What inspired your pet's name?

[Lorien]

And what did you *almost* name your pet instead?

Puck and Oberon:



Oberon came first. He is named for the king of the Fairies in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. His “almost” names were Merlin, Gryphon and Mithrandir (another name for Gandalf).

Puck was thought to be a boy when I got her. She was named for Oberon’s servant in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” ( also called Robin Goodfellow). In the play, Puck is a Pixie, Pan, Faun or hobgoblin, and is often played by a woman or a child, just as Peter Pan is, so gender isn’t too much of a problem. Some suggested I rename her Titania (Oberon’s Queen), but she’s so Impish that puck suits her better. :-) Her “almost” names were Pyewacket and Pippin.

Here’s some theatrical portrayals of the characters:







Miro:



Miro was named for Juan Miro, the abstract painter. My parents decorated my room with Miro’s prints when I was an infant, and my mom made a mobile that hung over my crib that was inspired by one of Miro’s paintings. It was black and white with a touch of red-like Miro with his tongue sticking out (which he does when he’s happy) lol! “Almost” names: Matisse, Cezanne



This painting inspired the mobile:

[Eurobabe]

1. That's so cute!!

I wish my story were as literate and creative as yours, but here goes...we seem to be stuck on the movie theme?

Sebastian was named by my daughters in 1991 at the height of the Little Mermaid craze. Sebastian, you will remember, was the Jamaican-sounding crab. We thought he was so adorable, and of course our new kitty was too, so the association was made and stuck. I don't remember what other names were up for consideration. Here's the ealiest baby pix of Mr. S., I think he was about 6-8 mos. old. I was a bad cat mom, no pictures of him as a little kitten, but then again I think he was close to 2 mos. when we got him.



In May 2000, we adopted a little red fuzzbutt. I just found his adoption papers from the SPCA in my files today, and he was only 6 wks. old when we got him!! He was such a squirt...

He was named for the main character in the Matrix, because his real first name is Neo, but somehow that never really fit. My daughter called him the Demon Spawn, because he was so mischievious, and somehow that one stuck. So he is....Daemon Neo.



And here are the boyz all grown up...Brother love!!

[Lorien]

2. Look at those cute babies!

Yeah, I interned on "the Little Mermaid" when I started out at Disney Feature animation. Sebastian's animator, Duncan Majoribanks, is one of the most shy and unassuming artists I ever knew there; funny that the character and he were so different.

And now your Sabastian is your "older cat"-how time flys!

I dunno, the Deamon looks like a "Neo" to me too!

[livetohike]

3. Murphy and Cindy

Nothing too creative. We just looked at Murphy and thought of a couple of names and Murphy seemed to fit. We almost named him Riley.




Cindy's name does have a story. My father-in-law could never remember the names of two dogs we once had (Ranger and Misty). He always called them Roger and Cindy. We named Cindy in memory of him (passed away in 1992). Besides, the predominate color in her coat is sort of a cinnamon shade. Gypsy, Cammie, and Cassie were alternate names.

[ralps]

4. I got Norman in Oct. of 1992. A friend and I picked him out.

She thought he looked like a Norman His full name is Stormin' Norman Swartzcoff.

Crook was the name he had when I got him & i decided not to change it. He has a crooked tail, so maybe that is where the name came from


:hi:

[Kat45]

5. I named my bird Grace before I ever met her.

Usually I'll wait until after I have the bird for a while to see the personality emerge, but I knew what her name was going to be. The word 'grace' means a gift from God, and I think that parrotlets are just so cute that you KNOW they are a gift from God, some of his best work. I've heard people say that when they look at their baby sleeping, they just know there's a God. I feel that way when I look at my parrotlet.

[Eurobabe]

10. she's awfully cute! GRACIE!!

[Kat45]

12. Thank you. I'll tell her you said that.

I swear she knows when she's being complimented. :-)

[Darth_Kitten]

45. That's so sweet....

"that when they look at their baby sleeping, they just know there's a God"
:hug: Grace is a little gift from God. :hi:

I love my little baby, Murphee. :hug: I only tell her that 500 times a day! :D
I don't know what made me call her that, but I know it had to end with "ee". I wanted something different, kept going over names in my head and then it just hit me. Murphee (kind of like Murphy Brown, a little gal with an odd name)

I love my little "fajita" (her nickname) ;)

[SiouxJ]

6. Most here probably know my story

if you've been around DU awhile that is. But I think it's such a cool tale of fate that I'll tell it again. Nice post Jen!

