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What's your pet's name? How did you decide on a name? Does your pet's name have an interesting story behind it?

What type of name did you give your pet? multiple choice
	Traditional Pet Name (like Spot)
	Human name (like Jane, Harry, etc)
	Foreign word or name
	No name - just call it "dog" etc
	Other
Votes accepted starting: 05/21/06 10:57 AM
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When we first decided to take in a little mutt that needed a home we knew she was going to cause chaos in the house so we named her Chaos. We searched for a companion for her and my husband had this little 'doggy' test he found in a book. After testing several puppies we finally just took the owner's advice. Since she ended up being randomly selected, we called her Random. We have a great deal of fun going to the dog park and calling the dogs, "Random Chaos!"

Two of our birds are named for Greek mythology figures, Helios & Eos. Two are names from their country of origin, Jumoke & Amador. We also have Max, Simone, Momma & Daddy Day (Nandays), Cody, & Funny Face. (Some of the names came with the birds). We also have Spike, Irene, & Mini-me (cats... Mini-me looks exactly like Irene, but is no relation). B2 was named for a duck we loved and lost (his name was Binky hence Binky2 shortened to B2). B2's harem consists of Feisty, Doug, Alex, Etta, & Lovey (all females).

I don't know about anyone else, but I find it hard to come up with unisex names. Often I'm handling a young animal that can't be sexed right away. I've taken to using "baby" as the catch-all until I do.

I've got a cat named 'Barry' (from old barry evans of eastenders fame), and a dog named 'Are you being served?' from the tv series...oh you know the rest.

Out of my dogs, both Dakota & Chester came with their names & we didn't change them. Lexi is the only one that arrived as a puppy and both my daughter & I came up with a list of names that we liked and then we both eliminated from each other lists. The surviving name was Lexi.

Lucky, one of my Cockatiels was so named because he was the first baby handfed from day one to live, as his parents refused to feed any baby that hatched. He was the last one to hatch from the clutch and one by one every other one had died. Ringo, another Cockatiel has a grey stripe across his breast that almost made a ring around him. Gypsy, another Cockatiel (pure white albino) got his name from gypsum (which is also white). Jewel, my African Grey Parrot got her name because each feather has a light grey outer edge, making her look like she is covered in jewels (even though they are grey - LOL). I named my B&G Macaw Kia when I received her because I wanted to change her name from Kiwi because it just didn't suit her. Kia was close enough that it wasn't a big change for her. Most of the finch don't have names, but one Zebra Finch has a white stripe front to back on the top of his head and he is called Mohawk.

We have a beautiful persion cat (she was bred for showing but her markings meant she was not suitable)so we got her.
Her name is Rael.

I had a pet ferret when I was in high school and named her "Ferret Fawcett."

After the ET guy? (Claude Vorilhon aka Rael - leader of the Raelian movement)

I've got a pet snail called Leonard Rossiter, after the late great actor. Well, I call it a pet, but it's just a snail in the garden really. He's very well trained though.

Normally I'd invite folks to bring their pets when they come, but we might have to rethink that in Leonard's case. My ducks have probably eaten some of Leonard's relatives and I doubt I could guarantee his safety...

When my daughter was visiting last year she helped out with a bit of gardening. She got a little overzealous in feeding the snails to her favorite, Feisty. The poor thing's beak was practically glued shut with snail goo. I had to take gauze and swab out in the inside of her beak. She didn't touch snails again for quite awhile after that episode. <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

A long time ago, I had a realllly pretty fluffy/longhaired 'marmalade' tabby kitty - I named her Alora Dannan (after the character in the movie "Willow")

She had funny facial expressions, just like the little princess in the movie.

<img src="/images/graemlins/queen.gif" alt="" />

My first dog was called Bully, because he was the biggest of his litter and bullied all his brothers and sisters. At some point I had a floppy-eared goat called E.T. and a blue-tongued lizard called Tillie (from the genus name Tiliqua). I now have a grey and white kitten named Narnia, she has bright green eyes, and I wanted a 'foresty' name for her! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

The peacock is "Fancy Pants" - it seemed to suit, given the tail feathers.

Cats are: Morris (orange tabby), Scurry (B/W long hair), Spot, Tiger and Munchkin.

Dog: Max.

Fish: Dorothy, Elmo and Oscar

Pretty much any pet I've named has had a human name. The rabbits have been Peter, Benjamin, Flopsy (already named), Lucy, and Quincy. The fosters we named were Cody, Maisy, Harvey (changed to Harvard), Fletcher, Nigel, Murphy and Kirby.

