Is it normal after a pet dies for a person to go out an get the same breed of puppy and name it the same name? My sister went to extensive lengths to find a puppy that looked like the dog she had that just pasted away and now she’s named him the same name, isn’t that weird?
You use the terms “normal” and “weird” to describe someone doing something that makes sense to them. Is it normal? It’s not common, but I doubt she is the first person to have ever done it. Is it weird? I don’t think it’s weird. The dog certainly doesn’t care and if it makes her feel good what harm is there in that? She probably misses her previous dog and this helps her cope with that, but you’d have to ask her why she decided to do it and accept it for what it is. Her decision.
It’s certainly common in some human cultures to name one’s children after recent ancestors. How “weird” is that?
Yes, but this is more like naming a new child after a previously deceased grown child.
The Simpsons has Lisa’s cats Snowball I through V. They wouldn’t have made the joke if it wasn’t something that people did.
Or perhaps that’s exactly why it was a joke, because people (generally) don’t do that. (At least that’s why I found it amusing.)
I don’t know. To me, yes, that strikes me as somewhat odd, but, hey, people all have their own ways of coping with loss and moving on, so I wouldn’t say anything about it.
My last dog died this past December and I rescued another different breed dog 3 weeks ago. My new dog has a different name but out of habit, I keep calling her by the prior dog’s name so I might as well have used the same name. When it comes to appearance, I personally would never go for a look alike dog.
People did used to do that too, back when child mortality rates were higher than they are now
Any genealogist will tell you that this was once quite common. At a time when many children did not survive infancy, and it was usual to name them after a near relative (especially if they were well off) it was bu no means unusual to find two or more children in a family with the same forename.
I have a friend who always gets dachsunds. She gives them different names, but she DOES occasionally call the newest one by the name of the last previous one.
My last dog was completely different from his predecessor but I occasionally referred to him by the wrong name, too. But I also occasionally called or referred to him by the cat’s name.
I would never have named a pet the same thing as a departed pet but I also can believe someone would seek out a similar looking animal and give it the same name, as if the prior pet still existed. As if they didn’t actually lose the pet. I don’t know, maybe it helps?
I actually always have to wait awhile, otherwise I will expect the new dog to be the same as the old one, and if it wasn’t, it would be a disappointment of my expectations. And of course, it wouldn’t be just like the old one. They never are.
Doug Heffernen’s parents did it on The King of Queens.
I think they were up to Rocky V before Doug realized it was not the original Rocky.
mmm
[Moderating]
Welcome to the Straight Dope. I encourage you to have a look around the site, as we have different forums for different purposes. The General Questions forum is for questions which have factual answers. Questions that are matters of opinion, like this one, are better suited for our IMHO forum. I’ll move it there for you.
I had in-laws who named a succession of black cocker spaniels “Wimpy” (there’s a wonderful photo of Mrs J. as a toddler with one of the Wimpys)*. This naming habit may have been a bit odd, but not as weird as trying to clone a deceased pet.
We currently have a field spaniel who resembles a larger, stockier Wimpy but his name is Pluto.*
**occasionally referred to as “Stinky”. 
A wise person. Value this friendship!
My point was that we don’t view that as commonplace or normal today. I do actually know someone who was given his deceased brother’s name who died at age 7, and it was and still is considered shocking by all who know them.
Napoléon Bonaparte had four sisters named Maria Anna Buonaparte because his parents kept reusing the name until they finally had a daughter that survived infancy. Naming a dog after your dead dog is a lot less strange to me than that.
I have a friend who was given the same name as an older brother who had died as a toddler. Years later, when he went to get a passport, he was told “you’re already dead!” It was a hell of a mess to clear up.
My uncle’s family had a long succession of dogs named Henry, some male, some female. I had a black cat named Inky when I was a child, and another black cat named Inky for 18 years. If I ever get another cat, it will be black, and I will name it Inky III.
We’ve had a whole series of dachshunds over my lifetime, but they all had different names. The latest (another rescue) came with his name, and after 10 years with it, we didn’t feel we should change it even though it’s what I think is an over-used name – Max. Though we do occasionally call him by the previous dog’s name still (Luc).
Kayla’s high school BFF was named after an older sister who was killed in a car crash as an infant. The only difference was that the first one was spelled “Ebony,” while the BFF’s was spelled “Ebonya” (the “a” was silent, which confused a LOT of teachers on the first day of classes).