How did you name your pet?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
61

My dad and his wife got a knock at the door, “Does this white kitty we found wandering around belong to you?” – “No, but we’ll take care of her until you find her owner.”

Barbara was fond of Siamese cats, which this one was not, and fond of naming them Suki(-yaki). Somehow, that name did not quite seem to fit, then, in a flash of insight, I suggested “Teri(-yaki)”, and Teri she was. They even had a stool set up next to the kitchen table where she could watch them eat, I guess because she was named after food.

62

Angel had a marking on his back that my son said looked like an angel fish.

Lucky? lucky had two sisters and was semi-feral and she was “lucky” that I picked her.

but…

She calmed right down, made the house her own, wouldn’t go outside ever (why would she?). In fact, she’d hide when people came over. its like she was saying, “I’m not leaving or getting taken. No way, no how.”
She loved that we picked her & I think she knew that I picked her because… she picked me back. :smiley:

She became my good luck charm…

63

Well, my roomie has a cat named General Price because we found him crouched in the chicken pen eating the cat kibble we were supplementing the chicken chow with to boost the protein - at the time our alpha rooster was named Cogburn.

Our newest cat is named 5 because when we managed to catch him and bring him inside he immediately ran into the bedroom/office and hid inside the box of cable we had been bought for running internet outside into the barn [we were saving the box to mail some stuff off to a friend in Germany]

My wolf hybrid was named Lugh because he had an ID number when we got him and he reacted to Lugh when I was reading some Celtic myths to the godsprogs.

The shepherd/husky was named Blue because she had one blue eye and one brown eye. She was very bouncy so it was a toss up with Bunny being the other choice - we flipped a quarter to see what she would be named. We picked her up at the SPCA, her original name was Jennifer :confused:

mrAru had a cat growing up named Kittipuss, it was named when his younger brother was very young [step brother, like 14 years younger than mrAru] and a Old English Sheepdog named Oscar after Oscar the Grouch, named when mrAru was of Sesame Street age.

64

I had a friend who bred Betta fish. She named them all after dictators (i.e. Slobodan Milosifish . . .)

My current dog was named by his Foster Mom before I got him. Celtling tried to re-name him “Skadoodle” which I loved, but he didn’t.

I have a Clown Loach named Angel, because she was white where she should have been orange when I first bought her. She was so nearly dead that I really only expected to make her last days more comfortable. She is about 8 years old now, I think.

Celtling has a betta named Red Rose for obvious reasons.

Herman the Frankenfish. Herman is the result of an unlikely pairing between a purple danio and a harlequin rasbora. His front half is silver, and his back half is orange - split right down the middle. He is also twice as big as his parents put together and has lived longer than either of their life spans. He is named for Herman Munster.

65

Don’t most pets name themselves?

My black lab puppy was getting in the way of my mom as she tried to weed her garden-in exasperation she scolded him, “Oh you little dickens!” and the name stuck. Perfectly described his personality, too…

66

That’s interesting…yesterday we were talking to our vet and he was telling us about the Doberman named Bubbles he used to have, and I thought, “A Dobie named Bubbles? I bet there aren’t many of those.”

67

Back in college I had two virtually identical black-and-white mice. ==>Castor and Pollux (of course!)

When I was first born, my parents had a black-and-white tuxedo cat with white paws. Ergo, she was named Boots.

I learned quickly that you should never name your pets immediately. They know their name, you just have to figure it out. For example, in college we acquired a gorgeous pale orange tabby, and my mom named him Cinnamon. But within a month he was called Sam, the only name he ever responded to.

And so, when I was on my own and was chosen by my Yellow Lab, I just lived with him for a while. The Shelter insisted his name was “Jack” but he completely ignored the name. I tried out all sorts of names. Then one day, I have no idea why, I called out “Maguire!” and he came running up–with that joy that only Labs really ever have–as if to say “Finally! I was beginning to worry you’d never figure out my truename!”

When we rescued our little Chiweenie, she joined Maguire, my wife and I in our new home (finally we could have more than one dog!). Same scenario. Turns out her truename was “Maggie Mae” And we had Maguire and Maggie Mae.

This past Februaury we added a third dog, a “special needs” Chihuahua that the shelter called Jingle Bell. My wife hated the name, and frankly, so did he. He acts as if he is 400 pounds, and owns everything on the block (Maggie Mae excepted–she’s top dog, only outranked in our pack by me. Yes, she pretty much ignores my wife when she calls… but comes first time, every time for me) So we tried out tough-sounding names; Butch, Bruiser, Spike, etc. We tried Rocky, and he perked up… but not quite… Rocco? YES!!! Joy and understanding came from him, and Rocco joined Maguire, and Maggie Mae.

Of course, they all have nick-names:
Maguire is called Gui (guh-why)
Maggie Mae: Baby Bog or Baby Girl
Rocco: Budder. That’s 'cause he’s my little buddy. (Seriously, that lil guy absolutely adores me, and is always with me. I never thought I’d love a little dog as much as I love my Rocco. He literally sleeps in my arms every night as I sit in my chair. NOT THE LAP. In my arms. Adorable.)

