[jamesReid]

OK.. Just a silly post here.. where did you get your rats (or mouse) name from..

Hector = Tonya gave me a list of 3 or 4 names she liked.. Hector included.. and when she said hector all I could vision is Hector of Troy.. Did you see the Brad Pit movie Troy? Remember Hector played by Eric Banna? Thats what I saw.. So Hector it was!!! Tonya picked the name because she found this; Hector the rat, first rat in space, became a source of national pride (or héros national) in France on February 22, 1961, when he piloted the Veronique AGI24 rocket into the lower atmosphere and saw the stars. After flying to a height of 93 miles, Hector was successfully recovered.


Robin & Whiskers = When we got these 2 I just really like the name Whiskers.. So right away on e was Whiskers.. and when we watched the boys Robin was all over the cage like Batman and Robin style.. So we went thru a few choices like Bruce.. Bats.. we setteled on Robin..


Nadia & Grayson (our new girls) I let me kids name them.. Jordan my oldest named Nadia.. She just liked the name.. and Greyson came from my youngest daughter Sabrina. She is infatuated with a boy singer named Greyson Chance..

So there we go..


Tell me your tale..

Jimmie

 

[Vladina]

Wow Jimmie, that was so interesting that Hector was the name of the first rat in space, cool! So your little Hector is named after a hero! The first rat to see the stars! That was very cool!

I love all your rats' names. Whiskers, Robin, Nadia and Greyson. They all sound great!

 

[Vladina]

Well, even though my boys are now passed on, I can tell how we came up with our boys' names.

Wolfgang we came up with, for our agouti boy, as we love Mozart music and of course Mozart's full name is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, so there you go. We also thought Wolfgang was a great name for our agouti boy because he was the adventurous explorer of our two boys and we found out that Wolfgang is german for "rambling wolf" or something like that. So it fit him well.

We named our gentle Russian Blue boy Klausse because Wolfgang was a german name so we thought another german name would go well with Wolfgang. We like the name Klausse, but we found out that the proper spelling of Klausse is actually Klaus.

We also knew about the infamous Nazi Klaus Barbie and we decided that we did not want our boy having the same spelling as a nasty Nazi guy, and we wanted his name to be more original, so we just added an extra "s" to the name with an "e" at the end, to make it Klausse.

We thought that was much better. I am not really sure if there is such a thing as the name Klaus spelled Klausse in reality, but that is how we arrived at the name. It looked softer and more classy spelled that way and it fit our gentle boy perfectly. So there is my story!

We named our two gerbil brothers Mick and Keith, after Mick Jagger and Keith Richards from the Rolling Stones.

 

[Storyseeker]

I remember reading about your gerbil names Vladina, but I didn't remember how you came up with your ratten namen.

James, I lurves clever lore linked names, so Hector is an outstanding name, especially now that I know the background! I'm also a big fat comic book geek, so I bow down to your Robin name. Did I tell you I'd made a collection of rat friendly children's literature? I love researching the history of random things.



My first three rats were from a multigenerational black line of rats whose parents were named K'malah and Leng, and whose grandfather was Lovecraft. All three of those names were nods to classic horror writer H.P. Lovecraft and his creepy C'thulu world. K'malah was the name of an elder demon, and Leng was the name of an evil land in his world.

I knew I planned on using my black baby boys in library programming, and decided naming 'creepy black rats' after elder demons would be pushing it when trying to win parents over to all things ratty. So I compromised and went with 'literary horror' in a different way. My boys are named after a local storyteller Katherine Tucker Windham, famous for her ghost stories, and published ghost books. You being from nearby may have heard of her. Her first was called 13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey. So my 3 boys were named "Tucker, Windham, and Jeffrey". My mischief was the Alabama Ghost Boys.

My next two rats, the hairless pair, came from a back yard breeder who used rock and roll themes in her rattery. I wanted to respect that, and also keep the macabre 'Ghost Boy' connection, so I picked bands known for having deceased band members. Blind Melon and Lynyrd Skynyrd-- "Melon and Skinner". Which I think are perfect for naked rats. LOL


My last two were from the first rattery. One was my siamese boy, the other was a black little brother to my original 3 Ghost Boys. I looked through macabre folklore for their names.

Zmei comes from the Russian folklore. He was born in October, so I looked for witchy connections. The dragon/ogre henchman of the Russian fairy tale witch Baba Yaga was called Zmei Gorynich, The Serpent of the Mountains. This character and all the Baba Yaga tales has always been favorites of mine.

