[petpredicaments]

I was just curious as to how we all decide on names for our furry, or not so furry, friends.

My cat Isis is named after the cat goddess, and Polly just seemed to suit my other cat. I also used to have a kitty called fletcher one eye, because he got an eye infection when he was a baby and couldn't open his eye. Although it cleared up soon enough, the name stuck with him.

 

[DorkyChantelle]

My dog is named Charlotte because we got her while we were living on the Queen Charlotte Islands (her full registered name is Kaboom's Queen Charlotte).

People ask about my cat's name all the time (he's called The White One). We were fostering a pregnant cat and she had her litter. The same day she gave birth, a few hour old kitten was found outside and brought to join the litter (Momma took him in no problem). We didn't want to name them or we would get too attached so we just called them after their colors (The Orange One, The White One, etc). Well, we ended up keeping him and named him Merlin but it never stuck. He'll always be The White One And our cat Napoleon was named after the movie Napoleon Dynamite, lol.

I named my degus Jay and Silent Bob because I love Kevin Smith movies and one of the degus has a really outgoing personality while the other is quiet and sort of shy.

And our iguana is Gary just because, lol. He's been through a couple names but we pretty much just call him "the iguana."

 

[betts]

name sakes

aloha

our bunny Hina is named that because hina is gray in hawaiian and she was really more gray than brown when we first got her as a baby.

Mr. Bunn (in heaven) hopped into our yard as a baby in San Diego and years later I found out she was a female! So then she bacame just Bunn.

Red was red in color, that was a no brainer.

That's it for bunnies names.

my cat was Noire because she was black and that was french for black.

my cat Noen was black also and just made the name up.

my pitbull was Miss Piggy, she was not in love with Kermit but...

that's about it.
betts

 

[Chrisanne]

Hmmm well, this could be a story. LOL!!

Gazoo is named after the little green guy on the flinstones.

Maverick, well it just fit.

Smoke is named for Tony Stewart. We are nascar a holics here. LOL!!

Daytona, is named after the track of course and for a multitude of reasons.

Sparkie (the macaw) got his name just because it fit.

 

[Nara]

I'll start with the cats.

Yazi got his name because I was having trouble thinking of anything that suited him and we went out for chinese on the night that we got him, well my mom's fortune cookie had it as the learn chinese for 'duck' and my mom collects rubber ducks so we thought it was just too cute not to name him.

Bit was named after my brother's favorite cartoon character at the time, although now he swears it's because that's the first thing he did when he picked him up.

Thunder is a tortie and when we first got her and were taking her to the vet I realized that she kept reminding me of a cloud, and my mom agreed, but said that for her it was more of a storm cloud.

Now for the rats.

Bob and Kennit are my brother's rats. Bob got her name because he was too lazy to come up with something else. Kennit got hers because of his favorite character in a book he was reading when we got her.

Cocoa and Aviendha are my mom's rats. Cocoa got her name because of her coloring, she's got a brown color on her head that looks almost exactly like baking cocoa. Aviendha was named after a character in my mom's favorite series of books.

Thea and Zara are my rats. Thea was named after a character in a book that I'd just finished reading, although the character's name was actually Althea it just didn't seem to fit her. Zara got her name because she has a dark splotch across her face and both my mom and my brother were wanting me to name her Zoro, so I decided to make it a bit more feminine.

 

[petpredicaments]

hee hee I love the way you named you cats Nara!

 

[dragonmaster]

I like to name my pets based on their personalities.

Loki is Loki because he's crazy and Loki is the Norse God of mischief. We thought of it when I said we should name him Loquito (Loco + Pequeno=Little crazy).

 

[Scarlette]

Mirra is the "mirror" image of my dog Riley that passed away unexpectedly last year.

Scarlette is a red Doberman. Not too original there.

We watched the movie "Scream" one time too many and the one main character's name is Sidney and we liked that name. So we messed with the spelling a bit and decided to name the next Bull Terrier that......so we have Sydnee.

 

[orri]

I get my pet names from http://www.behindthename.com

They all have some kind of meaning, e.g Órflaith means golden princess, Rhosyn means rose, Meri means sea etc.

