How to size dog grooming shears?

it is the whole length. My shears are 8 1/2 inch from finger rest, to end of the blade. The blade length is 3 3/4 inches long.

so you would order Gator 88's in 8 1/2 inch size, to get 3 3/4 inch cutting blade. This is my fav shear at the time :)