# How did you name your pets? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 6, 2006, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pets/367584 "2006-08-06T18:24:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2006, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pets/367584/21 "2006-08-06T21:46:41Z")
> [@freckafree](#): > > I’ve been following all of **Zsofia** ’s trials related to cat ownership, and got to wondering how she came to name her cat Dewey. (And maybe she already shared that and I missed it.) Is she a librarian? Or maybe a Car Talk fan and her other pets are named Cheatum and Howe? > > I have a large orange cat that adopted us at the time my son was reading the Redwall books, so he named the cat Squire Julian Gingevere after one of the characters in the book. We call him Julian. > > Our other cat is Miranda, the third in a string of cats with Latin names (the other two being Catullus and Fortuna). When she was a kitten, the M mark that tabbies often have on their foreheads was very prominent, so I picked a name that started with M. (In retropect, Messalina would have been a better match for her personality…) > > So how did you come up with your pet’s (or pets’) name(s)? For my dog, I just kept the name the Breeders had given her, which is Cricket. It suits her very well, she’s a bundle of energy, basically an amphetamine high with four legs. My Cockatiel was a rescue bird and already had her name “Babe”. She’s a quiet little sweetie, so it suits her well. My cat is a tabby, and like the OP, I named her with an “M” name due to the mark on her forehead. Her name, after deciding upon an “M” name, just came to me, it’s Maisie. That is a nice calm oldfashioned name. I don’t think it suits her as well as the other two pet’s names do them. She is a wildly energetic character who appears to believe she is part puppy, even after she left kittenhood behind (she chews on and gets into EVERYTHING). She should have a name that illustrates her nature like “Tornado” maybe? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2006, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pets/367584/22 "2006-08-06T21:50:39Z")
We had “Inspector Cleauseau” who always had his nose in something. That kitty was sooo cool. ---
**Author:** ![SnakesCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@SnakesCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakesCatLady)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2006, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pets/367584/23 "2006-08-06T21:51:23Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > My present Feline Overlord earned his name the night I found him. I’d come back from an out of town job interview, and it really was a “dark and stormy night”. At the time, I lived in an upstairs apartment. The units were arranged 8 per building, with 4 on each floor, and a common breezeway joining the entry doors on each floor. As I came up the stairs, I heard the fearsome demon-growl of an adult tom meaning to inflict felonious damage on something. When I reached the top, I saw the situation. A large adult tom had this little ball of fluff backed into a corner, and was obviously about to kill the kitten. The kitten was scared, but he wasn’t going down without a fight. Little thing was bowed up, hissing, spitting, bound and determined to make the Tom pay for taking his life. I acted without thinking–citing the landmark 1975 case of Boot vs Ass, I sent the Tom flying across the breezeway, scooped up the ball of fluffm and took it inside. For his display of courage under fire, I awarded the kitten an Honored Name in my part of the country. He is now known as… > > **Mosby** You are fast becoming one of my heroes. But where’s the picture of Mosby? ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2006, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pets/367584/24 "2006-08-06T21:53:51Z")
> [@SnakesCatLady](#): > > You are fast becoming one of my heroes. But where’s the picture of Mosby? Yeah…you know the rules. No cat talk without pics. What the fuck! ---
**Author:** ![Kiminy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Kiminy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiminy)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2006, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pets/367584/25 "2006-08-06T22:12:51Z")
When I was growing up, we had a slew of pets, and my mother was quite imaginitive about naming them: A mastiff-shepherd mix was named Moose, because he was big and brown. An all-black female cat with a single white dot at the tip of her tail: Merlin, because the tail looked like a magic wand. (We actually called her Precious most of the time, though.) A gray-black striped female cat who bounded into our house as stray during a snowstorm: Tigger Tigger’s singleton male kitten, born about six months later: Pyewacket, for