# Does your pet's pretentious name reflect your income/class? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 24, 2011, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-pets-pretentious-name-reflect-your-income-class/603965 "2011-11-24T12:59:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-pets-pretentious-name-reflect-your-income-class/603965/101 "2012-04-27T00:39:33Z")
> [@Moonlitherial](#): > > Mojo, the compromise between some very intense family competition over names for the new boxer puppy We’ve got a Mojo too! He’s a cat. He was named by my husband before I came into their lives, as was Animal. Animal is partly named for the Muppet and partly because it took so long to find a good name that he was just “the animal” for a while. My boy is Horton, named for Tim Hortons. Obviously, we’re not classy snobs. I’m surprised we didn’t go nerdier, given our personalities, but I guess the name’s just got to fit, and these did. ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-pets-pretentious-name-reflect-your-income-class/603965/102 "2012-04-28T22:47:38Z")
My mutt is named Zoidberg… is that pretensious? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-pets-pretentious-name-reflect-your-income-class/603965/103 "2012-04-29T00:29:10Z")
> [@Maeglin](#): > > Where I come from, having heard of Clytemnestra or Candide is not a major intellectual accomplishment. Who would be impressed by such a thing? Which Fussell would equate with an Upper or even an Upper Upper, IIRC. > [@](#): > > Having an expensive car or something sends a real, costly signal to other people. And that demotes you to Upper Middle or even just Middle. ☹ My kids named one dog after Dylan Thomas (pointedly not after Bob Dylan) and spell it Dilohain or some other faux-Celtic spelling. I call him Bobo. My wife named the Little Girls Fiona and Thisbe, Fiona because she likes the name and Thisbe because she liked a TV show in which the Beatles put on the version of “Pyramus and Thisbe” from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” I call them both Piggy, but my parents were bigger climbers than **Maeglin** , even 😉 , and raised me to think Upper. And yes, I know that I shouldn’t have noticed, much less remarked upon, my friend’s attempt at social mobility. Some things are beneath us. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![percypercy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@percypercy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percypercy)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-pets-pretentious-name-reflect-your-income-class/603965/104 "2012-04-29T00:34:39Z")
I’ve got three middle-aged to old cats: Elroy (not so much after Elroy Jetson, more after Elroy Finn, Neil Finn’s younger son. We had a cat named Neil who looked like Elroy so the name was fitting. Wesley (named after the guy in a Princess Bride, who I’m aware is Westley, but I like Wesley much more.) Cotton Cotton is the only one I didn’t really have a hand in naming. Some friends of ours gave her to us after we lost several cats in a house fire. They supposedly named her Cotton because she looks like a dirty cotton ball which she does but her tail, what little tail she has, looks like a cotton ball. It would have been a nicer story anyway. No pictures, the cats are very camera-shy. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-pets-pretentious-name-reflect-your-income-class/603965/105 "2012-04-29T20:58:17Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Which Fussell would equate with an Upper or even an Upper Upper, IIRC.And that demotes you to Upper Middle or even just Middle. ☹ > > My kids named one dog after Dylan Thomas (pointedly not after Bob Dylan) and spell it Dilohain or some other faux-Celtic spelling. I call him Bobo. My wife named the Little Girls Fiona and Thisbe, Fiona because she likes the name and Thisbe because she liked a TV show in which the Beatles put on the version of “Pyramus and Thisbe” from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” I call them both Piggy, but my parents were bigger climbers than **Maeglin** , even 😉 , and raised me to think Upper. > > And yes, I know that I shouldn’t have noticed, much less remarked upon, my friend’s attempt at social mobility. Some things are beneath us. 😃 I read all of these words. Twice. But I don’t have the slightest idea what you are talking about. I don’t know what a Fussell is. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-pets-pretentious-name-reflect-your-income-class/603965/106 "2012-04-29T21:24:50Z")
I had a parakeet named Chrysler. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-pets-pretentious-name-reflect-your-income-class/603965/107 "2012-04-29T21:37:37Z")
> [@Maeglin](#): > > I don’t know what a Fussell is. Oh, that would explain your misunderstanding. [Paul Fussell’s _Class_](http://www.amazon.com/Class-Through-American-Status-System/dp/0671792253) was a surprise bestseller in '83 and one of those books I assume middle-aged and older Dopers have read. The thread’s title reminded me of it. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-pets-pretentious-name-reflect-your-income-class/603965/108 "2012-04-29T21:39:36Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > I had a parakeet named Chrysler. I have a cockatiel named Corvette. My wife tends to name our cockatiels after GM products. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-pets-pretentious-name-reflect-your-income-class/603965/109 "2012-04-30T02:31:31Z")
My corgi is named Boxcar, based on my longstanding belief that Boxcar is an awesome name for anything. He’s generally called “Boxie” which is more-or-less a normal dog name. ---
**Author:** ![Dereknocue67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Dereknocue67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dereknocue67)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-pets-pretentious-name-reflect-your-income-class/603965/110 "2012-04-30T10:42:32Z")
My dog’s name is Annie so I guess that suggests I’m either a poor imaginary orphan, a financially well off and great portrait photographer or a dead crack shot. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-pets-pretentious-name-reflect-your-income-class/603965/111 "2012-04-30T10:46:25Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Oh, that would explain your misunderstanding. [Paul Fussell’s _Class_](http://www.amazon.com/Class-Through-American-Status-System/dp/0671792253) was a surprise bestseller in '83 and one of those books I assume middle-aged and older Dopers have read. The thread’s title reminded me of it. Yeah. I was 5 in 1983. Perhaps pretentiously precocious, but still 5. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-pets-pretentious-name-reflect-your-income-class/603965/112 "2012-04-30T15:49:05Z")
Always figured you were older, not barely out of diapers. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-pets-pretentious-name-reflect-your-income-class/603965/113 "2012-04-30T17:59:03Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Always figured you were older, not barely out of diapers. 😉 I must be doing pretty well for a climber, then! ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-pets-pretentious-name-reflect-your-income-class/603965/114 "2012-04-30T18:21:18Z")
And I’m doing pretty lousy for having been to the manner born. ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-your-pets-pretentious-name-reflect-your-income-class/603965.md?page=5)