# How did you name your pet? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 19, 2013, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pet/674301 "2013-11-19T22:39:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pet/674301/121 "2013-12-18T10:48:21Z")
I have a cat named Boe. (pronounced “Bowie”). Because in Hebrew, Boe means “come here”. 🙂 The first time I met her, I crouched down, and said to her “Boe”. She perked up her ears, and looked at me-- but didn’t move. Then I repeated it: “Boe”, and she ran up to me and jumped on my knee. See? It’s obvious! When I said it the second time, she decided to do what I asked her… But the first time, there was no reason for her to do anything, because I hadn’t asked yet…She just perked up her ears because she had heard someone calling her name. ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pet/674301/122 "2013-12-18T18:29:58Z")
> [@For You](#): > > Two young neighborhood cats chose me (probably because my roommate put food out for them). The boy had symmetrical black and green (very dark grey) circular striping, so of course I called him **Roarschach**. The girl (now pushing 16) has those lines leading away from the corners of her eyes that reminded me of ancient Egyptian eye make-up, so I named her **Nefurtari** (a princess I was enchanted by in a book by Stuart Gordon) – I have since learned the name means something like “beautiful companion”, and she is indeed [a pretty kitty](http://home.blarg.net/~sydde/Scrapbook/IMGs/Nefurkitty01.jpg). Our female tabby was rescued as an abandoned kitten and is named Cleocatra for the same reason. The other two came with their names - [Aeris](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerith_Gainsborough) for the girl (her original owner was a Final Fantasy player) and [Chipie](http://www.chipie.fr/en/) for the grey male (his original owner was French). Here’s [Cleocatra and Aeris](http://s22.photobucket.com/user/Bookkeeper2/media/Cats/2009_0426_222700.jpg.html?sort=4&o=145), and [Chipie](http://s22.photobucket.com/user/Bookkeeper2/media/Cats/2009_0727_201543.jpg.html?sort=4&o=160). Of course, my wife’s liking for nicknames means that they are often called something else, depending on mood or circumstances - Chipie is often “Boyo”, “Pépé”, or when he is being especially affectionate, “Droolio”. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pet/674301/123 "2013-12-19T16:58:29Z")
I named a previous cat Snickers because as a kitten, she was snickers-colored - a torbie. And yes, my handle here derives from her. Current cats are Brix and Bella. Brix we found at 4ish weeks old, hiding under a pallet of patio paver blocks. Her mom had put her there and I heard her little mews when we came home from dinner one night and 'bout died from the cuteness. She’s a black and white tabby. A couple months later, I determined that she needed a toy and picked up a tuxedo kitten of about her same age from the pound. My mother-in-law dubbed her Bella and it’s stuck ever since. Their full names are Brixanthemum J. Kittyfur and Bellatrix S. Thunderpaws, and are often called Brixie, Brixiepants, Bellapaws, Bellanotte, and all sorts of other things. ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pet/674301/124 "2013-12-19T19:56:55Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > Cody definitely looks like the mischievous type. > > All of the pooches are cuties. Please give all of them extra hugs/scritches from me. They said “thanks!” Or at least, wagged a lot! ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pet/674301/125 "2013-12-20T04:06:02Z")
We didn’t name any of our dogs. [Holly](http://s39.photobucket.com/user/congodwarf/media/Facebook/Mobile%20Uploads/177528_3723551320265_48525660_o.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0) and [Ginger](http://s39.photobucket.com/user/congodwarf/media/Facebook/Mobile%20Uploads/339489_3723587801177_2010445650_o.jpg.html?sort=3&o=2) were named by their foster mother. We had plans to change their names to Esme and Gytha but once they got here we realized that their foster names were perfect so we didn’t change them. [Iggy](http://s39.photobucket.com/user/congodwarf/media/Facebook/Mobile%20Uploads/177163_3723580600997_974629727_o.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1) had a couple names. His foster mother/rescuer named him Tiny Tim (he was 8oz and frostbitten when she found him). His first family named him Beamer. We were supposed to be his temporary foster family when his adoptive family didn’t work out so we kept calling him Beamer. That didn’t even last 24 hours. Once he was officially ours (about 20 hours after he arrived at our house) we took him to meet our dog trainer and she said we had a G, and H, and no we needed an I and that he looked like an Iggy so Iggy he became. Funny thing is that Iggy is the only dog our trainer has ever named. Someone else always picked her dogs’ names. We did name our fish, Mr. Vimes. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pet/674301/126 "2013-12-20T04:25:59Z")