 

[LoveMyStaffies]

Shar (15-18yr old Bull Terrier/Pittie mix) is named for the Forgotten Realms Goddess of the night.
Banshee (2 yr old Am Staff/Pittie mix) is named for the Irish spirit that wails pending the death of one of the noble houses of the Irish.
Jabberwock (2 yr old Bearded Dragon) is named after the Lewis Carroll poem....'Beware the Jabberwock my son....'
Skittles (hamster) is named that because those are my 10 yr olds favorite candy and she is reddish in color.
Sif (12 yr old Am Staff/Pittie mix, passed in Jan '05) was named for Thors wife in Norse mythology.

 

[pink-hamster]

Ok, beleive what you want this is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth.. About 7 years ago we where on our usual holiday in Devon, Dartmoor and we had just got back from a long tiring walk so we where sat it the car eating our packed lunches.

I could not beleive my eyes when I happened to spot a baby guinea pig next to one of the granite boulders. Me and my Nan had to stay while my Aunty took the car and went to the nearest pub to get a crisp box to put him in while we made sure he didn't run away.

Sure enough we came back and we caught him.. after a while .. he kept running under the gap between two rocks......... Thats how he got his name Rocky!

Sadly he passed away a couple of years back But after how timid he used to be he gradually became one the tamest animals I knew.

 

[wellahart]

When Shadow first showed up at my camp, we tried to find out where he belonged. He was severely abused and neglected though so I ended up taking him. We had found out that his name might be Joe and he was answering to it, but I really didn't like that name so it had to be something that ended in an O sound. Since he would never leave my side after I rescued him I started calling him my little Shadow and it stuck.
Millie my orange and white cat is named after my friend's cat Milo because she looks and acts exactly like him (although not as spiteful) but she is female so I just did a female version of the name.
Buster, my newest addition, was a hard one to name. He is a trouble maker. Always play fighting, jumping from things, climbing and getting himself stuck, etc. I was going to name him Rowdy after the dog in scrubs, but I decided to name him Buster after the crash test dummy in Mythbusters because he's always into some kind of trouble.

 

[RobertsLaura]

Our cats are Flip and Flop named after my obession with wearing flipflops all the time even in Snow. We then realized that the animals I've named in my life tend to have "shoe" names. I have a cat back at my mom's house named Boots.
When we got Lacy her name started out Shoelaces, Laces for short, but it was hard to say "no laces no" all the time so it got shortened again to Lacy. Now we call her Lacy Loo B_____ when she's in trouble like calling your kids by their full names so they know that they've been bad.

 

[tarita2004]

well my degu is name Jager Meister (after the alcohol) then i have my betta named Jose Cuervo and Senor my salamander who's full name is Senor Capitan (captain morgan's spiced rum) what a silly theme but i love it (and i'm not an alcholic...just fun names)

 

[CrazyHorse]

we just kept what they had or looked at them and made the name something they reminded us of

 

[Razzi]

We have always tried to give our pets unique names. I don't like giving names you hear all the time.

My husband picked the name for our oldest cat Inquisitive, which explained her to a tea, Quizy for short.

Then we rescued a kitten from our neighborhood. As we was tring to decide on her name my husband said she looked like a priest cause she was all black except the white patch at the base of her throat which looked like the collar they wear. Well then my daughter said how about Angel then and thats what stuck.

Then I adopted a cat from a family. They named her Abby which she seemed to respond to so we didn't change it. But we did give her the nickname Dangle Paws.

Then we kept a kitten from a cat we took in to let her have her babies. When we was debating his name I told them I wanted a boy sounding name. So my husband said name him AJ. I asked him what did it stand for and he said Ain't J****(be hubbies name), All J***(my name) cause hubby didn't want another cat. So thats his name but mommy calls him boy-boy.

Then miss Angel decided to get out on us and get knocked up. She had only one kitten which I couldn't give away! LOL His name is Muggle from Harry Potter. Muggles or Mugglely Butt as nicknames.

Then we adopted our puppy and we changed his name to Smeagol, my fav charater from LOTR. I wanted him to have a new start from his old unhappy life so I didn't want him having to hear the name they called him.

My ferrets we're names Girly and Sierra. Girly got hers cause she was our first girl ferret and my daughter named Sierra cause she liked the name.

 

[fstybrat]

What a fun thread!!

Currently I have 1 cat Maggie ... she was adopted from a feline rescue & had that name when I got her at 6 wks old, she already responded to it so we kept it.

Sapphire - my Blue & Gold Macaw... now she has a story to her name!!