I had this Border Collie mix named Rocky, who was named after Rocky in the Bullwinkle cartoon, and also the Rocky Mountains (it was a combo thing, since I'm a fan of both). And, also, he just looked like a Rocky as he was a tough little bugger even as a puppy.

In October of 2003 I had to put The Rock down at the age of about 18. I'll never forget how supportive everyone here at DU was btw. Anyway, about 6 weeks later a friend gave me the link to Arizona Border Collie Rescue's website and I was just farting around there, not really set on getting another dog yet, when I happened upon a brother and sister team. I was planning on getting 2 dogs this time so they could keep each other company, so that's initially why they caught my eye. So I'm staring at their photo for a few minutes, and reading their bio and then I look at their names again (it didn't register the first time) and I sort of froze. Their names were "Boris and Natasha." Well I figured since they were named after the same cartoon as Rocky, it must be some sort of omen, so I went down to Phoenix to meet them right away, and drove home with them the very same day. I really think Rocky sent me a message from beyond as these guys are perfect for me.

I'm thinking their original owner must have named them based on their physical characteristics, as Boris is sorta short and stocky and Natasha is long and lean. Combine that with their black and white coloring and it's a natural. Of course, maybe he was just a fan of Bullwinkle too, who knows?



Rocky



Natasha (on left) & Boris

[Longhorn]

9. That's so sweet!

I've never heard your story before. Thanks for sharing! Boris and Natasha are beautiful!

[SiouxJ]

14. Thanks!

Oh good! I was afraid everyone would be sick of that story by now ;-) .

[Carla in Ca]

49. Hi, Longhorn

My 4 year-old Beagle is named Jean Harlow.

As you can see, I still am unable to post a pic of her. I stupidly paid for an account at Photo bucket but soon realized my mistake and they were kind enough to refund my money. One of these days, I would still like to take you up on your kind offer to help me post my pictures. I have some cute ones in 'my pictures' from my digital camera but can't seem to figure out how to get them to my posts. And, more importantly, I would love to have one of them as my avatar but don't understand how to resize to 48x48 and enter it on my profile page. If you have time soon, I sure would appreciate the help...again.
Thanks!:hi:

[Eurobabe]

11. Aww, I just adore border collies...

they are all so cute! Do they require maintenance, ie daily brushing? They are on my list of dogs that I would seriously consider getting....I am weakening, I can feel it.

The only thing that kind of holds us back is that we are kind of spontaneous with travel, right now it would work, my cousin lives about 5 miles away, and they said if we ever got a dog, they'd keep him or her in a heartbeat. Hmmmmm...

[SiouxJ]

15. They require maintenance of a different sort

constant attention and exercise! They are bred to work long hours in the field, chasing sheep around, so they have endless energy, and they are so intelligent that they require constant stimulation or they get bored and become destructive. I walk mine 3 miles every day and play ball or Frisbee with them several sessions every day as well, and it's still never enough. They constantly bring me toys in the evening when I'm trying to relax. They just won't quit. They aren't "sleep in front of the fireplace" type dogs at all.

The hardest part about leaving them, if I wanted to travel, would be finding someone that would give them all that exercise and attention. I still haven't found that person, so I've taken them with me on my trips. I usually rent a house with a big yard when I go away on business trips, so they can join me.

Actually, I don't brush them as much as I should. They always seem to look good, and don't get mats or tangles, so you'd never know I'm not brushing them every day. I think I brush them (this is bad, please don't turn me in) about once a month actually. Hard to tell huh? I need to do better on that but it takes away from play time ;-) .

[hangemhigh]

7. I named my cat Hilton...

That's the hotel I was staying at where some asshole dumped her. Said asshole completely changed my life by doing that-all for the better.