The closest thing we have to a pet, Henry, the pigeon who has been visiting our balcony for four years now, got his name because I happened to be reading _The Time Traveler’s Wife_ when he first appeared. He’s named after the main character. His latest mate is Geri, named for the character played by Ruth Sheen in _Another Year_ (2010). We’d watched it on DVD recently when Henry started bringing her around, and the wife likes the name Geri. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pet/674301/127 "2013-12-20T05:34:24Z")
Let’s see… Max the cat was named after Max, King of the Wild Beasts, from one of my favorite kid’s books Where the Wild Things Are. Robin, who was a bird but not a robin, was named after the Boy Wonder since he was red and green and I liked superheroes. My gerbils were named after their colors, something like Brownie, Whitie, and Blackie. My first turtle was named Bubbles as a semi homage to Pebbles, the turtle from A Fourth Grade Nothing. My next two turtles were adopted and already had the names Scooby and Raphael. I have another adopted turtle that came with the name Dee, which I don’t entirely remember the backstory to other than my friend had the nickname The Famous C, so his turtle became the famous D. My current two turtles have several names. Hunakpu and Shebalanque, after the Mayan hero twins, Rojo and Verde after coloring, Sheldon and Leonard after the Big Bang Theory characters, and Red and Zed because it rhymes and stuff. I helped name my friend’s cat Stormageddon, after the baby on Doctor Who. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pet/674301/128 "2013-12-20T13:57:19Z")
Flash: that was the name he came with, and since he was so smart and fast, that’s the name we kept. Two-Tone: his coat was brown and brindle when he was a puppy, and he had a particularly weird two-tone bark. Boo: her name was originally Lucy, but since she was afraid of damn near everyone and everything except us, her new name was pretty obvious. ---
**Author:** ![Noodles\_Fellicini](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e36b37/32.png) [@Noodles\_Fellicini](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noodles_Fellicini)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pet/674301/129 "2013-12-21T02:39:04Z")
A friend asked us to “temporarily” keep a gray tabby kitten she had rescued. At the time my 2 year old niece would respond to “What does the kitty say?” with “Meenow, meenow!” so Meenow became the kitty’s official name. A year later we still had her and decided to get her a friend. My other niece, now turning 2, would exclaim that a kitty says, “Yowie yowie yowie yowie!” so gray tabby girl number 2 became Yowyow. The two cats would get a couple of hours of outside time most afternoons but had to come in at sunset. The name choices always seemed awkward while standing on the porch calling, “Meenow! Yowyow!” if they were late coming in. ---
**Author:** ![urban1a](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47c2d/32.png) [@urban1a](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urban1a)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pet/674301/130 "2013-12-21T03:45:03Z")
I didn’t name either of the dogs I have had. Both are from shelters and came with names already. Both were 10+ years old when I got them and I decided that they were used to being called ‘their names’ and I’d leave it at that. They did, however, acquire nicknames, which they both respond to, so I guess I could have changed their names if I had wanted to. Bob ---
**Author:** ![NeverKnownNormal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc79bd/32.png) [@NeverKnownNormal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NeverKnownNormal)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2013, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pet/674301/131 "2013-12-21T12:31:03Z")
I’ll try to come back with picture links later, if I can un-jinx a photo account. Hubby makes it work just fine, but if I so much as LOOK at it, it shuts down. Current critters in descending order by age are: Mighty Mouse the miniature horse, who was born mousy gray, according to the nice old couple we bought him from, and mighty as hubby’s favorite cartoon character. (Hitch the ornery little beast to something you _don’t_ want to move, and it’ll be over _there_ in the blink of an eye. Honest.) Fuzzball, named by the kids, against my suggestion of, well, just about anything but that. Grey tabby with a whole lot of white. Found wedged between the wheel well and the engine of a car, about a week before Christmas, the year hubby was collecting parking fees from college kids at a lot in town. Golden Bear and