I picked her out as mine the day she hatched & when I was trying to decided on a name I had to pick one boy name & one girl name or else a unisex name, as at the time I did not know possitively if I had picked a male or female. I had picked Sapphire for a female name. I am not sure originally how I came up with the name because it just came to me one night in a dream. I thought about all the circumstances that surrounded to me getting her & the name just seemed perfect!

- She is a BLUE & gold macaw (Sapphires are blue)
- The girl that led me to the breeder I got her from is the manager of a jewelry store (sapphires are a gem)
- Sapphires are one of my favorite birthstones
- She was supposed to come home in September (sapphire is Septembers birthstone)

I know all that sounds silly, but I am a HUGE believer in fate & all these things to me just pointed to the fact that Sapphire was meant to be her name ... hence it is.

 

[kittylilac]

Mortimer, the cat - boyfriends Mom named him and it stuck

Setsuki, chin 1 - I was obsessed with Japanimation at the time and picked a Japanese name.

Coolio, chin 2 - He was a really cool chin

Butters, chin 3 - I couldn't hold onto him!

Nova, chin 4 - Came with it, and liked it.

Diamond, chin 5 - Came with the name and I liked it again.

Lastly, Caterpillar, the guinea pig - He looks like a huge caterpillar with his long crazy fur

 

[Keritsubo]

I like that story Kay. Fate indeed! hehe

Our Cats:

Callie I found in a tree with tiger lilies around the base. I wanted to name her Lilly (tiger seemed cliche' for a cat) but we had a relative we weren't fond of named Lil so my mom convinced me to name her Calico. I'm not fond of how common it is but I was ten. Plus, well, she's not a Calico. She's a tortie with white. ha! Irony... Nicknamed Miss Priss just for the reason it'd sound like.

BooBoo was Momma Cat to begin with. Just cause she came to us with a baby but we didn't plan to keep her so gave her a generic name. Dad nicknamed her BooBoo and it stuck better. I think it was after BooBoo from Yogie Bear cartoons. He had a tendency of nicknaming people after cartoons (at least us kids.) Rest in Peace, BooBoo.

Meeko was my sister's cat and she named him after the raccoon in Pocahontas. I think of a cat now more than a raccoon... Rest in Peace, Meeko.

Isis was named by my aunt for demanding to be treated as royalty and because cats are thought to be familiars of magical folk. So Isis for the Egyptian goddess of magic and motherhood (and other things). But, turns out Isis hated kittens because they got more attention than her and young children. She was given to my parents after the passing of their two cats.

My Dogs:

Peanut was named as the runt of the litter but also the only gold/blonde. We kept it.

Sakari means sweetness in American Indian. I thought she was of course the sweetest thing ever and like names that mean things and fit the pet.

My Horses:

Trinity Rose was named as she was a confirmation gift from my Godfather. Trinity seemed fitting for the situation and I thought Trinity Rose sounded even better. She's darling with a bit of mischeif so a pretty flower with thorns is a good choice it seems.

Joker came with the name and he is a funny horse. Reminds me of a mime kinda cause he rarely talks but is funny none the less. A more formal name I'd call him Jester of the Court (since Trinity is kinda snooty like a princess).

This is all we have thus far and the next cat we get (Which probably won't be until Callie leaves us) it will be named Spam. Ask Jorge, I have no idea, he wants to name it Spam (I think after email spam) and I just say sure. I think its funny.

 

[SwC]

My 5 y/o Manx "Meow" got her name as a kitten she never shut up lol. She "talked" constantly so everyone started answering her back as meow. Eventually she would respond everytime also and come soon as you said meow. Meow became her name and stuck.
Tony is my 4 month old orange tabby due to Tony the Tiger as his stripes are very deep/dark but he has leopard spots on his tummy.
Cody the 6 week old kitten as I had 2 different people "accidently" call him Cody and he took to it so Cody stuck.
TT for my male Prairie dog as he was a rescue and was beat up pretty bad with no fur on his head except for a little patch at the top, therefore he became "Mr. T". As the fur came back in it gradually became "TT"
Aimee is my female Prairie Dog as her previous owner just called her PD so every time we called her they both responded I assume as PD and TT sound so close together in thier little minds. She is prissy and very soft coat. She eats her meals very neat and constantly grooms herself and TT so Aimee just seemed to fit.
I wont even go into the all the Cockatiels names lol as too many to fill but they all are sweet with thier own personalities so we try to put names to how they behave or thier little quirks.