Several friends of mine have recently added new pets to their households and I’ve been following their posts on social media about how they’ve decided what to name their new family members. I decided to ask more friends online to share their stories about how they chose their pets’ names.
I asked: “How did you pick your pet’s name? Tell us how you decided!”
I added: “First—what is the pet (cat, dog, rabbit, hamster, bird, fish)? Second—what is the pet’s name (full registered, nickname, many variations of the same name, maybe)?”
I detailed: “Why this name (or names)? What was your inspiration? Did you ask friends and family for help? When you picked the name, what did you hope it would convey to anyone who heard it? As it’s turned out, did that happen? Have people misheard or misunderstood the name?”
I encouraged: “More stories, please, about how your choice of a name has become important in your pet’s life! Thank you so much for answering. Join in and enjoy the fun!”
Erin Saywell (Indiana) Klepto was an owner re-home/rescue. His original name was Bandit, but that wasn’t unique enough for my taste. I soon realized why he was named Bandit, LOL! I decided to call him Klepto. It’s a warning as well as a name. His registered name is Herart’s Snatch n’ Grab … fitting for a flyball dog.
Photo by Erin Saywell
Dianna Stearns (Maryland) I named my boy Roar-y because he is quite conversational, in all R sounds. No “woofing” or “arfing” for him. His nickname is “Hamburglar” since he copies the “rubble-rubble” noises.
Gary Crooks (Washington) Got our little terrier at the pound. First thing she did when we got home was find a tennis ball, bring it to me, drop it, and back up. She loves to fetch. She’s obsessed with tennis balls. So I named her Chrissie, after Chrissie Evert.
Nikki Lussier (British Columbia) My dog Kismet was born in a commercial sled-dog kennel. He was named Mufasa and then nicknamed Freddy (don’t know why). He was nine months old when he came home with me, and it took a while to choose his new name. Ultimately, though, the manner in which he arrived in my life was “Kismet.” Also known as Kizzy. And Friend. And Beloved.
My dog Rocket was also from a commercial sled-dog kennel, and he was called Rocky. He was a flight risk initially (fearful), and escaped out the door when my husband wasn’t fully vigilant. My husband said, “He took off like a Rocket!” Thankfully we had him home safe a very stressful hour later, and he has been known as Rocket ever since.
Belinda Melvin (United Kingdom) Really sad, but my current crew are all in the Harry Potter book series. We have (in age order) Lily, Florence, Remus, Orla, Martha, and Bridget (a lot of them are only mentioned once).
Adrienne Critchlow (United Kingdom) I’ve been a huge Tolkien fan since I was 10 years old and first read Lord of the Rings. My boy’s name is Beor (a name from The Silmarillion read when I was 14—slightly harder going than LOTR), which, rightly or wrongly, I pronounced in my head as Bay-or, so his nickname is Bay. My girl’s name is Taliesin as she is an English shepherd and I wanted an old Celtic name for her. Taliesin means ‘shining brow’ and it suits her because she is so beautiful.
Elisha McCallum (British Columbia) [When we were] driving to pick him up from the breeder, the TransCanada was under construction and we were delayed and rerouted. We saw this sign and I knew it was perfect.
Kim Campbell Thornton (California) Bella and Sparkles came with their names and we didn’t want to change them, especially because they both were already well trained and responded well to their names. People always think that since I’m a writer, Harper was named after Harper Lee or Harper & Row Publishing or Harper’s Magazine, but she was actually named after a character in a paranormal mystery I was reading at the time. Keeper was easy: he was a foster dog whom we didn’t intend to keep, but of course we did. Gemma came to us with the foster name Jello, which is not a favorite food of mine, so we gave her a similar-sounding name. Twyla, who liked to twirl on her hind legs, was named after dancer/choreographer Twyla Tharp. Darcy, a tricolor cavalier, is named for a Gaelic word meaning dark. We often referred to her as Miss Darcy, after the younger sister of Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice. Savanna, a brindle Greyhound, looked as if she had come straight off the African savanna. I won’t inflict all the cat names on you. Feel free to pick and choose from among these.
Deborah Anderson-Phillips (Illinois) Our pets have usually taken on theatrical or literary names—what a surprise! Francesca (Chessie) is a talked about but unseen character in I’m Getting My Act Together. Cats Miranda and Ariadne—Shakespeare; Cat Dylan Thomas—shortly after doing A Child’s Christmas in Wales. Dog Tommy Tune because he had very long legs and was very graceful. Simon cat, an eight-year-old rescue already named. Our current dog, Grace, because she was our Grace during COVID.
Jewels Eilmes-Daly (Washington) There was no question … Dr Dre and Eazy E = my favorite music.
Lori Leah Monet DVM (Colorado) Great consideration went into naming all my cats for years. When I was a teen, they started with Champagne and continued with other alcohols. The themes continued for years. The Selkirks (the two that showed) got fancy names. Granite Pebble Ripple because her coat looked like granite and [she] became Ripple as her everyday name. Peaberry Bleu Latte because he liked coffee. The shorthairs were not fancy—Henry and Scooter. But PITA Marie earned hers because as a kitten she was a Pain in the … Now I’m back to alcohol: Butterscotch Caramel Swirl (Scotch), Zora the Rox Fox (Batcat for her mask but was Rox … Scotch and Rox) and Goldschlager (Goldie).
T.S. Elliot says naming cats is a curious thing. They all have three names: The one you give them. The one you call them. And the one ONLY the cat knows.
Thus, the story of the Himalayan kitty, Zenobia. Zenobia was a cat that belonged to my technician who had to move out of state, so I inherited him. It was hard to call a cat Zenobia, so he went through many changes in his name in his life. First we called him Zenobia. We changed that and shortened it to Nob. Then it became Nob Nob. Then it became Bud. Then it got to be Bub. Which morphed into Bubba. Bubba finally stuck when the cat was about seven years old.
My only dog was Sam, although he answered to Hotdog.
Sara Maynard (Trinidad and Tobago) Ivan, because when he came home for us to foster, he growled and rushed everyone (Ivan The Terrible); we kept him, of course. Jane, because she started off quite plain, but is now a beauty (Plain Jane). Jenny, because she turned up skin-and-bones outside my house (first house on the block), we adopted her and now she’s quite plump (as the song goes, “Jenny from the block, she used to have a little, now she has a lot.”). Sebastian? My husband said we could bring him home if I called him Sebastian. He was joking, but I went with it. Lucy and Scotty were named by their fosters, but I was not particularly keen on the names, so I went with a similar sound to the names they had. Billi, my kitten, because I kept calling her Cat as I couldn’t settle on something, (Billi is Hindi for a female cat.) Janam, my male cat—his name means ‘My Life’; if he hadn’t been adopted, he would have probably been humanely euthanized, as he was an adult blind tom cat that no one wanted.
Kate LaSala Ctc Csat (Connecticut) Mr. Barbo was named in memoriam for his namesake, a dog who was killed by a cowardly hunter. My husband and I were in between dogs (our previous dog had passed away several months earlier) and we were hiking in Manchester, Vermont, and came across this gravestone. When we came home and decided to adopt, we named the then “Sloppy Joe” Mr. Barbo as a tribute. Here is a picture of our Mr. Barbo, at the grave, when we got married in Manchester. Both our dogs hiked with us to where we got married and then we visited the Barbo grave with everyone. When our Mr. Barbo died, we returned and left some of his ashes at the grave.
Photo by Kate LaSala
