How did your pets get their names?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Looking around at the chaos in the living room this morning, I was struck by the different methods we’ve used to name our pets, currently 2 dogs and 3 cats (I won’t include the children here). It made me wonder how other people name theirs. Here’s ours:

“Tempest” is what the cat people call a DLH – domestic long hair. I wasn’t around for her naming (she actually began as one of Montana Crickets roommates pets), but I’m told she was a fierce little ball-‘o-fuzz, and someone blurted out that she was a “Tempest in a tea-pot”, and it took.

“Cosmo” is a tuxedo cat, black with white bow tie and vest. Actually, this is a borrowed name, if I recall correctly. A co-worker has a cat with this name, and we liked it so much we used it on a new kitten. It has turned into a good name to modify – “Cosmo Trouble” is one of the most frequent.

“Chess” is another DLH who showed up on our back deck one day and wanted in. It’s short for Cheshire – guess which Disney movie the kids were addicted to at the time?

“Tank” is our tri-color Welsh Cardigan Corgi – long, low to the ground, and massive for a little dog, his “real” name is Shadowalk Underfoot Candletail. Shadowalk is the breeder, Underfoot because he IS!, and Candletail because of its white tip.

Finally, “Guinness” is my Brittany. Since he’s what they call liver, he’s pretty much the exact same color as the beer – dark brown with a little bit of creamy white. Note that I call him “mine” as opposed to “ours”. He recently earned the name, “Hose-monster” by eating several hundred dollars worth of drip irrigation pipe and is not being claimed by Montana Cricket as a pet, or even as a member of the family.

Some notable pets who have gone on after enriching our lives have been; “Murdock” the cat, named after “Howling Mad Murdock” of the “A-Team” for her tendency to race full tilt around the house whenever she got a wild hair, “Bob” the cat named by the roommate who believed that animals should have “people” names (interesting discussion there – interrupting your phone conversation with, “Bob, get off the counter! Outside, NOW” still makes me chuckle, especially since that’s MY name), and “Gemini” our old German Shepherd, born as one, owned by one, neurotic as hell.

2

Well, my attempts to name a dog “Sutekh the Destroyer” have always been vetoed by others, but my current dog is named “Beebo”.

Beebo is a nonsense word I like. I first saw it as a brand name of machine-dispensed snack cakes. From there, I would often use it as either a silly, temporary word (like “foo”) or as the name for several D&D characters (always one-shot characters).

Eventually we got this dog and I felt “Beebo” would be a good name. The wife didn’t like it at first, but these days we can’t think of anything else he’d be named.

3

My last two pets were:

Oliver (cat) because, as my husband said, “much like the character from Love Story, he is not a dog.”

Spot (a brown chihuahua with no spots) was named by my four year old daughter. We were on our way to get lunch when she said to me, “Daddy is going to buy me a dog, and I will name him Spot.” Completely coincidentaly, my husband came home that day with a dog, given to him by a friend of the family.

I don’t have any pets right now. Oliver died and Spot had to go back to the friend because she snapped at the kids. :frowning:

4

Various sources.

Indiana (cat) - she had/has a tendency to constantly whip her tail around a la Mr. Jones.
Frisco (cat) - we didn’t name him. He is my sister’s cat but as she could no longer keep him, we are now caring for him. We should have renamed him Stink because he does, terribly.

The others all were named after characters in books that I was reading when each came into our life.

Tess (cat) - of the D’Urbervilles
Cassandra (cat) - The Iliad
Winston (cat) - 1984
Holly (dog) - Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Incidentally, we also had a Fred (cat) around this time but he thought that one could play with coyotes in the same way that one can play with dogs. Unfortunately for Fred, this did not turn out to be true.

We also have a Puppy, an old tomcat who lives in our barn. When he was a kitten, he slept, ate, and played with the dogs and ignored the other cats - thus the name.

5

I love pet name stories!

Originally, I wanted to name our kitten Gypsy, as she had followed my sister to her house for a 30 minute walk (cats are strangely attracted to my sister), when she was just a tiny tiny kitten.

But when we went to pick her up from the aninal shelter (after no one claimed the lost kitty), the 8-disc changer switched to Bob Marley. The SO shouts out “Marley! that’s her name, Marley!”
And to this day, she remains our little rasta kitty.

6

My current pet is a Holland Lop type of rabbit named Edwin. He came by that name right after I got him. I assumed he’d be a cuddly, sweet little guy. Like my previous two Holland Lops.