the familiar in Bell, Book, and Candle, which was my mother’s favorite movie at the time. (This cat was more typically called Dumb-Dumb, because he was too smart for a cat, but too dumb to be human.) Pure-bred, AKA registered female German Shepherd: Mountain Samantha Majesty (or something along those lines), called Sam. Several pure-bred Labrador Retrievers. I’ve forgotten the full registered names, but they were all names that my mother felt were Scottish–Molly, McDuff, and Butch are the ones I remember. A golden retriever with ADD: Falderal, aka Folly. The cat that Mr. Kiminy and I got at a yard sale as our first pet was a full-grown, gray-black striped cat named Cricket. We never knew where the name came from, but we used it anyway. Our current cats are [Paka and Minou](http://home.insightbb.com/~kiminy). When we acquired them, our daughter was teaching herself Swahili for fun, and she said that Paka means “cat” in Swahili. (I have never tried to confirm or deny this–the name just stuck.) Minou came with the name “Baby,” but we changed it to Minou, which is French for kitty-cat. We have recently acquired three hermit crabs, and our daughter named them Kitty, Tyan, and Kyon. She told me that Kyon means “king” according to baby name lists, but she just likes the sound of Tyan. Kitty is just Kitty for some reason. My brother had a black cat that he named White Dog, just to be weird. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2006, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pets/367584/26 "2006-08-06T22:21:12Z")
We let the kids name the pets. The dogs are named Scooby and Molly. Scooby’s name was obvious, because he’s a big dumb dog and looks a lot like Scooby Doo. Molly is named after Molly Volley, who played tennis with Snoopy in some Peanuts strips (my daughter is a Snoopy fan). The cats just have human names, Dana and Maria. Maria has earned herself the nickname Psycho Kitty. The guinea pig is named Sheila. I don’t know why. We got the birds from a friend so they already had names, Bogart and Bekal. And, of course, pics: Scooby and Molly (Molly is the one with white in her fur): [http://userweb.suscom.net/~sokosfamily/MAY\_0018.jpg](http://userweb.suscom.net/~sokosfamily/MAY_0018.jpg) Dana, sleeping in the napkin basket (don’t ask me why): [http://userweb.suscom.net/~sokosfamily/jul\_0003.jpg](http://userweb.suscom.net/~sokosfamily/jul_0003.jpg) Maria (Psycho Kitty) on top of Sheila’s cage: [http://userweb.suscom.net/~sokosfamily/jul\_0007.jpg](http://userweb.suscom.net/~sokosfamily/jul_0007.jpg) Note that to get here, she had to climb a chair, leap a fair distance to the fireplace, then jump down into the box on Sheila’s cage. The birds: [http://userweb.suscom.net/~sokosfamily/jul\_0010.jpg](http://userweb.suscom.net/~sokosfamily/jul_0010.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![ThisSpaceForRent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisspaceforrent/32/345_2.png) [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2006, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pets/367584/27 "2006-08-06T22:23:15Z")
> [@SnakesCatLady](#): > > Let’s se…[Sugar Magnolia](http://community.webshots.com/photo/551443134/2264863990092851307kWyGSv) was named for the song - “…head’s all empty but I don’t care…” and you like hockey too…LOL had a GREAT malamute name Aiko, also from the song 🆒 … other pets… Snoopy…cause she looked like Snoopy… :smack: Duke…Duthchess’ kid :rolleyes: Raven…pure black Lab/Dingo cross…she was so, so smart :dubious: Sky…aka SkyBaby…B&W siberian w/ SkyBlue eyes… 🙂 and Pinchey…a turtle…cause “Pinchey would’a wanted it that way”… 😃 Kind regards and thanks for helping me remember some GREAT pets… TSFR ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2006, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pets/367584/28 "2006-08-06T22:26:00Z")
Sorry, I have no pictures of my Feline Overlord. A digi camera is on my wish list, though… ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2006, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pets/367584/29 "2006-08-06T23:19:00Z")
Let’s see. [Ichabod](http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v101/jsgoddess/?action=view¤t=ichabod0002.jpg&refPage=&imgAnch=imgAnch19) is named Ichabod because she adopted me during Trick or Treat night while I was watching “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” the night someone cut her ears off. [Irving](http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v101/jsgoddess/?action=view¤t=irving0005.jpg&refPage=&imgAnch=imgAnch18) was just given a name to go with Ichabod. [Orson](http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v101/jsgoddess/?action=view¤t=orson4-30-05-0001.jpg&refPage=&imgAnch=imgAnch17) is named after Orson Welles, because of the size of him. [Halley](http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v101/jsgoddess/?action=view¤t=yawn.jpg&refPage=&imgAnch=imgAnch20) is