Clients I painted for about a month ago had a teenage daughter named Maggie and two dogs - Izzy and something I don’t remember.
Wife comes home and asked “Have you seen Maggie?”
Maggie being an extremely common dog name, I responded “she was acting like she needed to poop, so I let her out into the back yard.”
Confused silence
Then we both bust out laughing. I’d let the dog into the back yard because she needed to poop, Maggie the daughter was upstairs in her room.
Most of my dogs and cats have “human” names. My own name is uncommon, but I can’t imagine why on earth I’d find it awkward or insulting if I met a pet with the same name.
We had friends who named their dogs George and Gracie. Among our own critters, we’ve had Wendell, Herschel, Bernadette (we called her Bernie, and she came with that name) and Brandy. My MIL had a dog named Molly, and her current dog is Abby. My mom had sibling dogs named Sam and Dee (Samson and Delilah) and my sister’s assorted critters include Max, Otto, Simon Alexander, Jesse, Tony, and probably many more I’ve forgotten. Oh, and my aunt’s dog was Susie.
Yeah, we don’t sweat the human-names-for-dogs/cats thing.
Hmm, my parents(Well the dog now lives with my aunt and uncle) had a dog named Annie. I’ve tended to name my cats and dogs with people names. (didn’t name Cotton, she was a gift from friends who said she looked like a dirty cotton ball.)
My other two cats are Elroy and Wesley.
I’ve only met one other dog with my name, but it was kind of funny - she was a beautiful Irish Setter and I happened to meet her after I turned my hair orange playing with Sun-In.
Our Penny-dog came to us named Penny, and some friends of the same name have laughingly complained that every other female dog they meet is named Penny.
My wife tends to use Scottish names, so our Collie was Trilby. She answered to it, but she also answered to Lassie. I find a dog answers as readily to Shithead or You Fucking Dog. And the Little Girls don’t answer to their “official” names OR what their previous owner called them, but Little Girl works.
It never occured to me that my cats’ names were human names, Cassy, 'Lil and Max. Of course, Max is more a dog name, so I taught him to sit up and shake. I did have a friend with a dog named Max get a little offended that I’d “stolen” her dog’s name, but that is a thread all its own.
Hey, one of my cats’ name is Emma. And it was also her name before we got her. I love that name for her. We recently added a boy kitty to the household and named him Tobias, Toby for short.
Obligatory pics (which no one else has seen fit to provide, I might add – ahem!)
A sort-of distant friend posted on Facebook the other day that when she woke up in the morning, Vern wasn’t in bed with her and she found him sleeping on his back in the middle of the dining-room table.
It took me several startled minutes to remember that Vern is her dog, not a boyfriend.
Years ago I knew a guy who went by the nickname Smokey. Since everyone who ever met him seemed to remark that they had had a dog, car, rabbit, hamster or goat named Smokey, he would swear someday he’d have a pig farm and name a pig after everyone of those people.He seemed to be (mostly) joking.
My name doesn’t seem to lend itself to pets readily, but it wouldn’t bother me to meet a cute furry Cub Mistress.
Adam West: Come on Fluffy, come on Mittens, come on Paul… (Laughing)… What a ridiculous name for a cat, Paul… that’s a person’s name… a person’s name (Continues laughing)… Paul
All our pets have human names. Two are named after “famous” people, as far as you can consider scientists famous. All the names are sufficiently old fashioned or ethnic that it’s unlikely we’ll meet anyone with a similar name.
In the 1980s I had a cat named Sally Ride. I also had a brother-in-law whose firm had a contract with NASA, and he used to occasionally take the elevator at the same time the human Sally Ride did, although he had never been introduced to her. He said he always wanted to blurt out, “My sister-in-law named her cat after you!” but never dared.
Our dog is named George. He was proceeded by Joe, Katie, and Sam. My boss’s mane is George; I don’t think I’ve ever told him that our dog has the same name as him, but I wouldn’t feel awkward in doing so, and I wouldn’t expect him (or anyone else) to be offended. I have no doubt there are people who would be, but I’m not going to lose sleep over the idea.
My Himalayan Cat #2 was going to be called Deuce. His original name was Schultz, but we changed it to Marco. I had a friend who named her cats Ruth and Mrs. Beech.
Corndog didn’t, but we needed a name when we got him fixed. It seems Puppy and Pupwoof were not specific enough. Eventually he learned it and other names, like Shithead or You Fucking Dog.
I’m concerned about the Little Girls, who are more likely to tell someone to fuck off than cooperate.
I have a Shi Tsu we got when she was 3. Her original family named her Pinky shudder. Sometime between puppy and 3 she went to another family who changed her name to Melody. So when we got her at 3, I didn’t want to give her a 3rd name and confuse her more. And I sure didn’t want to go back to Pinky, so we stuck with Melody.
Where it gets really weird is I have a sister named Melody. I guess it’s fortunate that we live about 5 states apart so it has never really been an issue.
We got a kitten from our landlord; his kids had named it Ralph. When we brought it home, I said, “This won’t do, since our neighbor is named Ralph.” So we named the kitten Linus.
After careful inspection, Linus had a name-change to Lucy.
Lucy was a real troublemaker, and my mother suggested we change her name to Lucifer.
~VOW
I have a cat named PurrAnna, so sometimes she’s just called Anna (pronounced “Ahn-na”).
I have a dog named Maggie, it was supposed to be a temporary name but it stuck. Maggie is one of the most popular dog names. Most of the popular names are “people names”.
