Pet naming

[chocolatepuppy]

Laylas name came from the Eric Clapton song. Always loved that name and it seemed to be just right for her.

Jakes name came from the Pirates of the Mississippi song Feed Jake.

Missy was named by my the children of a coworker who I got her from at three months old. It seemed to fit her so I kept it.

Angel was named by the rescue and I kept it.

Tessa's name is Contessa, also named by the rescue, and I call her Tessa.

[Casper]

I prefer more unique names, and you can probably tell which pets I named and which were named by other people.

Khaith the cat, Towser the pup, Wilhelm the rat, Adelaide the cat, etc. I am just drawn to names I haven't heard a million times. Then again, if an animal joins the family that already has a name and I'm not fond of said name, I normally don't change it. I hated my tortie Martha's name for the longest time. My sister's friend named her and I just thought it was one of the worst names for a cat. It eventually grew on me and I can't imagine her with any other name. Plus, its fun singing "Martha My Dear" to a cat! lol

The only animal that got a name change upon joining the family is Gir the cockatiel. Her original name was Ariel, but on the drive home my sister renamed her Gir, which fits so much better.

[Roxyluvsme13]

I try to use Disney names for all my pets , though there are a few exceptions.

Lily - TigerLily from Peter Pan.
Domino - 101 Dalmatians
Snow - Snow White

Jake was named by Michael, Fred was named after Freddy Krueger, Rosie I'm not sure if I got that from a Disney name or not, Hershey is named after the candy, Tallulah is a kooky kitty and needed a kooky name.

It always comes down to personality, lol, but Disney names are my favorite!

[Louie and me]

Our first dog came from a breeder who had called him Jesse. That didn't seem to fit but we wanted something that sounded similar so we called him Joshua.
The next two were rescues and we figured they had already had to learn one new name so we kept them the same.
Rocky was given up by his owners.
Louie was a stray given that name by the sanctuary.

I miss them all.

[Trinityagain]

For the current herd:

Zingo Furrburner--named after a dungeons and dragons character
Oatmeal--that is the color of his furr
Scooter--when he was still outside he would block the door. So we started saying "come on, scoot!"
Turbo--my husband had to pull her off of the turbo charger of his truck where she ran and hid. she was less than 1 pound and severly ill. He swears there is still kitten poop on the turbo charger
Splotch--she looks like somebody took handfulls of paint and threw them at her, causing different splotches of color on her coat
GT--stands for Garage Talker. I had gone out one morning to feed the backyard cat and came in to tell my husband "the garage is talking to me"..took us 3 days to finally catch sight of her.
Momma--just fits, rescued with her kitten
Doodle--the kitten. she was born around the 4th of July. So...yankee doodle dandy came to mind....she gets called Bug a lot for some reason. and Buggly....
Itchy--all white cat with an apparent allergy to the sun. when she was still outside she would be crossing the street and suddenly have to sit IN THE MIDDLE and scratch....

[pomtzu]

I name mostly by personality, or country of breed-origin names. Myndi was an exception since when I got her at 10 months old, she already had the name of Mindy, so I just changed the spelling and added "Jo Kong" (from her mother and father's names) when I sent in her AKC papers.

Sparky - definitely a personality name. He was such a bright little flash of light in my life.
Sherbie - he was orange and white - orange sherbet
O.C. - "other cat", since Sherb was already here

RB Lhasas:
Tai Ling Soo - breed origin. Called her just Tai for short
Wei Wooli Bear - "Wei" was part of his grandmother's name, and "Wooli Bear" because he was big like a bear and fuzzy like the caterpillar. We always called him just Bear or Boo-Boo Bear
Scooter - he was a rescue and already named

RB Meezers:
Ming Blu - I thought it was pretty darn original at the time, but it's pretty common for Meezers as I have learned
Sam - he was already named when I adopted him, but a very fitting name for a Meezer
Suki - just Oriental sounding

Cockatiel:
Rocky - because he thought he (which turned out to be a she) was tough like Rocky Balboa

Mortimer was a BIG tuxie I adopted at about 6 years old and already named. It did suit him tho.

And some others way, way back:
Inky - black rabbit
Smokey - gray rabbit
B.R. (dwarf bunny rabbit)
Cinnamon - terrier mix named for her fur color
Dusty - gray cat
Spook - dark gray cat
Peanut - very tiny cat
Snuffy - my first ever cat which I acquired after I married. Hubby was in the Marine Corps at the time, and a "snuffy" in the Corps is an enlisted man of very low rank, so the name was quite appropriate!

I've forgotten a few - but you get the idea..............

[Litterati]

Plus there is the "official" name, the shortened nickname that I customarily use, and with my current trickster, on occasion, when he is being particularly fractious - or catlike - some words that are not his name and cross the line into the "expletive deleted" zone

So here goes:

My first kitty (now at the RB) was officially named Dominick because with his tuxedo he called to mind a Dominican monk, and someone commented that he looked like a sleek dominatrix (gender notwithstanding.) But I called him Nicky or Nickythecat.

My current kitty is a silver gray tabby - ergo Dorian Gray - although I call him Dorry, Dorry-boy, whatever.

Both kitties were privileged to attain COTD status

[Randi]

Fister got his name when we visited him in the yard. John simply started calling him Fister, and it stuck. We didn't know that he was coming up to live with us and hadn't searched for names. Fister is what you call someone who you don't know the name of - I think like Buster in the US. I didn't like the name to begin with, but it grew on me.