Can't tell you how many people would ask "is Peter your son?" Now if I can just figure out to claim them on my taxes... <img src="/images/graemlins/rolling.gif" alt="" />

I have a friend who really likes the name Sammy. At one point she had two guinea pigs and a rabbit all named some form of Sam/Sammy/Samuel all at the same time! We tease her about it all the time.

Here's my pets' names (with a bit of each animal's history):

Natasha (Tasha) - she is a 14-yr-old calico, and was named after Lieutenant Natasha Yar from 'Star Trek: The Next Generation (my son was a huge fan of the show back then). She came to us after my sister and her husband had been walking their dog in the woods during some rather nasty weather. There huddled under a bush was this tiny little cat...she was just a mere hint of a cat, soaked to the skin and with every rib showing. They scooped her up and were going to take her to the shelter, but it was closed, so asked if I could take her temporarily. She was wet, half-starved, and full of fleas...but she rumbled with the most enormous purring as soon as I picked her up. That was 13-1/2 years ago, and she's still with us...

Fritz - big blue 12-yr-old cat, came with the name when I took over ownership. When he was about a year old he was hit by a car and was severely injured; his owners didn't want to pay for surgery and were going to drop him off as a stray at the animal shelter. I intervened and asked if I could take him...wasn't working at the time, but I begged and borrowed for the money to pay for his surgery. Today he's happy and healthy.

Kaya - my 10-yr-old dog, came with the name. She's of questionable breed, I adopted her from the Humane Society when I was a volunteer dog-walker there. I swore I'd never have another dog after the heartbreak of losing my last one, but a year and a half into volunteering, and one day I saw her sitting there in a cage. Our eyes met, and I swear it was as if we knew one another. She's been my constant companion ever since.

Anna - she is an agouti bunny of no known breed, and age is guessed at being around 2 years old. She came with the name when I adopted her from the Humane Society last spring.

Raphael (Raph) - he is a blue English lop, will be 2 years old next February. I purchased him from a breeder who was several hundred miles away...actually I purchased him sight unseen over the Internet, going only by a picture the breeder had posted on her website. When I got Raph his 'official' name was Cletus, but I knew I wanted to change that. We picked him up at the airport (had him flown in) and within 5 minutes of seeing him I knew what I was going to call him. He is named after Archangel Raphael, the angel of healing...not sure how to explain this, but - as with most of my other pets - I felt a strong spiritual connection between us. The first thing I saw when they brought Raph's carrier to the counter at the airport was this beautiful huge brown eye staring out at me, and the feeling that passed through me was so strong, that he had come into my life for a reason. I had been dealing with some pretty enormous health issues myself over the past few years, and I felt strongly that Raph was there to help me with them. Interestingly, the reason I got Raph in the first place was because I woke up one night after having a dream...in it I was walking across a University campus, and noticed a rabbit sitting on the ground. It had a large hole in it's forehead, and at first I thought it was injured. But as I approached it I realized the rabbit wasn't hurt at all; the hole was supposed to be there (sort of like an indication of the 'third eye'). In the dream I scooped the rabbit up and took him home. That dream prompted me to decide to have a rabbit as a pet again, and I began searching online for English lops. That's how I found Raph. And it wasn't until several months after I had him that I noticed something. I keep an online journal of my dreams, and was looking through them one day when I noticed my entry for the dream about the rabbit...and what really struck me was this: the date that I had that dream was the very same date of Raph's birth, as listed on his pedigree. I do believe he was meant to come into my life, and I into his.

(Sorry for the long post...I tend to get chatty sometimes...)

Welcome, wondering!

It sounds like you have your hands (happily) full.

Thanks Denise! Yes, I always seem to be surrounded by furry friends (oh, and I also have a 30-gal aquarium...my dog is terrified of the pleco). Growing up I had a rather rough childhood, and I think that's why I wound up with a connection to animals...they proved to be my closest friends through many bad times. I don't think I could ever live without any pets. Did so once during the first part of my marriage...went almost six months without a pet, and I almost went crazy! So my (then) husband felt sorry for me and came home one day with one the most adorable little kittens I've ever seen. And Snooch became one of my closest soulmates. He passed away 16 years ago, and not a day goes by that I don't miss him...or any of the others I've had come into my life, and then leave. I've often considered writing a book about them. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Gwendolyn and Lancelot
{ Gwen and Lance }



They are such tiny, little things I wanted to give them a little weight with bigger names. Hahahaha

I picked Other, as I always name my pets after literary or film characters that are meaningful to me. Usually sci-fi and fantasy related, or from interesting mythologies. :-)

I've used Frodo, Ghani (Ghanima) from Dune, Danu, Kaylee, Geordi, Callisto, Maru, Turtle, Dingo and a host of others.