Silly Names or Human Names?

Definitely depends on who you're naming!

I've personally never cared much for human names for pets, but....
I am of the firm belief that we do not name pets, we give them a few days and they'll tell us what their names are.

For instance Spaz.
3 days after I brought her home she let me know her name, but only after I caught her communing with her invisible friends, purposely sliding across the vinyl floors and crashing into things, and leaping straight into the air and doing backflips....all for no apparent reason.

Shadow told Jeremy his name pretty fast, kept following him all over the house, shadowing him.

I think it definately depends on the pet - I don't call Harley by his name all the time - most of the time its Pumpkin Butt or Button

I prefer cute names rather than human type names.

I do think it depends on the animal. One of my cats is named after a person (Trent) and one a literary figure (Ophelia). I've had dogs in my life with a dog-name (Dutchess, but I guess she was kinda named after a persona-type name - her full name was Dutchess Willimena von Volk), and one named after a character on a soap opera (Felicia).

But you know, considering some of the names people come up with for their kids - anything could be a human name any more! LOL

I agree with pretty much everyone else. It depends.

I mean, Title is the perfect name for my little kitty. I had a litterbox trained rabbit named Jezebel, birds named Peanut Butter and Stickface.. and then my family's dog Sasha and their cat Manny (after Manny Ramirez.. whose last name I cannot spell). We also had a bull mastiff named Princess and a Boxer named Ziggy. You just need to know the pet to name it.

Oh, and my cat totally knows her name. Even when it's said in common conversation she perks up and comes over. Manny, however, answers when he wants to.

I always said if I have pet fish, I'd call them Johnathan and Tony I'd also call a male dog either name too I have no idea why

Originally Posted by Shem

I always said if I have pet fish, I'd call them Johnathan and Tony

I'd also call a male dog either name too

I have no idea why

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What are you like?!!

I generally prefer names that don't belong to humans...it's a little more unique. My cats have non-human names: Sunday, Sashka, Cairo, Princess etc. However my dogs have human names, and we never thought about anything else for them, for some reason. Their names, Ruby and Chester came within the first five minutes of having them, and they suit them perfectly!

When I had siamese fighting fish I used to name them all after Shakespeare characters...because they are resplendent fish and it really suited them. I named my first two Rosencrantz and Gildenstern - because I knew eventually, as fish do, they would die and then I'd be able to say `Rosencrantz and Gildenstern are dead'!!!

Bella and Rowan would be fine names for people.

Bella's name just came to me after a while. She didn't come from the shelter with a name, because their records weren't good enough to know which kitten came with which name. One of them was named Spindles, but I thought that was a really dumb name, and since she has stumpy little legs now, I'm glad I didn't just go with that. She's one of the prettiest cats I've ever seen (the first spotted tabby, and the only cat I've seen in person with the little wing markings by her eyes), so Bella is certainly beautiful.

For the longest time, I didn't know if Rowan was a boy or a girl, because I was planning on giving him away. No one ever called about the signs I put up, though, so he became part of the family. I looked for a name in Italian so he'd match Bella, but nothing seemed to fit. I finally just looked through some Celtic/Irish names and Rowan fit. He would have been named Raelin if he'd been a girl.


My first cat was named Meow by my (then) two year old brother. We also had Chirp the budgee, Slick the snake, and Beethoven the beta. And my parents have Loki, another cat, but he was named at the shelter, and since the folks are so Christian, my kiddo brother and I thought that it was delightfully rebellious of us to keep his name.

This all depends. For me, I had one name already picked out when I got a cat years ago...Asia. I LOVE that name for a cat, and might use it again in the future. If I ever get a horse (you know, when I win the lottery ) I think Dartanyan (spelled?) (from 3 Musketeers) is an awesome name for a male horse, and Guenivere for a female horse. All my other pets, I named after I had them a while. I don't go for really common names, so it takes me a while to figure something out for each one.

I always name my fish Phineas and Gene.
Anyone read A Separate Peace?