[BrklynLiberal]

8. Boen & Cassie

Boen was named by his breeder for the knight played by Dennis Quaid in "Dragonheart"
Cassie is one of the two identical kittens that I kept, from the litter of five that was born in my basement. The Mom and the other three kittens all have great homes too.
Since they were twins, I named them after the Gemini twins, Castor and Pollux. Being young ladies, I call them Cassie and Polly.
This picture is Boen and Cassie. Polly prefers not to get this close to Boen.

[SiouxJ]

16. Aw, what a SWEET picture!

too cute!

[ET Awful]

13. Althea is named after a Grateful Dead song, actually

so is Quinn, but other versions of the song are better known, so I attribute his name to Dylan who wrote the song instead of those who performed it :).

[demnan]

17. Lily and Pad Thai

Lily was named by her mother's owner when the kittens were born. The three little girls all had beautiful faces as pretty as flowers so she named them Pansy, Petal and Lily.

I named Pad Thai after noodles because he was long and thin and nearly all white when I got him, just like a pad thai noodle.

[ironflange]

18. We like to give them people names

L to R: Nicki, Cleo, Amber. We had a Charlotte, but she's gone now. <snif>

We bring the kitten home, and after a day or two they sort of name themselves. The name becomes obvious.

[mopinko]

19. remembrance of someone i never met.

my dearly departed boxer was named puddy. (rhymes with woody) she was named after my mother's cousin. i never met her, but i grew up hearing about the adventures of puddy and sis (my mom). this cousin had 4 brothers, and no sisters. so, they would often take my mom along on trips, etc. they were better off than my mom's family. they had a summer house, etc.
we had a boxer when i was a kid, and his name was biff. the visual of biff, and the new boxer, and my mom, who was quite old then, and her departed cousin, just seemed to fit together.
puddy was an endearment, short for puddin face, bestowed on the cousin by her dad.
unfortunately for the dog, this morphed into wooden head. (she was probably at least partly deaf. she acted like it, but also seemed to hear certain things. now that she has gone, the family debate on this will last forever.)
i also have a terrier named zipper. i stole the name from another dog, but i knew what i was getting, and had the named all picked out. this led to the next 2 terriers named rags and socks. not sure if that is good or bad.

[mermaid]

20. Lyric Was Already Named When I Adopted Her

She was young enough where I coulda changed her name, but...she already seemed to know her name as "Lyric," and I decided I liked the name....it was different, it was unique...I have no idea why they named her Lyric at the shelter, but they had...and I decided I liked the name, and so, my doggie is Lyric.

Never have come across another dog named Lyric, though. Mine seems to be the only one.

[Behind the Aegis]

21. OK, I'll be the threadkiller!

Seems when I talk about my pets, the thread ends. :( I feel so dejected! Oh well, I have lots of pets to love!

This is Willow. She is a Blue-headed Pionus Parrot. Her name comes from the show Buffy and is named after the cool ass lesbian witch on the show!


This is Illapa. She is a Quaker parrot. She is hell-on-wheels! Her name is the name of the Incan god (we thought she was a he at first) of thunder and lightning.


This is Ceasar (pronounced kay-zar and he is an African black-masked Lovebird. I picked his name because I like the sound. BTW, that pronunciation of "Cesar" is how the ancient Celts said it (at least, according to Xena!


This is Tony! He was named by my partner because he thought Tony looked like a tiger; thus, Tony (as in the cereal Tony the Tiger).


These are some of our finches. The three in the forefront have been sold off (they were babies in this picture). We have yet to name the other two female zebra finches and the black-hooded nun finch.


We have 12 Roborovski hamsters (rare Russian dwarfs, the smallest of all hamsters). Some have names, but they all look alike!! So, we just call them "Robos." Here is a pic of one and her babies!


Not pictured: Two zebra finches, Gnowee (female), who is named after an Aboriginal goddess of all creation, and Thorn (male), who is named for the 'thorns' found in the Australian outback where zebra finches are originally from.

Not pictured or named: We also have a male pied-zebra finch and a spice nun! Most names I choose (my partner hates to pick names) are usually TV characters or mythological characters. Sometimes, I will choose foreign names, but my sweetie has to be able to pronounce them! :)

On edit: I am so bad! I forgot...we have several tanks of freshwater fish!

