Pet Names

[Nutriaitch]

I may have acquired a pet rabbit (female)
and wife and I are discussing potential names.

so how does everyone decide upon names?
any themes to your pet names?
just random?

all of our pet mammals have names related to LSU sports figures that have won National Championships at LSU.

Dogs:
(RIP) Wally (Wally Pontiff - 2000 National Championship Baseball Team)
Mikie (Mikie Mahtook - 2009 National Championship Baseball Team)
Flynn (Matt Flynn - 2007 National Championship Football team)

Cats:
Mouton (Lyle Mouton - 1991 National Championship Baseball Team)
Morgan (Tre' Morgan - 2023 National Championship Baseball Team)

Rabbit - Name still Pending
Mulkey (Kim Milky - Head Coach 2023 National Championship Women's Basketball Team)


non-Mammals names

Ball Python
Ragnar (Ragnar Lothbrok - Vikings TV series ; Killed in a Snake Pit)

Tarantula
Chew Rouge (Cajun French for "Red Butt" except a different word for Butt ; because he is a Mexican Red Rump Tarantula)

[Homebody]

I don't use common human names. When I'm talking about my pet I want it to be clear that I'm talking about an animal. Otherwise, it can be awkward. If you heard me say that I took Billy to the park. You'd assume I was talking about a person, probably a child. If I said we played frisbee, you'd think that's perfectly normal. If I then said that he chased a squirrel, you might start to question your original assumption. You might not reject it completely, but you'd begin to doubt it. If I then said that he pissed on every mailbox on the way home, your initial shock would give way to a relieved laugh as you finally realized that Billy is a dog. Better to avoid this type of misunderstanding and just give your pet a name no one would name their kid.

My current snake is named Wiggles after the Australian children's program because he's an Australian Children's python. My only other snake was a BP. I named him Fonzie after the Happy Days character because he was also very cool. I suppose Fonzie is technically a human name, but no one would name their kid that anymore.

Or you could make a game of it. When we named our guinea pig, we spent a week writing potential names on a white board. At the end of the week, we'd vote. The top vote getters would advance to the next round until we finally settled on a the name Chewy. If it's a family pet, that's a good way to get everyone invested in it's care.

So, definitely not random.

[Bogertophis]

There's so many ways to name pets...it's really up to the owner. Many like to use favorite book or movie character names, or wait until an animal shows more personality, name them accordingly. You can use a name dictionary- with most of my snakes, I figure "exotic pets" should have exotic names, so I've looked up names with relevant meanings- I prefer to give pets names that won't be confused with human names (not that snakes "come when you call them", haha). And then there's all the other somewhat frivolous pet names like "popcorn" or "pickles", etc. Almost endless possibilities.

My dogs have always been "second hand" (nearly all from shelters & always adults of varying ages) so if they came with a name they knew, I don't change it without good reason. A good reason would be like a brown ("red") Doberman I once had- she'd been terribly abused by her previous owner & the law took her from him, so in her case, I totally changed her name so as not to remind her of her past. She became "Murphy" (Brown, like the sit-com); she soon learned it & would wiggle from nose to tail when I lovingly said her name. She was sweet & I could do anything I wanted with her, but she never warmed up to men (due to her awful past) so I always had to muzzle her for the vet- I couldn't blame her one bit. My current 2 dogs don't fit the names they came with (IMO) but I kept their names as I had no good reason to change them.