One time while i was surfing the net, i came across a freenet that was
named Nyx, spirit of the night.  I thought of it when i bought my
all-black cat and named him Nix.

Where'd you get the names for your pets?

62 responses total.

Skeeter came with that name from the Humane Society of Huron
Valley.  I remembered not really liking her name, but I was so
impressed by how fast she would run up when she heard it.  She
knew it was her name, so I kept it--even though she gets called
Snooter more often than Skeeter.

Sunny was named Santyana when I got her from the Jackson Humane
Society.  That name seemed kind of long and a little out of place
for an American Eskimo, so I named her Sunny for her disposition.
She's also beginning to suspect that when I mention "the
goofball" that I'm referring to her.

my wonderful feline friend got her name from my brother, because after sas born
her front paws were like little stubs, so the name Stubby was stuck.   she
won't answer to anything else.

Tiger Lily got her name from her markings, black and orange,  plus
the influence of the Indian princess in Peter Pan.  Becky was 
named for our 2-year old's playmate and the previous 3 Beckys who
had died (well, one was just returned to the shop for fungus treatment)
and my son named Mitchel that cuz he liked the name.

Poco (a Poco) was named that because I dreamed about having a cat
with that name, and it was very suitable for the first years -- it's
Italian for "little by little".  The other kitten we adopted at the
same time was therefore my husband's to name; he was obviously
inquisitive, so Dave named him Willard Van Orman Quine after the
philosopher, shortly changed to Whiskers Van Orman Quine (Van for
short).  
After Van died we had a short-lived kitten who was almost fox-colored, 
except where he was white, and we named him Kettu after the Finnish word 
for "fox".
When Ethel came to live with us she was a year old and understandably 
distrustful; we didn't care for her name, but we didn't change it.
Rider was five when he joined us, but we had influenced his name
slightly -- Dave told the original adoptive family that their kitten
was *not* female, so they decided not to name "her"--"him" Beauty,
after all.  This family had four fairly young children not inclined
toward subtleties: they already had a *large* dog, mongrel-type,
named Hoss, and they named their new kitten Rider.  

Our dog Dutchess came with her name, since she was two we thought 
it a little too late to change her name.. <grin>  but she tends
to answer more to Dutch now (odd for a German Shepherd...)
The cat is Prince Alexander (or Alex, or Lord Master for short)
I don't really remember how he got his name...  He just sorta
looked like an Alex to me.
My sister's cat is Eliska Kimbriel, or Liska for short.  My sister
had always been fascinated by that name and decided that when she
got a cat she would either name it Eliska K. or Loki... And for
this particular beastie Liska won....

This response has been erased.

I think she got it out of a fantasy novel where the main character's
name was Kimbriel... or something like it.

So how ethical is it to rename a cat gotten from the Humane Society, and that
(I think) they just made a name up for?  'Cause I don't like the name they
made up.

This response has been erased.

Yeah, congrats Scott!!

I don't see a problem in re-naming if the animal is young enough.
My sister's cat was originally "patches II" after her mother....
Then she became Eliska Kimbriel Allen Perry (yes, a long name
for a cat- normally she's just Liska. :) )

Valerie- I like the names Octal and Hex. <grin>  But then again- I'm
weird or something. ;)

My dog's name is Cinnamon, because
        she was/is sweet with a little bite to her
        she is black but in the sun she looks like she has cinnamon hi-lites
        "I want to live with a Cinnamon girl, I could be happy the rest of
          my life with a Cinnamon girl..."(She and I like Mr. Hendrix)
        I can refer to her as my big Cin and the neighbors don't get it

Lately people have been asking me where I got the name Sasha
from.  (Sasha is the name I gave to my kitten)  I don't know where
I got the name from.  I used it a few times in some stories, but
when I saw my little grey girl (who may be my little grey boy) the
name Sasha just seemed to fit her/him.

My brother-in-law's black lab mix is named Simon, because years ago when
he was a puppy, he was fascinated by the old "Simon" electronic game.
(You know, the game where the lights flashed and you had to try to follow
the sequence)  Every time the lights on the Simon game would flash and the
beeps would beep,
the dog would bark.  So he was "Simon"

We had a midget black cat (she stayed small, never outgrew the size of a
kitten), named "Snake Hollywood"  That cat was so small that when it got
pregnant, it had a litter of one kitten, another black cat, named
"Broadway"  

My sister's dog is named "Presto!" because it was trained to bark and roll
over when somebody yelled "Presto!".  

My cat was also a black cat, which I found emaciated in  an alley under a
full
moon one night and saved.  Since I first saw her in the moonlight, she
became "Luna" (short for Lunar or moon)

My Great Dane got his name "Bud" from the Cosby Show.  Rudy had a friend named
Kenny she always called Bud and we thought the name suited our massive puppy.

<grins>  I've heard of worse way to name a pet/child.  My roommate Melissa
was named after a soap opera character.  My brother has since renamed
my Sashe, now she's S'Ashe... <shrugs> he's a lil weird.

Yes, that he is.  =)

Gomez got his name thanks to Kae (otter).  I had this adorable new 
kitty with beautiful black and white markings and a face full of 
expressions.  I knew he needed a great name.