68

Thank you, sage!

69

Peanut the Chihuahua. He was named at the pet store by the staff. He seemed to react to it positively so we just kept it. The only dog of the bunch.

Choo-Choo the Domestic Short Hair. We usually just call him Chooie (Chewie) though. He was found as a kitten abandoned by rail road tracks.

Cookie the DSH. The only cat we planned on having. She was the sweetest kitten of her litter when we picked her up.

We didn’t realize how quickly cats got their groove on. We had a batch of Chewie Cookies.

Charlie was named after Bella’s dad from Twilight because the fiancee was reading the books at the time. Thankfully he’s the only Twilight named cat.

Sandy is short for San d’Oria from Final Fantasy XI.

Windy is short for Windurst, also from FFXI. The fiancee and I both play.

Abby is short for Abyssea, again from FFXI. For those following along, Basty (Bastok) didn’t sound right, and we wanted to keep up with the -y sound names.

Also we have Manny, a certified Maine Coon we adopted from a friend when she moved in with a guy with a severe cat allergy. He was named after Manny Ramirez formerly of the Boston Red Sox. Ironically enough, he’s super attached to another of our friends who happens to be a gigantic Yankees fan.

70

My aunt gave me a canary, we went to the breeder to pick him up; this was when she was still living in Barcelona, back sometime around the Dark Ages.

They asked “what will you call him?” and I said “how do you say ‘yellow’ in Catalan?” “groc” “then since he’s yellow and Catalan, his name is Groc”.

71

My Present Occupant came pre-named from the vet’s office. So it stuck.

I have a friend who thinks up the best pet names ever:

• a mini donkey named “Don Quixote” (donkey-O-tee)

• a Siamese named “Mao” (she can speak her name: Mowwwww)

and others long forgotten.

72

My dog Max came prenamed and I named the cat Cat, which fits him really well. I don’t remember how I came up with it, I’m just good at naming things I guess.

73

Boring…she was “Jenna” as the shelter, but we didn’t like that…wait, my ex didn’t like that…so we switched it to “Emma”.

I actually liked “Jenna”.

74

I recently rescued a black toy poodle who was found roaming the streets. The rescue group had named her Prada which I though was interesting but when we met I knew it just didn’t fit. On the way home from the foster I started thinking about the little french girl, Madeline, http://www.madeline.com/ and that became her name…Maddie for short.

75

We have two cats. We got them from Animal Control, and they were not your usually cute-and-fuzzy-baby-cat that most folks seem to like to take home. They had been in the shelter for over a month, and were called Ham and Burg (there were two other cats named Hot and Dog). They responded to the names, so we didn’t change them. They get Hammie and Burger, usually. Or Lardass and Dumbass…

We also have a mixed-breed, border-collie/something cross named Riley. He is also a “used” pet. He came from Alabama, and was named Branson according to the vet paperwork from down there… The rescue organization already had a Branson when he arrived, so his name was changed to Luis when he arrived. But he wasn’t a Luis at all… Our family considered several names, but then it came to us – Riley. My FIL served with the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry during World War 2. They are shortened to RHLI, which is affectionately pronounced Riley… Dad is still alive, and practically cried when we told him what we had named our doggie… Riley jumps carefully up onto Dad’s lap when we go there; Dad loves it.

76

A parrotlet named Sin Nombre (Without a Name) because I couldn’t think up a name for him.

77

Our dog is named Peaches. She’s a black and white mutt but we found her abandoned in a peach orchard on a country road. Her litter mates were already dead from cars or exposure. She’s 13 now and definitely an old lady.

Our cats official name is Fenchurch because the kids were reading the Hitch hiker series and wanted a name from that. Random probably would have been a better choice because she was also dumped on us when her owner didn’t want to raise her anymore. :wink: It doesn’t matter because the only name she responds to is Kitten.

78

We have cats:

Moudi (usually spelled Moody) - after a belly-dancing rhythm, but the personality fits.

Karshilamar (Shilla) - another dancer, now deceased

Amira - an Arabic princess

Hubble - All black, named after the telescope, which was looking for black holes. Another appropriate name since he loves to find something to get under/behind/inside.

79

Our first pet as a newly married couple was a purebred Basset Hound from my wife’s aunt, who bred and raised them in South Carolina. Being a proper southern belle and spoiled beyond measure, she was named Ashley.

A young ( ~ 6 years old ) Miss DrumBum found kitten number one outside the gate. Like all kittens, it was quite active especially at 2am when it would run around the house and knock things over. I thus decided to call her Pita which got a thumbs up from my daughter. When Miss DrumBum was a bit older I told her that Pita stood for “Pain In The Ass.” Needless to say, Pita continues to live up to her name.

80

Many, many, many years ago I worked with a woman whose son was named Zebulon, and I always thought it would be a great name for a cat. It wasn’t until this fellaentered my life that a cat actually claimed the name for himself.

He came with a littermate, so I needed a girlcat name that went well with Zebulon – so she’s Jezebel, which luckily suits her – she’s also known as Mini Minx.

Day to day, they’re Zeb and Jez.