[mermaid]

25. Jeebus! Do You Also Have An ARK?!?!? n/t

[BrklynLiberal]

29. What beautiful birds!!!! and a lovely little kitty! You have a wonderful

menagerie there. Do they all get along with each other or do you have to referee?

[Behind the Aegis]

33. Gettin' along

For the most part they do. The quaker and Parrot are jealous of one another. Willow, the parrot, will even bite me if I get to close to my partner. She has bonded with him. Illapa, the quaker, is an adolescent, so she is very playful and likes to be the center of attention. Tony, the cat, is VERY fascinated with the finches. We have had to start closing the room off at night, so that he doesn't bother them. Other than that, they get along pretty well.

[ET Awful]

32. What a great gang of feathered and furry friends :)

I bet they keep things interesting :)

[Behind the Aegis]

34. Interesting?!

That is an understatement! They keep us busy, with cleanings, food patrol, play time, etc. But, we sure do love them!

[Eurobabe]

37. Now that's a menagerie!

Thanks for posting all the pix of your various critter kids...too cool to have so many species under one roof. I like the little finches. :)

[American Tragedy]

22. Eva Constanze der Felicia

My mom and I had just watched Amadeus the morning before we went to get our miniature schnauzer, and Mom wanted to call the puppy Constanze, or Stanzy, the name of Mozart's wife. For some reason, I wanted to call her Eva, after the Biblical first woman. Finally we agreed to use both, but wound up just calling her Stanzy, since Eva sounded a little too dignified. Felicia is her mother's name.

[meow2u3]

23. Boots was already his name when I received him for Xmas

The children of his previous owners thought he was a female, but I don't remember the name they gave him. They renamed him Boots after his kitty mother, also named Boots (so that makes him Boots, Jr.)

I decided to keep Boots as his name because he likes it that way.

[arismomkoofie]

24. Oh boy, here we go...Shadow was named because she followed me around

everywhere! Little did I know it was a common dog name. Then I got two cats. Rascal was already aptly named, but Tiva was named Peaches, which didn't suit him except for his color, so my boyfriend at the time named him "Sativa" after sativa cannibis (don't ask). This was immediatly shortened to Tiva. Then we got Adar. She was a beautiful, sleek Bengal, and she is named after the hebrew name of a deer, the fastest in the forest I am told. She died last September. Raspberry and pebbles came next. Pebbles was easily named, because of her coloring. Raspberry looks just like Pebs, but a name would not come. Finally I found a great collar for her, and it's color was rapsberry, and she was named. Willow and Jenga came next. Willow was so tiny, beautiful and delicate, she was quickly named, but Jenga took a bit longer. He was such a puzzle, Jenga came to mind as a name. Merlin was next, a meduim haired greyish tabby, with the "M" on his forhead, so I wanted a M name, and Merlin he Magic cat came to mind. Finally, Skippy was named for my Dad, and I ended up naming him, and then had to keep him!!!

That is the quick and dirty.

[yellowdogintexas]

26. Thomas came to us with his name , so we did not change it

our young boys were born here, so we got to name them:

Lewis: because he was the intrepid explorer

CatZilla: because he was the biggest kitten in the litter

Clark: because, well since we had Lewis, SOMEBODY had to be Clark!

Their sister was called Miss Moo which just sort of happened, don't know why and their brother was named Porkchop because he stole one out of the trash can and dragged it all over the house.

[Blue Gardener]

27. Hansel and Gretel

Kittie siblings!

