Hmm. My cat’s name is technically Augustus (Gus), but I usually end calling him many other things – Hellfire, Spawn, You Awful Cat!, Naughty Kitty, Beezlebub, etc. I think I could handle dating a guy named Gus, but if his nickname was Spawn or Beezlebub, I think I’d be running the other direction. The cats we had before to Gus were named Patches and McDonnell Douglas, so . . . no. Can’t see myself dating a guy named after an aerospace manufacturer or a clown.
My dog’s name is Princess, and I really can’t see dating a guy named Princess. (Or a girl, for that matter, should I ever decide to explore all that college life has to offer.) I think the first question I’d ask him would be, “Are you pledging a frat? Is this temporary?” and then, should the answer be negative, I’d ask him if he was studying theatre.
In my late teens/early twenties, I had a dog border collie named Cindy.
Then I started dating (and eventually married) a girl named Cindy.
It was a little weird, every now and then. The weirdest thing actually happened when my mom died. I told my cousin that I wished Cindy had been able to attend the funeral. My cousin got this strange look on his face, and started to say, “I, uh… don’t think she really knows that your mom’s gone…”
It took me a few seconds to figure out that he was talking about the dog, while I was talking about my girlfriend.
Our family’s dog’s name was Jesse, which was fine by everybody since no one knew a human Jesse. Until my brother brought his girlfriend home for the holidays. I was thoroughly ammused and felt sympathy for the poor girl whenever my father would yell at the dog to get it’s feet off of guests or some other reason and let out a curt"JESSE!" and the poor girl would jump.
Never dated anyone with a pet’s name, but I did end up working with a woman who did (Rika). Honestly, whenever she talked, I couldn’t get the image of a yapping golden labrador out of my head.