Sweety/Lovergirl, littermates, whose mother’s registered name in the German Shepherd books was Windy Duchess of Cackleberry, (Windy because she was very yappy, but also because all of Her littermates had Peter Pan names) but whose father(s) may have been one or more of the neighbors very friendly “traveling salesdogs.” :rolleyes: Sweety is perhaps the most inapt name I have ever come up with–somewhat standoffish, really. Or perhaps merely suffered through years of middle sibling issues. She’s now the eldest remaining “sister” and seems happier about it. Bear is the master of nicknames. Polarbear, bearbear, greendog when he’s been rolling in fresh cut grass, but he got his original name because hubby was working as a full-time pyrotechnician the year they were born, and Golden Bear supplied quite a bit of the product he was shooting. Bearbear is almost white, with just a hint of cream in his coat. Except for last week, when he rolled in the pokeberries, to try to be a purple-spotted dalmatian. Patches, Hunter, and Peanut Butter, littermates, whose mother was Butterscotch/Mickeybutt, and likely dad is Fuzzball, though she also got out. (Fuzz is an indoor/outdoor cat, Butterscotch was indoor only until she discovered a way to literally tear a hole in the floor to get out. At roughly the same time we realized we’d waited too long to get her fixed. Oops.) Hunter caught her first mouse before she was weaned. Peanut, like his mom, is… I think the color is dilute orange tabby, with a lot of white. Hunter is calico, I guess, with tabby markings inside the patches of color. Also with a lot of white, and long haired all year long. Fuzz is long haired in winter, and short haired in summer. (No, I don’t know how he does it.) And Patches has solid patches of color, gray, and gold, and white. Short hair, and she’s our tubby girl. Lyle came to us with the name Lyla. We had a couple of other rabbits at the time, and Lyla acted in ways that made us fairly certain that Lyla was a Lyle. But then we lost the other two rabbits, and Lyle only has Patches to hang out with. He (or she, I really can’t be sure) doesn’t get too frisky with Patches, but seems to be content with her company. Sable turned up, starved and injured, wedged between the steps and the skirting of the house last year. Too weak to get herself out, too weak to even stand up. Hubby lifted her out vertically (not sure how she got\* in\* there, but humans can’t fit in to pull her back out the direction she probably went in.) and we took her in the house to see if she would maybe drink some milk, and like magic, we had a new dog, whether we knew it then or not. She had a tear through the skin in one spot (I really hate it when I can see the muscle fibers) so we hauled her off to the vet directly, and didn’t realize that the sable-brown color she appeared was partly dirt. She’s actually true black. And very tall. I can’t say for sure, but I wonder if there’s just a whisker of Great Dane in her ancestry, somewhere. And I am undecided on whether to add the last critter or not. T-bone isn’t supposed to be a pet in the strictest sense. He’s supposed to go off to the locker in the spring. (Because that’s when I’ll have the money to pay the bill.) And I fully intend that he Will go. But in the mean time, when he’s not knocking me down and rolling me in poo, or other sorts of playful mischief, he’s almost a pet, for a big, red, calf. Scritch him under the chin, and he makes the most adorable stupid cow face, truly. Almost makes up for bruising me from head to toe. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Goob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@Mr.Goob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Goob)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pet/674301/132 "2013-12-22T01:05:24Z")
My friends had a litter of kittens about the same time as I bought my house 7 years ago and could do whatever I damn well pleased. They were all black and white, finally after they were ready to be weaned I went there one evening and sat on the floor across the room from them. First a longhair teedered over and started walking across my lap oozing kitteney cuteness all over me. OK, a keeper. Then a shorthair came and headbutted me a few times. The rest were all in their 23 hour 59 minute kitten like comas. I had my 2 like I planned, they chose me. They were boys, both black and white, one looked fat, one skinny. **Stan** and **Ollie**. (After Laurel and Hardy, black and white movie stars, a comedy duo for those of you under the age of 40) I had known I was getting a pair of black and white ones all along. Alternate plans for a boy/girl combo would have been Fred and Ginger. (Fred Astare and Ginger Rogers) Or a girl/girl mix, Bette and Joan (Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.) In actuality in the years hence they are mostly known as SillySilly or Lump (or Bean Bag) [ok, first time I’ve ever amitted that in public, not even my closest friends have ever heard me utter such drivel aloud.] The Lump is uncanny. I cannot sit or lay down in bed a nanosecond before he is plopped across my legs keeping the mystical forces of the universe from allowing me to float away. I think he can turn his bones on and off and conform to any puddle shaped nook or cranny he wishes. It’s funny, the one I name Stan after the skinny one is twice as fat. But the longhair still make Ollie look huge. Movies are illusion afterall. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pet/674301/133 "2013-12-22T01:22:40Z")