[SW FL Dem]

28. Mine are pretty boring

My son insisted on naming our Kelsey after a girl he had a crush on in 2nd grade. We had just moved cross country and he wasn't happy about that so she became Kelsey. My Bowler was named by his breeder after the hat, his son is named Derby. By the time we got him, he was 2 1/2 and used to it, we just call him BoBO or Boo Boo. Libby was named by her former owner who rescued her from a shelter shortly after 9/11, her full name is Liberty. We got her when her former owners turned her into rescue because she was incontinent. We found out she had bladder stones, after surgery, and persistent housebreaking training, she is almost housebroken

[Rhiannon12866]

36. I disagree. Your pets' names are not at all boring

Each one means something and each one has a special and very touching story. You sound like a very special person who loves your pets a great deal.:-)

[UrbScotty]

30. Swifty was named after Dr. Swift, the Humane Society vet. (nt)

[Longhorn]

31. Be careful that your pet tries to live up to his name!

Sparky was already named when we adopted him. When he was about five months old, he chewed on an electrical wire and was almost electrocuted! Thank goodness, our 20-year-old daughter was at the house and she said the other dogs came to her acting strangely, alerting her that something had happened. She came upon Sparky being shocked and pulled him away. Fortunately, she and he were both standing on wooden floors so she wasn't shocked herself.

She called the vet and they said bring him right over. But then her car wouldn't start -- dead battery, can you believe it? So she called them back and they said they'd come get him. The vet office is only about a mile away. They kept him overnight, mostly concerned about whether his lungs were burnt. He came home the next day and has been fine ever since. He did grow to be bigger than we expected -- we think there's some "Incredible Hulk" action going on! :D

The irony of his name didn't occur to me at first. I was late to a meeting because my daughter called me to tell me what happened. When I got to the meeting, I told them one of my dogs was just nearly electrocuted. A friend who knows my dogs asked me which one and I answered, "Sparky." Well, one of the guys at the meeting started laughing and then apologized and explained that he thought I must be joking. That's when I realized how funny that really was and started laughing myself (by then, I knew Sparky was okay!) :D

[RadicalMom]

41. I can't believe that your Sparky was electrocuted, and then couldn't be

driven to the vet because of a LACK of a spark. Weird world, isn't it?

[baby_bear]

35. What cool parents you had/have

Imagine decorating an infant's room with Miro (one of my personal favorites!) Obviously their flair rubbed off on you, given the literary origins of your cats' names.

My story is nearly as intriguing. My cat Rocky's full name is Rocky Ricardo. You can guess that I am an I Love Lucy fan.

b_b

[Lorien]

57. They were real "lefty liberals" back then

now my mom is a fundie and my dad is a moderate Dem. Dad has a Ph.D, and Miro seems to be quite popular among psychologists for some reason. Funny thing is, my parents were always disappointed that I became a commercial artist instead of a fine artist, lol!

An "I love Lucy" fan AND a Bullwinkle fan too, perhaps?

[China_cat]

38. Rosie, Bailey and Daphne

Came with their names and I didn't want to change them. Dot is actually Echo's Automagic Valiant. Echo for the kennel, 'A' for the first litter by that breeder and Valiant as MY choice (going by European naming convention for my breed, it was a 'V' year) Her call name is Dot because dot dot dot dash is Morse code for 'v' and Dot most certainly did dash around as a puppy. (I called her my dust bunny on speed)

The cats Larry, Curly and Moe are self-evident (litter brothers). Velcro is a brother from a later litter and the only survivor of that litter. After all his litter mates died, he became very clingy and had to be peeled off you with the attendant ripping sound. Squeaker has a voice like a rusty hinge and can't vocalize any louder than that. Cotton is pure white. My husband wanted to call her Qtip but I objected. This was before ST:TNG started or she would probably be 'Q' today. (Yes, she is almost 20 years old)

[Beware the Beast Man]

39. Eleanor & Coleman

Eleanor- for the Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby"
Coleman- from "The Birdcage," one of our favorite movies. It's the phony name the Goldmans use to impress the RW senator and his family. And also because he's a slate gray color.