named after the comet because of her enormous tail. [Dickens](http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v101/jsgoddess/?action=view¤t=dickensheadtilt.jpg&refPage=20&imgAnch=imgAnch35) is just named after one of my favorite authors. [Isaac](http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v101/jsgoddess/?action=view¤t=isaac0001.jpg&refPage=20&imgAnch=imgAnch30) is named after one of my husband’s favorite authors. [Albert](http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v101/jsgoddess/?action=view¤t=albert4-30-05.jpg&refPage=20&imgAnch=imgAnch23) is named after Einstein for the flyaway white hair. And teeny tiny [Cosmo](http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v101/jsgoddess/?action=view¤t=Tiny_Cosmo.jpg&refPage=20&imgAnch=imgAnch37) is actually named for Carl Sagan, but we didn’t want to call her “Carl.” Her name was “Cosmos” for about 15 minutes, then turned into Cosmo. ---
**Author:** ![Lionne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pets/367584/30 "2006-08-07T02:01:01Z")
[Nikita](http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/7157/picture116ug0.jpg) was named because I loved the TV show La Femme Nikita as a teen, and the name stuck with me. Of course, my [4-week old](http://img315.imageshack.us/img315/1261/prelim011lp4.jpg) tiny baby girl turned out to be a thriving loud-mouthed boy! Good think Nikita is also a guy’s name. [Kellogg](http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/2319/prelim024ry4.jpg) is so named because our first interaction consisted of her flying into my cereal bowl and helping herself. The finches were named by poll result here on the Dope! [thread]364543[/thread] ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pets/367584/31 "2006-08-07T02:01:55Z")
My husband decided that Muffin was an adorable, cute and gorgeous name and that when we got a cat, that was what he would call her. And he did. My friend decided that her kitten was a Psycho Cat, so she named her PC. I remember arguing with her at the time! “PC stands for Politically Correct, Personal Computer, Police Constable… you can’t use PC as a name!”. She didn’t agree. When PC came to live with us, I hated her name (we’re computer geeks - people actually think we named our cat PC because of our love of computers… grr!), so I call her Peace for short. It’s not a brilliant name but Peace doesn’t make people laugh at us the way PC does. Also, she is far from being a Psycho Cat. [Peace and Muffin](http://www.the-becketts.net/images/peacemuf.jpg), chillin’ together. The stray that turned up earlier this year was supposed to be called Thomas when it became clear that he’d decided to move in. Sadly, we’d been calling him “[Outdoor Cat](http://web.mac.com/abeckett/iWeb/Site/OutdoorCat.html)”, “Other Cat” and “Garden Cat” for so long before we decided on a name for him that we couldn’t get anything else to stick. Maybe this offended him and is why he up and moved out, never to be seen again? Anyway, after the Other Cat naming-debacle, I decided to waste no time when the next stray came calling and I christened him [Starvin’ Marvin](http://web.mac.com/abeckett/iWeb/Site/Marvin.html) on the spot. Fortunately, he turned out to be a boy AND has been hanging around for a month now with no apparent plans to move on. The vets recorded him as Marvin The Stray when I took him in last week, but I think we’ll go with Marvin d’Stray as his official name… well, until I manage to find him a good home that is. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pets/367584/32 "2006-08-07T02:51:52Z")
I got [Bean’s](http://www1.snapfish.com/slideshow/AlbumID=37041842/PictureID=1073123346/a=43736900_43736900/t_=43736900) name from Kurt Cobain’s daughter, Frances Bean. I just thought it sounded like a cool name. [Polaris](http://www1.snapfish.com/slideshow/AlbumID=38573249/PictureID=1120174535/a=43736900_43736900/t_=43736900) got her name from the white dot on her forehead: it made me think of the North Star. [Sirius](http://www1.snapfish.com/slideshow/AlbumID=42683977/PictureID=1281257166/a=43736900_43736900/t_=43736900) got his name from the Dog Star, but it’s also a bit of a pun because he’s so quiet and gentle. ---
**Author:** ![dogbutler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogbutler/32/428_2.png) [@dogbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogbutler)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pets/367584/33 "2006-08-07T03:33:46Z")
[Maggie](http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e260/dogbutler/Picture090.jpg) is named Maggie because, I don’t know, she just seemed maggielike when I got her. [Lucretia](http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e260/dogbutler/Picture002.jpg)(full name Lucretia D. Hellcat) got her namebecause she has got to be a Borgia. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pets/367584/34 "2006-08-07T03:39:07Z")
