Our current pair of (rescued) Chinese dwarf hamsters are named Jiaozi and Baozi, after two types of Chinese dumplings. Jiaoziis slender and energetic, while Baoziis a fat little butterball.
My dearest kitty, a little Russian Blue, was named Meep. She’ll always be my baby–we lost her at age 5 to lymphoma back in 2005, but she’ll always be my favorite. The story of her name is long and convoluted, but comes down to my friend’s and my decision that baby dragons were called “Meeps.”
Other kitties:
Ozzy, Singapura: After Ozzy Osbourne (because he was spastic as a kitten) and Ozymandias (because we liked “Watchmen.”)
Tenshi, Singapura: came with his name, and we liked it so we kept it.
Grace, Russian Blue: Named after a character in the book “The Autobiography of Foudini M. Cat.” Her original name was Aria Bella. We also call her Boo.
Sonata, Russian Blue: She came with her name. We also call her Fred.
Clarice, rescue tabby: Named after Clarice Starling from “Silence of the Lambs” because spouse thought she was little and scrappy.
Tessa, rescue tabby: Named after a lovely little tabby we knew in college. Tessa’s last name is Tabakova, and her nickname is Bug (because she’s cute as one!)
Nabby, rescue tabby: Named after Evgeni Nabokov, goalie for the San Jose Sharks. He’s Bug’s brother and his last name is Tabokov. We call him Nabbytabby.
My cats:
Todd - I was marathoning Todd in the Shadows music reviews the day I got him.
McCoy- I was marathoning Star Trek TOS the day I got him.
So my pets are named for whatever I happened to have been watching that day.
Al is technically named Al Franken. Mr. Shoe’s mother originally took him in and told us, in all seriousness, “he said that was his name.” We just went 
and rolled with it.
Nikki was almost named Maggie, because when we got her she had a horrible case of ringworm on her face and Mr. Shoe’s dad suggested Mollie Ringworm (Ringwald … ) as a joke. It almost stuck, but we were watching something on Animal Planet with Jeff Corwin and he called to one of his foster critters “Hey! Nikki!” and we decided that was a better name.
She’s since been re-named Pookie, and just seems to respond to anything with “… KI” so it works.
Before I bought my horse, I decided his name would be Bob because Bob is a good name. So I searched for a horse who looked like his name should be Bob. Not the best selection criteria. Thank goodness it all worked out and I love him to pieces!
My then 4yo daughter named the new Scottish Terrier puppy “Mackie.”
I think it’s a wonderful name, especially since it wasn’t “Blackie” or a TV character. Plus, there’s a lot of rhyming words with Mackie: when she threw up the other day I was able to tell my wife “Mack yacked.” She’s been “Mackie Doodle Dandy” for Halloween, we play “Mackie Sack” with her (kick with our feet so the dog grabs on to the shoes and tries to break your ankle by shaking your foot (a Scottie specialty)), she likes “Mackieroni and cheese”, when she runs after some squirrel she’s on a “Mack attack”…
… we’ve got a million of them. 
Our girl is also Sadie, and a friend added the Mae, so we have a Sadie Mae too.
She’s blonde, and my husband thought Sadie was a cool name for a blonde.
Boomer, the lab, was acquired during football season, and we were looking for a football-related name.
Havoc and Pixel are named after two of my favorite literary cats. Caelan is Gaelic for “slender warrior” or the like, which fits him well. It’s also the name he chirped to when I read a list of possible names to him. Brindle is a dilute calico with a pattern that is, obviously, brindled.
Alrighty then!
Dogs:
Annie – stray found on Mt Annie Church Rd
Luna – I just like the name, plus it went with her registered name “Cedarwood’s Moon On Fire”
Cats: (group shot)
Wicked – she was the spitting image (groan…) of a previous cat with that name, who was “a wicked good huntah” according to the person we got her from.
E – found as a teeny kitten screaming his head off in the bushes. Once in the house the only way I could entice him out from under the bed was by squeaking “eeeyou-eeyou-eeyou” at him. E sort of stuck.
Elsie – she was a Little Cat (tho adult) when found, so LC = Elsie
Chloe- came with that name
Mouse– Also a little kitten foundling, but he was in my barn for weeks before I could catch him, and the first few time I saw him I thought he was a rat scuttling behind the feed bins. Mouse makes a better name than Rat 
Handsome – 'cuz he is. Big jet black cat now, though he was yet another scrawny little foundling when I got him.