Little Black Pete came home to me around Christmas time. It was a stretch to find a creepy Christmas literary connection that fit him. I found it in the Belgium/Netherlands holiday St Nicholas Day. Sinterklaas has a sidekick named Zwarte Piet "Black Peter". In one legend, he was described as being a devil that St. Nicholas fought, defeated, and bound into his service. In some stories, Black Peter is responsible for keeping track of and appropriately 'gifting' all the naughty little children.

 

[Vladina]

Wow Storyseeker, that is so awesome to find out! I never knew how your boys came to be called the Alabama Ghost Boys and it is so neat to finally know all that background, including how you got Windham, Jeffrey and Tucker, so cool! And Zmei and Pete's name origins are awesome as well! I have to read this to my husband..he will be fascinated. Thanks for sharing that! So interesting!

 

[Vladina]

By the way, I also loved the story behind Melon and Skinner...and you are right, those are great names for nekkie ratties! Just read your post to my husband and he was fascinated with the Black Peter story and Zmei's russian folklore origins.

 

[Storyseeker]

Wolfgang and Klausse have always been at the top of my personal list of favorite pet rat names of which I've run across over the years. There's a symmetry and personality to them together. The brown fuzzy Wolfgang also has that werewolfy lupine connection in both look and moniker. Klausse is a sleek and exotically simple name, much like the color russian blue.

(Oh, I totally forgot another naming issue I had....Zmei's litter had a naming theme of "Z" names. So that was another reason I picked it.)

 

[Vladina]

Aww, thanks Story! That was so nice to read what you said about my boys' names! We always thought the same thing. Wolfgang...wild rat/werewolf kind of thing and so fitting for his feisty pseudo bratty kind of personality and Klausse sounding so...serene and peaceful and elegant, which is exactly the kind of rat Klausse was. If our boys were drinking at a ratty bar, Wolfie would be having the Budweiser and Klausse would be sipping a snifter of brandy/cognac, ha ha. And it is so cool that you mentioned the symmetry of their names together. We had the same thought. I have always loved the name Angus but when we thought of Wolfgang and Angus...well it just did not seem to flow well together...you know? Wolfgang and Klausse just, clicked perfectly. :yes:

That is an added bonus and is perfect that Zmei was also from a family of Z names, so there you go! I love the name Zmei. Little side note..ever since your wonderful photo session post of Corn on the Cob night with the Ghost Boys, whenever I or my husband mentions Zmei, one of us always says in a little ratty voice, "Is mine from heres to heres!" from that awesome photo of Zmei spreading his little hands out to section off the corn cob from the other boys. Love it!

 

[jamesReid]

Ahh.. what great interenting stories... Know what I was thinking as I was just reading your replies.. oh I hope lilspaz doesnot feel obligated to post in this thread!! with over 50 rats she would be typing for hours!!! Although I bet she has some interesting tales to tell!!


Give all your furry friends kisses from us and our furry ones!!!

 

[jamesReid]

Well.. i thought more people would have posted a reply here.. guess not.. all well. Wow Am I tired.. Just got done with the daily maintence of the rat apartments.. Night all..

 

[Vladina]

Hi Jimmie,
Don't feel bad if there have not been tons of replies yet...sometimes, depending on the timing of a post or who is on or not on or who sees the posts, there can be 1 reply or 30 of them! It's a great thread and I loved reading about how you and Storyseeker named your kids. So interesting! I would still like to hear from more people too. Like Breyer....Breyer, how did you come up with Russell and Stanley? You are also right Jimmie, about Lilspaz..she has sooo many ratties, past and present, it would probably take her a year to go over how she came up with all their names!

 

[breyer08]

Hey, Jimmie--yeah, like Vlad said, don't get upset if people don't post right away on threads. I come here almost every day, but I never get a chance to look at everything, so if I'm pressed for time I tend to just check the threads that seem the most urgent. (So this is actually my first time reading this one!)

As far as my boys' names are concerned, I have always loved formal, old-fashioned names. When I was three, I named my dog William (Willie for short), and when I was 8 I named my first hamster "Robert" (Bob). My first rats were named Ralph and Roger, and when I got these boys I knew I wanted a Stanley--his whole name is Stanley David--and I was debating between Russell and Gullick (both are names of two of my Norwegian ancestors). I decided to go with Russell, and his whole name is Russell Anthony.

 

[Vladina]

Wow, Stanley David and Russell Anthony! I never knew that! Those are such wonderful, stately names, I just love them. And they fit your boys too, in my opinion. William is such a nice name too. I like those kinds of names. Thanks for sharing that Breyer, I never knew!

 

[lilspaz68]

Since I have so many here, I'll just pick a few to showcase.

