The little black cat showed up on our back doorstep when she was a kitten. That night, my mom and brother were talking:
“Who knows where she comes from?”
“It’s a mystery.”
And Mystery she has remained.
Tikva is simply Hebrew for hope. I figured it was as good a name for a rescue cat as any.
I named my dog Bertha after the Grateful Dead song. My wife and daughter named our new dog Crystal because our daughter was facinated with crystals at the time.
Wesker. Named for Albert Wesker.
The reason? I’m a shameless REvil fangirl. Also, isn’t a cat just an amoral, self-serving killing machine out to garner the most power and influence?
We got our dog Boomer at the start of football season, so we chose a football name. We named him before we even saw him, but it fit. The grandkids called him Bummer. 
Our cats are Ricky and Micky, but before we had them, we had Lucy. She was a soft gray and very sweet-natured. A male kitten came two weeks later, so he became Ricky. When Lucy died, hubby’s son brought home a male kitten and we let the kid name him. Micky fits him, but Micky and Ricky are a bit cutesy for my taste. Mostly we call him Mick.
I have a goldfish named Ten. His(?) name came about because of several other fish:
At first I had Fish and Other Fish, but when its tankmate died, my mother gave me her goldfish and algae eater after assuring me that it had been weeks since the other goldfish died, so they couldn’t possibly be sick. Within a month Fish, Other Fish, and the algae eater died. She felt bad and bought me two new baby goldfish about a month later. They immediately died too. After killing off five tankmates, I named the fish she gave me Typh. Then, she bought me another baby goldfish. Shockingly, this one didn’t die! The tenacious little thing grew up and outlived Typh.
So yeah, he’s Ten.
winken the wonderful: because she was wonderful and she had an eye infection in one eye.
nod the naughty: she was naughty and very little (10 days ish) so little cat little name.
malenka the miraculous: it was a miracle we found her and that she lived (3 days old when we found her) malenka because she was very, very, little.
stretch the superduper: because he loves to stretch and is just super D duper.
koritsa the klimber: she is the champion jumper and climber. koritsa, because she is a ginger cat with very, very, little white; and cinnamon coloured eyes.
lager the loveydovey: he arrived in a beer box (sometimes i call him beer boy and peevo) and is a very cuddly boy.
I’m terrible at naming pets and I take so long that my partner gives them temporary names and they’re stuck with them forever. My oldest cat, Tiger, came with that name and my dog Quincy came with his. One of our cats is named Feral, which is a shorter nickname for “that feral cat that’s always hanging around”. The kittens were well on their way to being named 'the black one" and “the black and white one” so now my partner named them Midnight and Shadow. Boring names all, but I just can’t ever settle on one.
The Late Great Mojo was named after Mojo Nixon.
Binkley was named after Bloom County’s Michael Binkley on the assumption that a shelter dog was bound to have an anxiety closet.
Penny came to us named Penny.
Play on words. Not likely to be very original among people old enough to remember the original drink.
Both of our cats are named for literary felines. Pixel is named after The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, obviously. Havoc is named after the first cat that appears in George R. R. Martin’s Tuf Voyaging.
Shan was named after the character Shan yos’Galan in the SF Liaden Universe novels.
Our latest cat is an orange Persian: Pumpkin (seemed obvious)
Previous cats with more or less obvious names:
Rosie
Tiger Rag
Snowball (black)
Rainbow (also black)
Grady
Bob (no tail – born that way)
Blotharta (my name for her – kids’ name: Lucy)
Imp
Kit-kat
Noche (guess the color)
Doodah
As a kid I had some dogs.
My all-time favorite was a white Spitz with a black spot around one eye. He was Phantom. Got run over. My last dog.
Other earlier dogs:
Poochie
Pat
Chief
Zero
Blitzen
It also means pumpkin in Bulgarian, btw.
I considered what to name my kitty for several days. Eventually, I decided that he was such a wild little guy, I would name him Max after the little boy in Where the Wild Things Are. I didn’t realize for awhile that that’s like, the most common pet name in the UNIVERSE. But I feel my Max is superior to all the other Maxes because it’s a literary reference (and also because he’s the cutest).
The current two Pochacco household hamsters are:
**Tatertot ** (She looked like one when she was a baby.)
&
Symmetrical (The markings on his back end match the markings on his front end.)
You name your pet whatever your porn star name is, of course! 
We have two permanent dogs, Zola and Dante. After authors Emile Zola and Dante Alighieri.
We don’t get to name the dogs we foster. If they are turned in by their owners, we stick with the names they gave them. If they are strays, the intake team from the rescue group gives them a name. The last foster we had was Evie, because she came in on New Year’s Eve.
We bought a dog while I was married – I, Larry, and my wife, Mo.
Yeah, he’s named Curly.
Dolphie was named after a cat that died named Rudolph.
Maceo is named after saxophone player Maceo Parker.
Tansy used to be named Fancy, but when I adopted her I changed it because Fancy is a bit twee for me, but I wanted something that sounded similar since she’d been named Fancy for a year.
Lily, the pure white Bichon is named: 1) Because she’s white and that colour is associated with lilies. 2) The Neil Young song Southern Man where he sings “Lily Belle your hair is golden brown. I’ve seen your black man comin’ 'round.” Not so much to do with golden brown, but rather the juxtaposition of black and white.
I didn’t name either of my cats - one (PC) was already named when I got her, the other (Muffin) was named by my ex. I did name a stray who acquired us about two years ago. He was the scrawniest thing I’d ever seen so I named him Marvin - Starvin’ Marvin.
It’s nearly a year since the dear old fella went to doggie heaven, but, 14 years ago, I was the one who was responsible for Hoover’s name. I actually thought of it before I got him, but once I had him and set a plate of food before him and watched him suck it down like a vacuum cleaner, I knew it was the right name. He lived up to it every second of his life. Miss you, Hoov!