So, we were brainstorming one night, and I was going through classic 
black and white movie characters (Ollie, Abbot, Costello, Chaplin), and 
she started thinking of the artists of black and white paintings.  
Ansel Adams came up (Ansel?  Adams?), and then she 
said, "Adams...Aadams Family...GOMEZ!!!"  The name was perfect, and 
when I tried it on him later that night, he loved it.  =)

mister pinky (rip) was named for a character in a
a john waters film "Mr Pinky's Hefty Hideaway" a fat people's
store where rikki lake shopped.

lees was named leassie by her previos owner, an illiterate
redneck from kalkaska who probably thought he was writing
lassie when he was filling out the paperwork at the dogpound.

If I get a third cat, I'm going to name him Mr. Bigglesworth.  =)

d00d...SICK!

Sarah- you'd have to get a Sphinx, ya know, the hairless ones. ;)

No...I'd get a grey kitty since Gomez is black and white, and Morticia will
be black.  =)  

Grey kitties are evil... trust me... Or... maybe it's the 'Asha' sound...
My Aunt Gladys has an *evil* grey floofy cat named Asha... and I have
my grey floofy cat named Sasha....  <grins>

Nah.  It's a parenting issue.  My grey floofy cat, Dave, is quite mellow. 
Even when he's not mellow he's unfailingly nice.

Hmm... How old is Dave?  

Sasha has actually gotten a lot better as she's gotten older...
Asha... has not... but I think in his case it's a parenting issue.

JACKIE:  I was 10 when I got my puppy, Jackie, who is now deceased.  I'd
contemplated naming her Cracker Jack, because my previous dog/my dad's dog
who ran away was Peanut.  I also loved the name Jaqueline, thus Jackie...

MEOW:  My family is really creative... "Hi kitty, what's your name?"  You know
the response...  And she runs when called. (cat)

BEE-JAY:  Bee-Jay is Gramma's and formerly Grandpa's Shit-Tzu.  She is the
2nd Shit-Tzu they had, the first being Benji.  Bee-Jay sounds a little
like Benji, and "B.J." was my grandfathers first initials.  Billy James
yeilded B.J., but she's pedigree and Bee-Jay looked better on family
records.

PINHEAD:  The second cat, a darling little thing of white and
orange/marmalade, is a lot smaller than Meow with a noteably small
head...thus...

Pinhead... I like that name. <grins>

I picked the name Harley before I even saw my cat. I just thought it was 
a cool name. When I saw him I thought it would fit just fine. He does 
purr like one. Out of endearment, I'd call him "Harlis". It stuck. I 
also call him "son," "baby boy", and "sweetie". 

I'll make a great mom. :)

(Dave is about 12 now, but he was always nice.  I know this because I got his
as a kitten).

Somehow, I've found that I love the name "Dave" for a cat.  It just 
sounds so...I don't know...  I just like it, Scott.  =)

When I get my Mau (and I will dernit) I want to call her (I hope it's a her)
Keshti.  I don't know why, but I like that name.

Dave is a cool name.  Hmmm... Maybe the exception proves the rule?

I love human names for pets. All this "Muffin" and "Poochie" just don't 
do it for me. :)

Some cats names I am familiar with: Zack, Priscilla, Isabelle, Wiley, 
Thumbalina (named after a doll I had when I was little), Buffy Lou, 
Arlo (sorry, Jan and Valerie!), Rusell, and Oreo.

My cousin named his puppy after me.  He was 8 at the time...  he's 12 now.
The puppy/dog's name is "Mandy," the nickname my family insists on using for
me, as they have since I was 2 feet tall w/ curly, blonde hair.

<grins> My neighbor named her kitten Anney, being convinced that my
perent's cat was the father... Rather impossible given that Alex has
been 'repaired' for 10 years now and Anney was born about 1 1/2 years
ago... Soon though, Anney developed features necessating a name change
to Andy. <grins>  Cute lil devil though.

I agree, I liked people names for pets.

I'd named my grandma's cat Elizabeth... I dunno, it had the sweetest 
little face. I took it to the vet for its shots, and realized Elizabeth 
wouldn't fit. Hee. I suggested "Bart" instead, but my grandma picked 
James in honor of my dad. ::Shrug::2

Then a few months later they got another cat, this huge fluffy thing 
that carries its tail high up. This time we thought it was a girl for 
months, and called it Elizabeth. Then the ugly truth came out. Another 
boy! So he's Josh now.  :)

Heh... After I got Sasha I asked the vet to double check and make
sure she was a girl.  She's so fluffy that certain parts could have
been over looked... The vet assured me that she was a girl.  For which
I was very grateful. 

We have a new addition to the household; a mouse named Dinner.  He was 
purchased as one of a pair destined to be snake food.  The other went first
and was a bit bigger than the snake was used to handling, he couldn't bend
enough to coil around this one.  Staci tried to give him to the snake the next
day with little interest from the snake or fear from the mouse.  As she was
looking at the mouse later that evening STeve told her not to get attached
to it as it was "Dinner".  I came home from work and found STeve, Damon and
Staci teaching the thing tricks, sigh.  From now on the snake gets mousecles,
no more live ones!

Wow...  I don't think I'd ever be able to feed a mammal of any sort to
anything.  Bugs, perhaps.. but mammals?

Well, snakes have to eat too... <shrugs> Although I did hear of a snake
not striking quickly enough and as a result getting beaten up by the
rat who was supposed to be dinner.

Glenda- what's 'mousecles'?  A substitute for mice I'm guessing...

Eeeeeyuh. I could not sit there and watch a snake devour anything live.
At least you aren't feeding it rabbits, which a friend of mine tried to 
do until everyone at work got wind of it and made her feel bad. :)

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