Don’t worry **Mr Goob** , cats have a way of making the toughest of us turn into mush. I hate children, never had any, never spend time with any, never ever spoke baby talk to a baby. But I talk baby talk like an idiot to my idiot cats. Mush, I tell you. SillySilly isn’t even in it with drivel. Trust me. ---
**Author:** ![chronometer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@chronometer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chronometer)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pet/674301/134 "2013-12-22T09:11:51Z")
My rabbit is called[Bertie](http://hapalochlaena.wordpress.com/2013/11/13/berties-backyard-perambulations/) (short for Dirty Bertie) because he humps. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pet/674301/135 "2013-12-22T15:44:38Z")
August 29th, 2005, my kitten was a fire ball of energy bouncing off the walls … we named her Katrina. I’ll leave it to your imagination as to why we named another Princess Leakybutt. ---
**Author:** ![YoungKusher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3e96dc/32.png) [@YoungKusher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YoungKusher)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pet/674301/136 "2013-12-22T17:42:29Z")
1. Named my cat poopoo because he was a persian cat whose terds would always get stuck in his long fur and dangle/fall off in inconvenient places. 2)A couple winters ago, someone dumped a box of kittens near my grandparents house. When my grandfather got home and parked his truck in the driveway, the kittens climbed up into the undercarriage of his truck for warmth. He unknowingly drove to work with the kittens riding along. When he got to work he heard crying coming from under the truck, he looked, and he found a kitten. He brought the kitten straight to my house because he works nearby. He called me later that day and told me he spotted several dead kittens on the side of the road on his way home and it’s a miracle that one of them made it. So, we named the little guy Miracle, and he is the most badass cat I have ever known. ---
**Author:** ![Marion\_Wormer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d07c76/32.png) [@Marion\_Wormer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marion_Wormer)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pet/674301/137 "2013-12-22T18:32:01Z")
The name on the cage at the pound was Lisa. I looked at her and said, “Lisa, sit!” She sat, so I decided not to mess with her training and I kept it. The dog I got after she died didn’t come with a name, and adopted the name I gave him in about 36 hours. Unfortunately, he was aggressive with humans and two trainers told me to get rid of him. (He would jump up and grab the collar of my shirt in his teeth and his behavior was escalating, so he went) ---
**Author:** ![Jamicat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@Jamicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamicat)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pet/674301/138 "2013-12-23T04:35:56Z")
Greek Mythology/Egyptian/Russian if they are kittens…older ones not so much… In sequential order of the ones I can remember. Inspector Ree Ismini Fluffy Tiki Nikita Nitasha Beavis Butthead Mitzi \*Special Slinky Silva Aleena \*Shalamar \*BooBoo I guess I didn’t name a lot of my cats or I have misplaced em in time. ☹ Really there’s MORE. \*still here with the living ---
**Author:** ![MsBatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@MsBatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsBatt)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pet/674301/139 "2013-12-23T05:41:04Z")
Sadie Mae seems to be a very popular dog name—I have one, and my brother has one that’s just Sadie. Hiro came with his name, but it suits him well. The cats, a pair of black short-hairs with Siamese markings (in certain light) and Siamese voices are named Hell and Damnation—for obvious reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pet/674301/140 "2013-12-23T09:45:01Z")
I know a dog at our local dog park named Sadie Mae! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pet/674301.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pet/674301.md?page=8)