Naming and renaming

[Ember]

First of all, I'm assuming everyone on this board names their bettas.

Just curious if any of you ever rename your betta? For whatever reason........colors change, personality traits become more evident and the name just doesn't fit anymore, etc..
Up until now I've never really second guessed the names I'd given, they seemed to fit all the way through. But for some reason right now I'm wanting to rename two of my guys and feeling guilty about it.

Also, when do you officially settle on a name? Do you try out a few before one sticks, do you give them a name right away, do you wait it out and see what personality the fish exhibits?

I've got 2 new guys to name. I've got a couple of ideas for both of them, guess I'll wait to see their personalities.
If I had a way to post pics, I'd take a poll and have you folks help me name them.

Actually, the names don't even really matter. No one knows (or even asks) about their names but me. It's kind of like our little secret anyway ("our" meaning the fish and me).
I'm starting to feel a little like Mr. Limpit getting lost in my own fishy wonderland.
(Definitely see that move ie you never have. It's a MUST see for every fish fanatic. It's a silly old movie but you'll enjoy if you love your fish).

 

[Synirr]

I LOVE Mr. Limpit!!!!
It used to come on TV all the time when I was a kid.

Anyway... I name all my male bettas after angels/demons, and just go through a list of names saying each one in my head until one seems to fit. I try to avoid re-naming, but I have re-named one betta; my little Mini girl Wuv gave me. I had named him Agares, but then found out "he" was a "she"... so she has been re-named Mini, which works for me, since I was always refering to her as "mini boy" anyway . As you can see in my sig, another small fish Wuv gave me has inherited the name Agares, hehe. I don't usually name the females unless one just really sticks out to me... Mini, for example.

I've also re-named one of my other fish (my midas hybrid) three times. At first I thought it was female, so its name was Marie Antoinette. Then it was the opinion of some on the forum that the fish looked male from its pictures, so it was renamed Antoine. I hate that name, so later it changed to Gabriel........ but then she laid a huge batch of eggs in my tank, so now it's back to Marie Antoinette

 

[mm_simb]

I've named my only betta (for now that is ) after like a month of having him and only because someone else suggested a name for him. Someone suggested a long name which mean red dragon. I looked for names on the net and found one that meant only dragon...so that stuck to him because he was red and is a really nippy little fish. I haven't renamed him though.

 

[red-devil0602]

i normally wait it out and see what personality the fish exhibits?
the fish in my sig are - the red 1 is chilli, the blue is razzle dazzle and the only one i named before i got him was tora the crowntail as it's such a perfect name for a betta

 

[Kiarra]

It usually takes me forever to settle on a name (e.g., the Plakat I bought probably three weeks ago, who still remains nameless). I'm very fussy about these things. There's no general procedure for naming, though. Narcissus got named so because he was completely obsessed with his reflection in my flashlight (but not flaring at it, oddly enough). But Alessandro got his name because I was on an Italian name kick and everybody was getting Italian names that month. And Strife got his name because he's a Plakat, and they're the type most commonly used for fighting.

Once they get the name, though, it sticks. Even if the name isn't deliberate. I started nicknaming one of mine Flop because of a swim bladder problem he has, and it kind of stuck. Now he's officially (and not just unofficially) named Flop.

Most everybody (of the Bettas, anyway...I gave up naming the Guppies because of their endless reproduction, and I don't name anything I can't tell apart) is named, except for the new arrivals and the fry...I'll leave that to their new owners when they find their new homes.

 

[eudielynn]

Naming is a family project at our house. I keep control though. I ask for suggestions, add my own choices and then pick the two or three I like best. Then I let the family vote. That way whatever name they choose is one I like, but I'm letting them think they are part of the process.

 

[50000_tears]

my blind guy was buddy but that was akward so now he is raphael

 

[ladyhawke]

First of all, I'm assuming everyone on this board names their bettas.

Just curious if any of you ever rename your betta? For whatever reason........colors change, personality traits become more evident and the name just doesn't fit anymore, etc..

Whew! Glad I only have 2 right now. Don't know how others on this board come up with all the cool names when they have so many to name! My 2 little guys are named with reference to their color. First boy is named "ghost" because his body is whiteish (with a tiny strip of red, then blue, then back to white on his tail but overall mostly white). Then the second boy's name is "paint". This is because, although his body is whiteish and his fins are pastel blue, there are a couple of spots of red and purple that look like someone got a teeny tiny paintbrush and dabbed on him. The names have stuck.

 

[wrs]

I name them before I get one, and then look for one that fits the description on the fish i want,

Like I want a blue female, peacefull, that would be able to live with my platty, and I already have decided to name it Uganda.

 

[Kiarra]

I have a Ghost, too. He's a cellophane Doubletail. He's so named because I can usually look right at him...and not see him at all. He blends in with the walls.

 

[Ethos]

I name mine usally when I get them. The trick is remember their names 6 months later!

 

[jols]

When I had my first bettas, I named them more off an anime-Sailor Moon...my first 2 I named them kindof after their colors: Sapphire Dream and Maroon Fantasy..Then I had Flame Sniper and Aqua Rhapsody. My very last lil' boy was Indigo Blues....named after the Paris Blues blue jeans I had, but Indigo was more for his coloring. I was also depressed after having lost a few of my original boys, so I was sad naming him too.