[RadicalMom]

40. Diva, my pinto mare, came with her name, but it suits her perfectly...

She IS the Divine Miss Diva, and was a Horse Illustrated Cover Girl, and even got fan mail from kids who saw her on the magazine. She's gorgeous and she knows it! I prefer not to rename animals, but will do so when it really doesn't suit them. My donkey, named Smokey, got his name for several reasons. He is a smokey grey and black donkey, almost the twin of the one in my avatar. Next, my husband is a Smokey Bear collector, and it really seemed to suit the donkus. He responded to it right away, and you can say it almost as if you are braying it, which he loves. The name he came with was Mozart, because, his former owner said, "mozart is the king of pain," which I never could figure out. Why name a loveable 2 year old donkey something like that for that reason? Ugh! So Smokey stuck and it makes him happy. Next, is our Quarter Horse mare, whose official registered name that she came with is "She's My Remedy," which refers to a champion in her bloodlines named Docs Remedy. She was about 7 months old when we got her, and she'd never really had a name that stuck well. They'd beem calling her "Remmy," for lack of anything better. Long story short, I had met her a few months before we got her. We had connected in a big way, but I never considered getting a second horse, couldn't afford to, and certainly not one with her expensive breeding. My best friend had bought her from some people who were abusing her (as a 3 month old!), and made me promise that either he or I would always own her. I said that he wouldn't have to part with her, but agreed. One month after that, my buddie had a massive stroke, and never fully recovered. His wife was ordered to sell anything of value, to get him covered by MediCal, and we bought her for what they had just paid. When we bonded that first time, my friend sent a picture of her home with me that day, and I put it on the fridge, using a Snoopy magnet. We were trying to think of what we would call her, when I happened to take that picture off the fridge, and looked at it and the magnet. It was obvious, and her name has been Snoopy ever since. That's all the equines.

We also have a Sparky, a golden retriever/collie mix. My just-crossed-over dog, Scout(named after Tonto's horse, who was also a tri-color, as my dog was), led us to the pound (a much longer story) and connected us with this nameless stray (who'd been turned in at the shelter, two blocks from the vet's where Scout died, within five minutes of Scout's passing!) As we were driving to visit the new dog, since he couldn't be adopted till 7 days had passed, I got this message in my brain, loud and clear, "Sparky's a nice name." I hadn't even been trying to think of names yest, and Sparky was the name of a dog that Scout had loved to play with, about 12 years earlier. So Sparky worked and he liked it. Animals are known for responding well, by the way, to names with strong "e" sounds or "t" sounds in them. Next dog is Dusty, an Australian Shepherd mix, who was born at the ranch where we board our equines. We'd decided on calling him Pancho, though I don't know why. Just nothing fit. So, we were at the ranch on a windy day, and the horses were really dusty, and my daughter and I were talking about it. We looked at each other suddenly as the light bulbs went on over our heads, and Dusty got his name. It suits him perfectly, little ranch mutt that he is. Mandy is the third dog, a full Golden Retriever, and very much the girl. Scout had been crazy about a friends dog who was named Mandy, many years before. It came to me when I looked at her little puppy self right when we decided on her. My daughter, who officially is Mandy's "owner," (who owns whom?) liked the name, and so it took.

Bear with me, I'll make these short. Midnight, the black cat, has an obvious reason for her name, and it came with her when we adopted her. Tweety and Sylvester, the last of our animals, are two bunny brothers, from the same litter, also saved from the pound or someone who might have bought them as snake food. Tweety got his name while we were holding him, they were still babies, and we said "Oh, what a tweety pie!" He is the grey one, and his brother is black. Tweey obviously needed to have the black one named Sylvester. So there they are.

That's all nine of them. I will spare you the details of the name stories from our doggies who have passed on, but everyone's name came through love, connections to many things, and observation. I'm sure our human parents all have equally detailed stories about how they named us. Maybe that would be a good topic for the Lounge. Maybe I'll start that, along with names we were almost named and why they didn't do that.

This was a fun post idea, Lorien!

[Gelliebeans]

42. great post!

my girls pictured here are Princess Jasmine Twinkletoes (left) and Lady Isabella Boogybeans(right). Or as they are more affectionately known Jazzy and Izzy. There is no creative story behind the naming of my babies other than I spend 24 hours a day with them and I wanted them to have elaborate names so that I could have the choice of many nicknames.

We named our rottweiler Jake (now passed)after we adopted him just because it "fit" him. I did have a cat named "Zildjian" once. I had adopted her when I was 16 years old and I was dating a drummer in a hard-rock band and he suggested we name her after the cymbols in a drum kit.

