Picking Animal Names

[Faye Fox]

What is behind your picking names for your pets or any animal? I have grown lazy in my old age and didn't bother to inquire and find out the real names of the neighborhood cats that patrol my place every day and in a timely fashion. There are three, Orangie, Blackie, and Stripe. I have always used a name that describes the animal. Colors are an easy out.

I kept a pup for a friends daughter until she could get moved in a place that allowed pets. She called it Alexandria but that didn't fit. It loved to dig in my garden area where nothing was planted. I named it Prospector since it found some interesting old bones. I had two roosters, Pepper and Rojo. One was white and black speckled and the other red. Notable barn cats were Whinner, Red Fox, Panther, and Midnight. Horses were Paint and Pinto.

My folks being scientist, named cats and dogs, names like Nostradamus, Archimedes, Newton, Voltaire, and Tesla.

One of my grandpas named and renamed all his mules, horses, and dogs with Biblical names. His old mule was Ebenezer after the Pharisee. The mare always breaking out was Jezebel, and one dog was Moreover. Yes, that is Biblical from the story of Lazarus, "Moreover , the dog, licked his sores." Meshack, Shadrack, and Abednego were rescues from a barn fire, but my favorite is the story behind John the Baptist, his favorite horse. His name was Moses before my Grandpa was bucked off crossing the river. Had he been down stream where the red clay banks tinted the water red, no name change would have been necessary.

 

[Marie Miller]

Two step, a long haired torta cat, never figured out that front and rear should be somewhat coordinated. But she was a very successful hunter. Her sister Tango was a bundle of muscle, steak and a tail as long as her body.

 

[Connie Bennett]

If I know the name I try to keep it, even If I don’t like it. Or I will try to come up with something similar but not as stupid.

One of my horses was named Dude when I got him, and I hate that so I changed his name to Duke. The sounds were pretty much the same so he caught on fast.

The. shelter dogs always have dumb names but Sheldon knew his name so I kept it.

My Pit Bull is a big eater so they were calling her Piglet. She knew the p sound, so I named her Pippa.

Critters born on the farm, didn’t always get named right away. We often let their personalities show out for a while before we decided on a name.

 

[Mary Robi]

The dog I grew up with, which my dad brought back from Japan with him after WWII, was named King Nipponheimer the 1st, Nippy for short. Not in the best of good taste, but that was then and this is now.

The family dog later was Spider. She was a very skinny and long-legged pup when she adopted us and my Mom said, "That dog looks more like a spider!". The name stuck.

We often had guinea pigs and they were always named Ginger and Pepper because that's what my sister insisted on.

My last dog was Marlo, because that's what her name was when we got her.

After that came an orange tabby named, appropriately, "Punkin", and two gerbils called Mary Jane Armstrong and Digger O'Dell.

Last pets in the house were rabbits named Weezil and Beezil. Weezil looked like a weasel. Beezil started out named Beatrix Potter, shortened to Beezus, because she was sold to us as a dwarf female bunny.

When "she" turned out to be neither a dwarf NOR a female, "he" was renamed Beezil, short for Beelzebub, which was highly appropriate.

We never named any of the fish. They were just "that fish" and "that other fish" and quite often "that dead fish".