No.

Instead he sat in the highest part of his cage and glared at all passerby’s. When not doing that, he could be found hunched down looking very crabby and seeming to be plotting something. I first learned WHAT he was plotting when he made a concentrated attempt to take down my 180 pound s.o. Of course, this doesn’t even deal with the ‘two feet of personal space’ that he keeps around himself at all times…I’ll just say that it’s best to watch your hands if you get him cornered… :wink:

So:
Edwin (from Baldur’s Gate) seems to fit him pretty well, even down to the ‘sexual’ alterations!

Ah, I love that guy!

Edwin (If this is an okay way to add a picture? I’ve gone through the FAQ and it seemed okay, but if not please delete) :slight_smile:

7

Haiku is named for the collection of poetry he attempted to hide behind when he was a tiny, tiny kitten on his first day in my home.

Puck has a name with two meanings. I wanted a literary reference, but I also wanted to commemorate the fact that he came home on the first night of the Winter Olympics.

Parker’s naming is chronicled here .

8

My favorite cat is named Valvoline. My Aunts’ neighbor found the kitten in a pan of used motor oil at his garage and brought it home to my Aunt. She cleaned him up, named him Tigger, and tried to get rid of him. My parents and I came to visit several weeks later and I fell in love with the furry guy.

I was 12 when we took him home and re-named him. I’m now 27 and I still have him.

9

My brother bought a cat he wanted to name Faravelli, but my mom didn’t want to have to stand on the front porch shouting “Faravelli!”, so we named him Chico.

One cat had two sons that my parents named Bob and Ray, named after the famous radio-show comedians.

10

Ack! How could I have forgotten Sam The Dog? He belonged to a friend of my Sis-in-Law. Dunno how he got named, but it got changed the first time she yelled out the door, “STD, HERE STD!” while she had company. Clueless, totally clueless.

11

Luna, my cat, because she is sort of moon colors, “Luna” was my first spoken word, and it was a full moon when she was found.

My first cat’s name was Mocha, because he looked like Mocha Swirl ice cream.

Xena (as in the “Warrior Princess”), my “old lady” dog, because she’s all black and half sarcastically because she is the gentlest, sweetest lady ever, except when her momma is threatened, then she sounds like a viscious dog.

Max, my yearling puppy, because my husband wanted a short “dog” name and no more of these funny-sounding names. Since it was supposed to be “his” dog (ha, guess whose dog it is, the one who feeds, walks and trains him!), I went along with it. His full name is Maximillian Barkenstein.

I love these stories, too! Keep 'em coming.

12

Oooohhhh! Pet name stories…

I got my two house rabbits a little over 5 years ago from a pet store (I know…bunny mills suck).

Brought them home. I love Isabella Rossellini and named the bigger one Isabella. The smaller one I named Thumbellina because she is a little runt. They look exactly alike.

Isa and Lina now are the cutest things. Isa sounds like Edwin (Lady of the Lakes)-- she’s quite feisty and territorial. She grunts when I try to hold her. Lina, on the other hand is just a cutie pie who loves to hop on your lap for a petting.

We found CJ (Calamity Jane) in a grocery store parking lot. She just strutted her tortie self right past our car. My hubby wanted “real woman’s” name for CJ. I just wanted to call her Josie.

The name says it all. CJ is a pistol and the eeeeeeevvvvvil queen of the house. She constantly whines, howls and hisses. We love her to death.

We adopted little Abby from a shelter. Abby just suited her personality: total opposite of CJ…sweetest little big-eyed kitty you’ve ever seen! We sometimes call her Little Abner.

As you can see, I have a zoo at home.

13

Critters past and present:
Wendell - Himalayan kitten - he just looked like a Wendell
Herschel - Great Dane - we just liked the sound of it
Darryl and Darryl - a pair of brother kittens - Newhart was still on the air then
Pixel - a Dalmatian - duh
and our current shedding machine - Bernie - we adopted her from a no-kill shelter and she was named Bernadette. We thought that was a stupid dog name, so we shortened it to Bernie.

14

My last pet cat was called Lennon because he was on the Radio when i first decided to get a kitten.