Almost forgot our new puppy "Vinny the brick" he is a docile yellow lab but we wanted him to have a tough guy image ;)

[auburngrad82]

43. Here they are:

Asta, our first, was named after the dog in the Thin Man movies.

http://www.dogster.com/pet_page.php?i=21747&j=t

Petey, our beautiful blue boy, was named after the dog in the Little Rascals series.

http://www.dogster.com/pet_page.php?i=21738&j=t

Porkchop is named after her physique. She's been built this way since she was a puppy. ;-)

She's the only one that we weren't sure of a name for. I wanted to name her Maggie for Sugar Magnolia but my significant other wanted Porkchop so she won.

http://www.dogster.com/pet_page.php?i=21752&j=t

Crystal is named after the Crystal Gayle song "Don't it make my brown eyes blue" because her eyes are brown with blue speckles.

http://www.dogster.com/pet_page.php?i=21759&j=t

Jessie was named that when we got her. She now lives on a farm with my parents and she loves being a real working herding dog.

http://www.dogster.com/pet_page.php?i=21758&j=t

[kaitykaity]

44. Mina. Or when she's being a pest, pain, Mean Kitty.

I got it out of an Anne Rice book, "The Witching Hour."
I was looking through my favorite books for a name
for the cat. I don't remember why it struck me, but
it stuck.

She's all white, really small, got a kink in a short tail.
I have a CD with some photos, but they're not online yet.

Will have to take care of that.

[MrsMatt]

46. We tend to use "people" names

Our dearly departed tabby was named Bettina (in honor of the academic dean of our alma mater - they both had grey hair). She's been gone 1 1/2 years but had a good & long life when she left us at age 19. Her nicknames were Betsy & Betty.

Nancy, who's almost 13, is a long haired grey tuxeudo cat with four white boots. She's named for Nancy Sinatra. Nickname, Nanny Goat.

Our two newest cats are Angelique (she came from the shelter with the name Angel Marie, which my husband despised - we tried to give her a name that would sound familiar yet would be acceptable to MrMatt, she also answers to Angie) and Stanley (he came from the shelter the same day as Angelique, but with no name as he was only four months old and had been fostered). Stanley's name is courtesy of my daughter (now 7, 6 at the time of christening), in honor of some cartoon show that I'll see on occasion via peripheral vision.

Oh, and a Beta fish by the name of Dandelion (just because it's pretty).

[Greylyn58]

47. I am owned

by a Golden Retriever named Claridge Sky Full of Stars, but his call name is Sheridan.

He's named for a favorite character from the TV show Babylon 5--Captain Sheridan.

His AKC name, Sky Full of Stars, is an episode name, but it also relates to his heritage.

His father is a champion show dog as is his grandfather Briarwood Lightening Strikes. He won Best in Breed at Westminster Dog Show in 1996. Sheridan also has other champions in his background so I figured since he has a lot of "Stars" in his lineage...that the name fit.

Sheridan is just my pet(I don't know anything about showing dogs) and he's my best friend. He's been with me for 9 years.

Since I don't have kids, my folks refer to him as their fur grandkid.

:)

[kslib]

48. Dante and Gracie

Dante is now actually called Bubba. I started out with Dante, registered his microchip with that name and that's what the vet calls him. He comes to "Bubba" and that's what everyone else uses. I started with Dante because my favorite book is "The Divine Comedy." However, when it became quite clear that he was several stanzas short of an epic I started calling him Bubba and it stuck!

Gracie got her name because she was originally a compainon for a cat I had named George. Unfortunately, George was a barn kitten from a friend's farm. I'd never owned a cat before, only dogs and I didn't know that the official definition of "feral" was "not a good housecat for a beginner, will bite, scratch and attack you a lot; AKA spawn of Satan." George was returned to the farm and is happily chasing mice and not reproducing (I did get him neutered!)

[area51]

50. "What inspired your pet's name?"

My favorite TV show, Dark Shadows.

