I named my dog BOWE, after the boxer Riddock Bowe, because he had paws like a boxers fists as a pup. As he grew older, and Riddock Bowe grew crapper, I began spelling his name BEAU, which caused him no problems, and no longer had the association with a disappointing boxer. Now he’s just plain old Bo, which is wonderful if I’m getting his name inscribed on a collar.
All of the dogs had names before I adopted them and we kept those names but created nicknames.
Cassie is called Brown. She is brown and dumb so just calling her Brown pretty much sums it up.
Hanna is Little Brown, nuf said.
Queenie is The Spotted Bitch and she so deserves that name.
Now the cats…
Uno was named as she was the only surviving kitten of a litter.
Moochie was named as he was always trying to steal food from your plate when he was a kitten.
Gizmo looked like a Gremlin.
Bob just looked like a Bob. I dunno why but it suits him.
Button was named by my daughter so I am not sure why she named her that.
Penelope reminded me of that Cat on Pepe La Pew.
Igore had really bulging eyes when he was little so my son named him Igore. We never call him that anymore. He got the nickname Schmee, I am not sure now how that even started.
Pugsly had that name when we got her and it fits her pretty well. We just call her Pugs.
2-ply was Frostie when we adopted her but it was pretty generic so she is now 2-ply. I dunno I just thought it was funny.
Nah, I chose my cat’s name. His personality determined his nickname. so we have (Tim) Horton the Murder Kitten.
I know someone whose cat is Beeker, because he doesn’t meow, he meeps. We think it’s funny that even after he grew up (they got, and named, him as a kitten) his voice never changed.
We had a cat named Banzai, big fluffy back siamese persian cross. When he was a kitten his favorite thing to do was lurk on the fridge and dive bomb the dog, hence Banzai.
Our current owner is Jezabel, she came to us named, but she is quite the attention 'ho and will come running when called to get petted and snuggled.
Pet’s don’t choose names; I really doubt if any of them care what some human calls them. However, they often display some personality trait that, in the mind of their owner, suggests a likely name. Hope that helps clear things up.
I named my cat Caligula because the pattern of coloring in his fur makes it look like he’s wearing little boots.
Molly and Punky (Punkin) were littermates. I named Molly (calico), because she just looks like a Molly. The owner of the litter named Punkin, because he was orange. The black kitten, which the owner kept, got named Smut, but because of Molly, the other calico, who also stayed with the owner, got named Polly.
Rio’s name was picked before I even knew I was getting a kitten, because of the Duran Duran song. It seemed perfect for a kitty, because of the “dances on the sand” part.
Jasmine’s name was picked because when she was a puppy and came to live with us, we wanted to give her a pretty name, but not too feminine that Himself would be made nauseous to have to call her that. The jasmine vines were in bloom, and we chose that, and shorten it to Jazz or Jazzy when the mood strikes.
The bird–well, she’s yellow with a bit of orange on her head. So Sunshine seemed to fit.
I had a lavendar point Siamese who had been adopted by a dog after his mother rejected him. I don’t remember what his original name was, because he ended up being Puppy-Cat. Cat acted just like a dog.
We have an all white Manx that we got as a very young kitten. Originally his name was Mad Max (and 'officially, it still is) but he is as dumb as a brick, so has become BooBoo or BooKitty in daily reference.
He stood in the looks line twice and missed the intelligence: Behold: BooBoo
our yougest cat was a foundling the kids brought home as a kitten. He was very affectionate, and would do that rearing up on the hind legs and head butt your hand thing all the time, just like a mountain goat. Hence his name, Goat. As he grew up, he got bigger, and bigger. He now answers to the nickname Chubble
Our old girl came from the pound already named Pumpkin. She’s orange and it was a painfully mundane name. She too filled out once we got her home, so it became Plumpkin, and now just Lumpy as she’s lost some weight due to a thyroid condition.
I got my old boy (who lived to be a ripe old age) when he was just weaned. He liked watching cartoons with me, and seemed to take a liking to Speedy Gonzales. So, his name became Pussygato (or Gato for short). Yes, my cat was named “cat”.
The last two were rescue pets who came with names … Midnight became Pepper (which she responded to pretty much immediately), and Tiger became Tiber (the reluctant emperor, which suits his very shy personality).
The youngest of my mom’s current owners, we originally called “Origami” when she was a kitten. But as it became apparent that she just plain wasn’t going to grow up (she’s pushing 18 and still hasn’t), we ended up calling her “Baby” more and more, and for years now that’s been her official name.
But of course, as T. S. Eliot reminds us, the naming of cats is a difficult matter, and no human research can discover the name that the cat herself knows and will never confess.
Ariel came to us already named, and it was obvious that she was perfectly happy to stick with that name. She also answers to Stinky, though.
As for Morgan, she initially started off as Morgan La Fae, but swiftly lost the extra stuff at the end. She usually answers to Spanky, as a result of her vocal demands for swats on the butt.
My cats have names that suit them, but they apparently have chosen alternative nicknames. Natasha was named because she was black and sleek and elegant and needed a Russian princess name. However, she only answers to Princess.
Her brother Boris was named because they would both stare out the window and plot evil against Squirrel (they have not yet encountered Moose). However, for fairly obvious reasons he soon chose the nickname Vomitkitty, although I believe that he thinks his name is Getdown!
My SO and I pondered names for our last shelter cat. Over a couple of weeks, we probably went though a dozen or so, until Bailey seemed to stick. Of course over the next couple of years, he somehow taught us that his real name was Squiggy.
I have no idea where the name Squiggy came from. I don’t even know what a Squiggy is. Better yet, some times it was a name “Hey Squiggy” and some times it was a title “Do you know where the Squiggy is?”
My Roomates’ Cats, Bubby & Sissy, were so named because they were from the same litter, & he said that no matter what her named them, he’d probably call them that all the time anyway.
Leo was so named because I thought he was a pretty boy & my husband is an artist, so I named him Leonardo After DiCaprio & Da Vinci respectively, and call him Leo for Short. He only usually gets his full name when he is being extrdinarily bad. (He learned his names & the difference Between them right away! (One should be careful in naming a cat. He thinks he is a lion!!)
Venus’ name just came out of my mouth, and I stuck with it because her eyes are so bright.
My Favrote was Buppy, my Mother’s Dog. He came from the Pound with the moniker Bucky & My grandad misheard it.
A friend of mine got a Papillon puppy last year and the family couldn’t decide between several names for her, so they wrote each name on a piece of paper, wadded them up and tossed them in a pile on the floor. They let the puppy loose, and being a PUPPY, she began playing with the paper balls. She picked one up and brought it to ‘mom’.
It was the name Asia. And Asia she has been ever since.
I think that is a very cool way to name a puppy, and may well name my next one that way!
My cat gets called whatever comes out of my mouth when addressing him. I sort of go through nickname phases, with each one evolving into the next. For instance, Lewis became Louie, Lou, Lewellen, Lewenstein, etc. He chooses his own name in that I call him whatever seems appropriate at the time!
The jasmine vines were in bloom, and we chose that, and shorten it to Jazz or Jazzy when the mood strikes.