Rose –Gorgeous fluffy girl, found by my husband in the stairwell at work. She can be so sweet, and she can be very prickly, so Rose it is.
Tux – My Tennessee Tuxedo. I think I ‘stole’ him from my neighbor when we moved, but as he’d been spending the majority of time at my place, showed up daily at the barn cats’ mealtimes, & was covered in ticks when I finally trapped him, I don’t feel bad at all. He’s now a sweet sweet bed cat 
Little aka KittenLittle – my latest foundling, was maybe 2wks old and had to be bottle fed. He’s now starting to look like a real cat, and is afraid of nothing.
Horses:
Keogh It’s a family name on my mother’s side, and it’s as close as she was ever going to get to a grandchild. (I owned his mother and he is my one and only attempt at raising a foal. He’s 12 now and is the horse I show)
Spot He came with that name and I’ve never been able to change it. He’s a solid chestnut TB.
Bootsie (who I can’t fins a picture of, bad me!) &Arieleach came named.
Oh, and there’s also Geronimo who’s out on loan. He cam with that name and like I said, I’m not good at changing names 
So Flander, sorry you asked now?
My dog’s pound name was Bishop. I renamed him Gordie, after Gordie Howe.
My favourite band is Duran Duran. “What should I name the kitten? Her name is…her name is…Duh. Her Name is Rio.”
My husband’s cat is Rio’s mom. She was a pregnant stray and she walked into his house one day and curled up on his couch. Her name is Pima - stands for “Pain In My Ass.”
Our dog is Ruby Tuesday, named after the song. I read an article that described the real “Ruby Tuesday” (the groupie) as a “strong, independent woman” so that’s who I named my dog after.
When my ex and I went looking for a puppy five years ago, I had the name “Charlie” picked out (for either a boy or a girl). But when we found The One, the rescue had named her “Bailey.” She was only three months old and had only had that name for a week, so it would have been easy to change, but I decided that I liked “Bailey” – and my ex had never been totally crazy about “Charlie.”
So, Bailey she is.
My wife spends a few minutes playing/examining them and then comes up with the perfect name. Not sure how she does this but it is a talent she has. Friends and coworkers even ask her to name their pets. Reminds me of the old cliché of the tribe shaman identifying your spirit animal.
That being said when we were looking for a kitten a few years ago I saw one with a hitler moustache. I So wanted to get him and name him Adolph…but was outvoted by wife and daughter.
The pug is named Spoon after the Tick’s catchphrase.
A friend of mine named his budgie “Beethoven” :rolleyes:
I’ve had 14 cats so far and some of them were named for a reason and some of them just got names I liked:
Jade - green eyes
That One & The Other One – twin yellow kitties – I was the only one who could tell them apart - they were just referred to as this and both were called “Kitty”
Wicca – black kitten I got on Halloween
Ariane (Annie)
Wynowe (Winnie)
Runt – she was obviously the kitten of a different daddy than the rest of the litter – very tiny and furless when she was born
Gemma – named after the actress Gemma Jones – I was a big fan of The Duchess of Duke Street at the time
Frankie – named after Ol’ Blue Eyes for an obvious reason
John
Chelsea
Jayce – named after John & Chelsea (JC) who died in a house fire
Remy
Will – from “where there’s a will, there’s a way” – long story
Two cats that have passed were Vladimir and Tobermory.
Vlad was named for his canine teeth, that were long enough to just show their tips.
And Tobermory was named for the cat in the short story “Tobermory”, by Saki.
My current cat Atilla is named for the cat in the comic strip “Mother Goose and Grimm”
Nibbler, because from when I picked her up as a stray she liked to chew on fingers, and because I like Futurama.
Jasper , a ginger tom with green eyes, because Jasper is Arabic for carrot. We got him in Saudi Arabia.
I adopted my two and their names were Roscoe and Betsy. Awful. Who thought those up? But they were awfully shy for a long time, having had a difficult youth, so they ended up being named Streak (the yellow boy) and Shadow (the shy brown tabby girl). They are no longer so shy (she said, moving cat bodies aside to reach the keyboard) with me or my husband but the names still apply when strangers ring the doorbell.