Most of mine are named after characters from Greco-Roman mythology and from classical literature (in particular, _Don Quixote_). ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pets/367584/35 "2006-08-07T04:59:33Z")
[Maceo](http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b7/rubystreak/MaceoIroningBd.jpg) is named after Maceo Parker, saxophone great. [Harley](http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b7/rubystreak/Harley.jpg) is short for “harlequin” due to his half black and half white body. I started referring to him as The Harlequin when he was a stray in my neighborhood and the name stuck once he became my cat. [Dolphie](http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b7/rubystreak/DolphieLaffing.jpg) is a queen diva girl named after a male cat named Rudolph. I thought Dolphie was more fitting for her than Rudy. [Tansy](http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b7/rubystreak/Tansy.jpg) was named Fancy at the SPCA, but that was way too corny for me, so I changed it to something that sounded similar. Got the idea from a very minor character so named in George R.R. Martin’s _Song of Ice and Fire_. I didn’t name [Shadow](http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b7/rubystreak/ShadowBitingFlower.jpg) or [Sasha](http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b7/rubystreak/suspect3.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Stinkum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Stinkum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stinkum)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pets/367584/36 "2006-08-07T05:13:26Z")
I adopted a black lab mix who was two years old and was already named Bobbie. I have no clue why they would name a girl dog Bobbie – given this is Indiana, maybe they named her in honor of Bobby Knight (get it?) – but I hoped it might have been after Greyfriar’s Bobbie. I hate giving dog people names because it is confusing, so altered the name slightly, giving her the middle name McGee, you know, like after the song. Anyway, I found the other black lab mix wandering the streets, and decided to keep the boy. He became Joplin, after Janis, and I added the middle name M’Boy. He was also known as the Evil Twin. Now, I call him Jop, the Jopster, or “Fat Boy.” Other dog names: Puppy, named Puppy because no one was creative enough to call her anything else – until she had puppies and we called her Mother Dog for a while. She had 7 puppies and we kids named them after the Dwarves. I kept Happy, until she was killed by a car. Cheyenne was named after much deliberation by the family. She was part malamute, part collie, part sheperd. Cheyenne was Puppy’s father’s name, and it seemed to fit her – wild and wooly as the Wild West. Later we added the middle name of Bandit for her mask and the fact she was a first-class thief. ---
**Author:** ![BoxofNothing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@BoxofNothing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoxofNothing)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pets/367584/37 "2006-08-07T05:59:57Z")
A name will just come to me. If it fits, it stays, if it doesn’t sound right, another comes along. I just looked at this white cat and said “He is Alphonse.” ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pets/367584/38 "2006-08-07T06:06:43Z")
My cat Sumie was so named because the colors of her coat are the same as the colors of Sumi-E painting: namely, black ink over brownish parchment. My cat Tomo was so named because she was supposed to be a “friend” for Sumie (“Tomo”=~“Friend” in Japanese) and also at the same time because “Sumie” + “Tomo” makes “Sumitomo” which is the bank my wife and I used when we lived in Japan. For some reason we thought this was funny. We were wrong of course. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pets/367584/39 "2006-08-07T06:10:08Z")
I wish to expand on my last post a little bit: Sumie’s “full name” is “Sumi-E Spasticat Rhodes.” Because she is a spastic cat. Tomo is “Tomodachi Pillowcat Rhodes” because she is more of a pillow than a cat. We also have a cat doll named “Kemah Anniversaricat Rhodes” because it was bought by myself for my wife during a walk on the boardwalk in Kemah, TX on our Anniversary. And now I’ve revealed my last name, oh no. But I felt I had to tell it to you so you’d get the full aesthetic experience associated with our cats’ names. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pets/367584/40 "2006-08-07T06:11:22Z")
Sorry, one more: I have always wanted to have a dog named “Insect” and at the same time a cat named “Machine.” I can not explain this. -FrL- [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pets/367584.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-name-your-pets/367584.md?page=3)