Rhesus. Came with his brother from a "breeder". Both baby boys looked very unwell, so I named them Rhesus and Gibbon, the Monkey Boys. Sadly Gibbon, died suddenly of a heart attack in my hands about 3 days after he arrived. Rhesus (Or Rhesus Pieces) had a head tilt but we got him fixed up He did have an arrythmia during his neuter surgery, so I decided that he must have heart issues as well, so I didn't adopt him out.

Rhesus on left

Rhesus is a big grown up boy a year later

Johari means "jewel" and she is! Her personality is amazing, she's cuddly and playful, sweet, and loving, gentle with other rats but loves to play too...she has discovered her inner baby.

Her cagemate Loki is a troublemaker, taking a long time to trust. She keeps me on my toes.

Inca, was supposed to be named Tria ("three" in greek/latin) when she went into a friends rescue, and she was supposed to come to me along with her cagemate we named Inca. She was a 3 legged lass (injury must've happened at her old home), and she only had a stub below her hock. The rescue oopsed and named them backwards, and when they came to me the names were stuck LOL

Inca had to have the rest of her leg removed as it was ulcerating and becoming infected from her trying to use it. She did very well on the surgery and has actually been through 2 more surgeries after this one. She's older now, and doesn't bomb around on her 3 legs like she used to, but she can still amaze you!

 

[Vladina]

Aww, beautiful ratties!! Marc fell in love with Johari, as did I...such a sweet face. He said her smiling face reminded him sooo much of our Russian Blue, Klausse. Thanks for posting those photos! I am sorry about Gibbon.
What a sweet looking boy....

 

[Storyseeker]

Tilty Head Rhesus makes me applaud. What a goofy boy.

 

[Talamos]

I got Sofia already named from someone, and when she had her litter, I named the two babies I'd chosen to keep 'Annie' and 'Luka.' I thought they fit with the fancy-sounding 'Sofia.' (; We also chose a classyish name for the daddyrat, 'Sebastian.' So they're the fancy family! Ha.

Then when I adopted a large Siamese/Himalyan, something of the sort, and he was strong enough to knock off the top of his cage and had to be moved, I decided he was to be named after the Hulk, and he became 'Brucie B.' Bruce's son is called 'Skaar' since apparently the Hulk had a son named such.

The one-eyed Rexie I came across in a pet store (I know.. bad, but how I could I resist a one-eyed Rexie?) came quickly to be known as 'Pirate,' haha.

The rest are random names that don't mean anything; Leia, Challon, and Sakura. Just pretty little girlie names.


And before I get in trouble, yes, I bred a pet store rat. No, I don't anymore. I don't breed at all and have learned a lot since doing so. ><

 

[luvboyrats]

I never pick out a name ahead of time. I always name them after I meet them. Sometimes they are named for physical traits and sometimes behavioral. Our broken hood twins are Tazmania and Zealand because their little broken hood patterns look like island formations on their back or at least that's what my husband said when he met them. Then a few days later it was clear they were active and wild and loads of trouble (but so cute and full of kisses) so they got shortened to Taz and Zeal. I'm actually not sure I've ever had a rat whose name fit better than Taz, she's such a wild little devil!

Miss Lila acted much more mature and clean and stately than the twins like she was just tolerating their antics smilingly but she's really too sophisticated, so she needed a grown up lady like name.

Penny is my new little pink hairless. She's just so pink and tiny and dainty and sweet natured and chipper she needed a pink chipper name. For some reason Penny seems like a pink chipper name to me.

My favorite rat I ever had was a boy who lived to be three and made some of the best babies we ever had when we were breeders. We got him when he was tiny and at first he was a bit jumpy with noises and movement when you had him out of the cage but he really liked for you to sing to him and he would calm right down. He loved singing and music all of his days so his name was Figaro, which got shortened to Figgy more often than not. He is the sweetums that is on my shoulder in my avatar pic. The world never knew a better rat!

 

[Vladina]

Such great names! And Figaro, what an awesome name for a ratty that loves music and singing! I would love to see some photos of Figaro if you still have them around? He sounds like he was such a sweetie pie.

And yes, Penny IS a sweet, chipper name for your special lady.

 

[luvboyrats]

Thanks Vladina! I don't think I have any pics of Figgy left except the avatar shot, maybe on my computer at home though. I love the pic of him on my shoulder though. I actually did a black and white portrait from that one that I cherish. I do have pics of Favorite who was the best rattie baby produced by Figgy and Agnes who was definitely my best breeding female. Favorite had most of his Daddy's good traits plus an awesome blaze!

Favorite as baby
http://www.paw-talk.net/forums/picture.php?albumid=136&pictureid=790

Favorite all grown up. He always still looked baby faced though. He was already 9 months old here and getting really big but still so baby faced.
http://www.paw-talk.net/forums/picture.php?albumid=136&pictureid=808