My goldfish, I knew what I wanted to name them, I just wanted to see which one should be named what. I wanted 'people' names, like Eddie, Frank, Andy, etc. Sea Biskit The Great, my lil' calico boy, I let my mum name him...she loves horses.

I knew I wanted a female betta named Fatima...the name just sounded cute.

I guess I just know what their names will be...or if not, I wait until one comes to me.

 

[Ember]

Great names everyone! I love hearing the naming methods and stories.

My names are kind of all over the place. I tend to use a lot of literary characters I guess but not always.

My female now is Athena, she's somewhere around 26 months or so. She started off in a 10 gallon with two other females Psyche and Echo (obviously I was in a Greek mythology mood). Athena was the alpha fish to start with. She ended up outliving the other two. I wonder if they were stressed out and I just thought things were ok, just thought that Athena was a little "bossy". Her name definitely ended up fitting her since Athena is a strong warrior goddess.

My first and forever beloved betta boy was named Mu Shu after the dragon in Mulan. He definitely looked like a beautiful blue/green dragon but he had the goofiest personality. He loved to play hide and seek. He'd peek his head out from behind his rock then dart out, figure 8 through the hole then dart back behind it. If I ducked down under the table he'd rush to the glass and try to look down to find me. It was so funny. If I got bored and walked away he'd come out and just mope on the gravel in the front of his aquarium until I walked by again. He was exactly like a dog! He truly made me learn to love these amazing fish! I've been hooked ever since.

Another name that I thought was fitting was Lestat. When I first saw him, I had thought he was dead in the cup but when I picked it up the little betta started thrashing around like crazy then went completely limp again. I couldn't just walk away. Although certain he would die, I rushed him home to put him in some fresh water and betta max.
At first he was the ugliest betta I'd ever seen. He definitely looked dead. He had that greyish white "dead fish look". His eyes even appeared kind of greyish blue (he never exhibited blindness though). There was a reddish pink rim around his eyes too. His tail had rotted to small sword shaped tail which seemed to be blood red. And his dorsal was just a stump. He looked a bit like a shark. He was a ferocious flarer and his gills were a deep blood red. He even scared me when he flared! He really looked vicous. Even my other bettas who were bigger than him didn't seem to like getting into a face to face with him. They'd always turn and run the opposite way.
This fish not only survived but thrived for close to 2 years. His deep red fins grew back beautifully and he started getting a gorgeous emerald opalescent sheen on his body. He ended up being one of my most beautiful bettas ever. Lestat was a perfect name for him. He was the living dead. He was horrifying yet mesmerizingly beautiful at the same time. And he had such a ferocious side to him evident in his flaring and his feeding.

Some other names I've had for my guys are....
Dart - short for D'Artagnon the "4th Musketeer".
Doodle - Short for Yankee Doodle since this fish looked like he would be a red, white, and blue but he's starting to turn purple instead! This is one of the guys I'm in the process of renaming. Ooooo I might have to name him Morph due to his drastic change of appearance.
Ditto - The last 3 guys made up the residents of my betta condo. The D-boys.......Ditto, Dart, and Doodle.
Oberon - He had such a delicate mystical look about him. Silver but he glistened with pinks and blues. He was truly my faery fish. I even decorated his bowl like a faery kingdom.
Pappy - Short for Paprika. A deep red betta that was my kitchen companion
Darth - Gorgeous black crowntail. Kind of crowntail actually. Full almost halfmoon shaped tail that was fringed at the very end but not as spiky as most crowntails I'd seen.
Gene - Short for Aubergene after the beautiful unusual purple color he was. It was definitely an eggplant purple.

 

[SPLiSH]

My little boy is called Jeremiah, because I love that name. I used it once, about a week before I got him, for my english assignment. After typing out that name numerous times, I realised how nice it is.

 

[xanthianacid]

Emerald was my first female betta, but her name changed to She-Devil, because her personality dictated. She tore fins off my Purple Maurader, now my daughters betta (she really wanted him.) He was so named because he was just like the purple maurader from the Poison Elves comics.
butterfly and jazz are my two boys that sit on my desk in the divided tank. Butterfly got his name because he looks like one, flat and multicoloured, and Jazz because nothing else stuck.
Mr Personality, my hubby's betta (he was a valentine's prezzie), because he would so win an award for greatest personality if it were a prize. he lives in a community and plays all the time in the current, stirs other fish but isn't nippy or anything, he's the one who spawned with she-devil in a community tank - no surviving fry of course.
Hannah is my daughter's other betta, just because she insisted. Hes a boy of course. Little emerald is my young emerald dt female. and my youngest son's betta doesn't have a name except fishy. that's what he calls him that's his name I guess (he's almost three so at least he calls him that!) and my middle son has a gorgeous betta in his tank but remains nameless as does all his fish. He's 4. collectively known as his fish.
and the remaining bettas I brought as a girl community in a newly established tank. They are nameless currently. Curiously though, one of the girls we brought a DT ended up being male. he flares, has that extra flap of skin on his gills, hes just really a young thing. It was a score as the shop marks up male bettas.!!!