[Frogtutor]

51. My dogs: Xena, Icarus, Aphrodite, and Galatea...

We got our Lab mix at the height of Xena's (the TV show) popularity; we were big fans! We got Icarus, an Australian Cattle Dog, as a companion for Xena after we moved to a new house. He had the grizzled, black and white hair, and one brown and one blue eye. My son, a fan of the Hercules cartoon series at the time, wanted to name him after the Icarus character on the show because of his crazy hair and eyes. Since "Icarus" went with the Greek theme started with Xena, we agreed. We only found out later that his sire's name is Zeus! We call him Icky for short.
Here's Xena and Icarus:



Next, we took in a stray female Australian Cattle Dog mix we found in our neighborhood. Keeping with the Greek theme, we named her Aphrodite, which is fitting because she is the sweetest, most loving dog. We call her Ditey for short. Icarus REALLY loves her...

Icarus and Aphrodite had a litter of pups. We kept one of them (gave the rest away to good homes--very in-demand breed), and named her Galatea. I was at a loss for female Greek mythological character names, so I looked some up; this one just appealed to me. We call her Tia for short.
Here are (from left to right) Aprhrodite, Icarus, and Galatea:



Icarus and Aphrodite had ANOTHER litter of pups (we finally got Icarus fixed). My mom took two pups, naming them Pandora and Achilles. My father-in-law took one, naming him Hector.
Here are Pandora (far left) and Achilles (far right):



Here is Hector:



My cat's name history is a whole other story, for another time!

:)

[ernstbass]

52. Those pups are so cute

I just want to scoop them out of the picture and hug them!

[Frogtutor]

53. Yeah, but they sure are ornery little boogers! n/t

[SiouxJ]

55. What, no Joxer? ;-)

I always thought that would be a great name for a dog.

I love your Greek theme. What a cute bunch! The puppies are to die for!

[arikara]

54. Turtle and Tuffy

They both came to us via the SPCA.

They called Turtle "Dolly" in the SPCA but she was a stray so they must have picked that name out of the air. I played around with that name and considered calling her Salvadora Dolly at first. But I called her Turtle after a character in one of my favorite books, "The Bean Trees" by Barbara Kingsolver. The character Turtle was named that because she grabbed ahold of her adoptive mother and wouldn't let go. Turtle did that to me at the SPCA. And it suits her in other ways too... she's a tortoise shell in colour, and she just loves laying on her back with her feet in the air. No matter how "queenly" she gets if you flop her on her back she'll just stay. I like the name too because any art work that I do always turns into turtles.

Tuffy's name at the SPCA was "Spook". We thought that was just awful, but we figured he was called that because he's so nervous. But when we took him for his checkup, the vet made the comment that it was a pretty racist name for a black cat... I wanted to call him Teddy because he looks like a little Teddy bear and my husband thought that was fine until I shortened it to Ted and he hated that because it reminded him of someone he didn't like. So we changed it to Tuffy because a "manly" name might give him a little more confidence. It might work some day I guess, but he is a little sweetie and I wouldn't ever want him to lose that.

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

56. Simba was named for "The Lion King"

When we got him and his brother, they were about 7 weeks old and utterly ADORABLE. He looked just like Simba as he was being held up to see his future kingdom. He was almost named "Bili" (which means "cat" in Urdu), but we settled on "Simba."

His brother Montana was named for Joe Montana because of his beautiful blue eyes (I'm a big fan), which Monty shared at the time. Now they're golden, but that's okay! We never considered any other name for Monty.

[bvar22]

58. Proper name Houseboat Willie....

but nicknamed Bug, because he hunted and caught bugs as a kitten.
We got him in early Autumn and there were plenty of bugs, mostly crickets, dragon flys, moths, and house flys on the docks.
He took this job seriously and devoted great effort and enthusiasm to the task.

It started out as Bugger or Buggie, and shortened itself to just Bug.

Dumb name for a cat.
He doesn't seem to mind.
Stuck with it now.

[Lorien]

59. That's a wonderful photograph of him

you've taken a good many admirable pics of "Bug" (funny, I call Obie that too from time to time-mostly because he can be such a pest sometimes)!

How is Bug's cold these days? Is he over it? How is the new kitten doing? It sounded like she brought him an upper respiratory infection (so common in shelters). I hope he's feeling better now!

[bvar22]

60. They are both fine now.

I'll tell them you asked :)