst orchids in Inca homes, “perros flora,” or flower dogs. Our personal favorite of the names we found in our research: Moonflower Dogs.

Photo of Lucrecia from Trujillo, Peru by Yuri Hooker/Wikimedia/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.