Mrs. J.'s relatives had a succession of black cocker spaniels, all named Wimpy.
Seems creepy.
Reminds me of Roger Clemens naming his children Kory, Koby, Kody and Kacy. The K names were supposedly in recognition of Roger’s strikeouts ("K"s in baseball lingo).
This will really creep you out,
I knew this awful woman with a litter of children. She had a baby born who died within days. No more than 3. Named it, buried it, ostensibly she mourned it.
2 years later she had another baby and named it the same name as the deceased infant.
I’ve owned at least a dozen cats. I’ve never reused a name. It just wouldn’t seem to me to be right. Besides, I’d rather have happy memories of, say, Fiona, than to figure out which Fiona I’m thinking of. And worse, if Fiona Part 2 is not as sweet and happy as Fiona Part 1, then I’m going to be disappointed.
A couple have come to me pre-named, and though I may not liked the names, I got used to them. Those cats knew those names, so it seemed easiest to just keep the names they knew. They didn’t conflict with any already-taken names in our house, so it was all good there.
I grew up in a DOG family. Always at least two or three around. Then I came home at 15 from a babysitting gig with my pay and a kitten as a tip. My parents were appalled but gave in. I named him Toby after a character in a short story I had read to the child that night. I don’t remember the title or author, but it involved a cat named Toby and at the end of the story the cat learns that the King of the Cats had died, and he announces “Then I am the King of the Cats now!” So now I had Toby, who clearly was royalty in waiting. 
Maybe fifteen years later we ended up with a pair of kittens. One a mackerel tabby, one a tuxedo – whose markings were nearly identical to Toby’s. She became TobyTwo, clearly a Queen in waiting.
Then a few decades later a friend needed to rehome her cat because she was getting remarried, and the soon-to-be stepdaughter was intensely allergic to cats, among a dozen other things. At that point our last previous cat had died a couple months back, so I said “love to.”
It was another tuxedo cat. His established name? Toby. What can you do?
All our other cats have had unique names. But if we ever ended up with another tuxedo…
This reminded me of a family friend who had a series of red/gold cocker spaniels, all named Peanut.
They always bought the peanut butter Girl Scout cookies from me.
Reuse names? I haven’t even had the same breed or coloring in any of my dogs.
I grew up with a guy who had a dog named Pizza. Seems the first night he was with them, he somehow got his mouth onto the table & helped himself to a slice (or two?) of what they were eating for dinner.
But I tell you, a cat needs a name that’s particular, a name that’s peculiar, and more dignified.
@kanicbird , we also had a cat named Spunky. Ours, we named because when we found her, she’s been living on her own in the wild for six months with only two functional limbs, and we figured that any cat that could do that had a lot of spunk. And she did, too: She was the undisputed empress of all she surveyed. Ours, though, lived to age 18.
I’ve had only one cat who clearly named herself. I’d stopped at a house with a “Free Kittens” sign and emerged with a small fluffy tabby and white. As I walked to the car she started wriggling. I said “Hold still, you little muffin!” [pause] “I guess you just named yourself.”
Nah, I don’t re-use them. Naming pets with new names is half the fun of having pets. Heck, all of the feral kitties outside get unique names.
But all possums are named George, and all Raccoons are named Charlie. The one skunk I know is named Pierre. He’s adorable, and sniffs around my feet. If we get a second skunk hanging around outside, I’ll decide if they get unique names.
A niece, and two first-cousins once-removed.
I have a first cousin on my father’s side, and another on my mother’s side, each with a daughter named Amber. And, of course, my sister has a daughter by that name, who is the niece that @Seanette mentioned.
I understand “alley cat” to mean a stray street cat of low repute. “Alley” seemed to us to be an entirely unfitting name for a regal Siamese; but that’s what her previous humans named her, and called her for a year she was with them, and she was surely used to being called that name.
We kept the phonetic name, so we could call her what she was used to being called, but changed the spelling to remove the “alley cat” implication.
Cats can’t spell..
I once fostered an old Yorkie that was unfortunately named Corky.
He was an old curmudgeon. I thought yeah I’ll change his name make him more adoptable.
I settled on Duncan. Everyone said it won’t work he’s at least 10yo.
Turns out his light bulb wasn’t really bright so he didn’t care what we called him. So Duncan he was.
? What’s creepy about that? Lots of people commemorate a deceased relative by giving their name to a new baby, and the fact that the deceased relative in question didn’t make it past infancy doesn’t have to change that.
I’m reminded of a passing allusion in Gone with the Wind to Scarlett O’Hara’s deceased brothers:
Then followed three little boys, each of whom died before he had learned to walk—three little boys who now lay under the twisted cedars in the burying ground a hundred yards from the house, beneath three stones, each bearing the name of “Gerald O’Hara, Jr.”
As far as pet names go, I know people who have re-used the original name of an existing or previous pet who got renamed when it was discovered to be of a different sex than originally thought. As in, “Samson” unexpectedly had a litter of kittens and got renamed “Delilah”, and later another cat who was more reliably determined to be male got the “Samson” name.
Naming a new kid after a deceased (or even still living) relative, sure. But not when it’s the new kid’s sibling. You never give siblings the same name. Doing so when the previous one is dead isn’t honoring the deceased; it’s like trying to deny they existed, or trying to pretend that the new child is the same person.
I think in some social groups it used to be pretty common, though. Obviously they didn’t think of it that way.
Never reused a name for a mammal. Anything that lives in an aquarium is subject to reuse if I feel like it.
No, skunks are always Pepe!
Hehe, this one is not. It really seems like a Pierre. Watch, it’ll show up one night with kits trailing along behind it and I’ll have to re-name it Perrine or Petra. Or maybe not. Either way, I don’t know what sex it is at the moment, and I’m not brave enough to investigate that area closely enough to find out.
It’s the first skunk I’ve known, I don’t know if they all have the same name yet. Maybe the next one will seem like a Pepe (which seems to be a bold name to me).
My husband grew up with German Shepherds. Three of them were named Queenie. When one Queenie passed, the next puppy was named Queenie. The last Queenie was still alive when we were dating. I never understood that. Finally, the next two German Shepherds had unique names.