For my pet chimpanzee i decided that i’d take a dictionary and open it on the table, then let him turn the pages and point to what he wanted to be called. He’s called Caesar

Oh my god he’s raised an army and is coming to get me…

15

Oh yeah - hubby’s boat cat, the gaseous one. He’s called alternately Fart Cat, Leadfoot, and Norbert. Doesn’t matter, you know - he doesn’t come when called anyway!

16

Nermal— I didn’t name her, a roomate did. Slightly pin-headed rabbit colored cat. (Also goes by nermy, silly nermy, snerm, etc. and is the origin of my username I’ve been using wherever for aboot 8 years. Ner’s my old lady now, but she still know she’s the cutest! kitty! ever! And she is, just goes to show it’s all in the presentation.)

Name is because if her incessant tiny mew, and habit of roiling around like she’s the cutest thing ever. Which tiny mew I get to hear a lot because she’s practically a squeak toy, she mews when she lands when she jumps on/off of something (mew!) (mew!), the mews to herself as she’s playing (by herself usually), she mews at the birds outside the window, and in my last place she used to run down to the dark empty basement and then mew her loudest like she was lost or trapped. “Help! cute little kitty down in the big dark basement! Hear the desperate mews and come give cuddles!” Nermy freakin Shatner we used to call that trick.

This may be because she’s the neediest cat ever. Likes to be hugged. Sleeps on top of people/under covers/next to you/ on top our your head/on your shoulder from the back of the couch, etc etc.
Sidney—well, he’s vicious. Bites my feet to wake me up in the morning. Walks up to me, meows, and if I don’t immediately drop everything I’m doing, either leans over and bites my ankle or starts plucking at my legs with all claws out. Snagged numerous tights, he has.

So, back when I was calling him ‘orange cat’ and ‘evil orange cat’ and "you vicious evil genius’, that mutated into Sid vicious. And then I became somewhat fond of the little bastard, so I gave him the second syllable.

17

Our current pet is an orange tiger cat named Lightning. My wife gave him the name after she saw him tearing around the living room; he just loved to run full tilt.

Going back, our pet names were:

A bird named “Nervous” because he kept flitting around the cage.
A second bird called “Tweety”; my brothers named him. He wasn’t a canary, BTW.
A cat “Herbert” – dubbed by the person we got him from.
A cat “Snowflake” – not sure
A beagle, “Dolly.” Named after the song “Maria” in “West Side Story.” Sort of. We were thinking about a name as we took her home and “Maria” came on the radio. My father said, “Let’s call her ‘Maria,’ so she’ll have a song named after her.” I said, “Let’s call her ‘Dolly,’ and there’ll be a better song named after her.”

18

My wife had a name picked out for a female dog, I chose the male name. We got a female dog so her name won out.

Our methods for picking? She wanted a name she thought was cute. I agree that Daisy is cute and fits the personality. I picked a name based on what we like. Since my wife won’t let me give a child the middle name of Rebound, I am determined to give that name to a pet.

19

Pepper - horse - registered name TC Pep N Glo, Pepper is what I call her.

Bandit - dog - had his name when I adopted him, he has a black mask, or had a black mask. He is getting old and his mask is more grey now.

Gandy - dog - named after Gandalf the wizard. My SO is a big fan of LotR, Gandy was white as a pup but is more cream now.

Rocky - dog - Rocket is his full name.

Bo - cat - Bobo is his main name, among others I call him.

Abby - cat - origianlly called “Sparky”, it didn’t fit her. I renamed her Abby, she is sometimes called Blabby because she is very vocal.

Hanna - cat - the day before I found her, the webmaster of a site I visited daily died of a heart attack. His will specified that his elderly dog be euthanized if he died, and their ashes spread together. The dog’s name was Hanna, I named my kitten Hanna after the dog.

20

Lacey Elizabeth- cat- She was a tortiseshell and she looked like she was covered in black lace. Thus, Lacey.

Lucky- dog- Her name was Lucky when we adopted her from an elderly woman who was going into a nursing home. We decided her full name was Damn Lucky She Ain’t In The Pound.

Liberty Belle- dog- My mother and I went to pick out a dog and settled on a chiuaua mix. She had been brought in by a woman who saw her thrown from a moving car (it must have been going slowly, she didn’t seem to be hurt), and she was somewhat traumatized. She pretty much just stood in one place and trembled. My mother suggested naming her Liberty after the statue, and I suggested the bell instead.

Jean-Pierre- budgie- Mom found him flying around the college where she worked at the time and we adopted him. We voted on his name at dinner and my little sister won.