What's In A Name?

[RandomWiktor]

The topic where people were posting the names of their pets really sparked my interest, as some of the critters had very unique names. So, I thought I'd make a topic where you could explain how each of your pets got his or her name. Was your dog a rescue who came from the shelter with that name? Did your daughter name the family rabbit? Did some physical or behavioral trait about your parakeet earn it its calling? Post here, and feel free to use both past and present pets.

I'll post mine later when I have the time.
Edit: The list. Only doing current pets, because past has too many to even think of.
Morgan (Cairn Terrier) - Named by my sister, who was really into horses at the time.
Leo (Cat) - Rescued from being trampled at a cattle auction, he was named after a steer rescued as a downer at the same auction.
Charlie (Ferret) - Named after a very peppy, energetic kitten at the same shelter we adopted him form.
Darwin (Rabbit) - Born with hugely oversized brow arches, making him look like a cave man or "missing link."
Brindam (Rabbit) - Had a funny brindle-patterned coat as a baby.
Anja, Tosha, Nadja, Lucia (Mice) - Named after women who died in the Holocaust from the book Maus.
Leucos (mouse) - Luec- tends to relate to white. The mouse is an albino.
Moreau (mouse) - Is overweight and white like Dr. Moreau from the book/movie.
Krelli (hen) - Named after a raven in a book as she is black.
Alejandro (hen) - Named after the neighbor's kid who gave her to me.
Widget (gerbil) - Named after a kitten with a seizure disorder, and because I was looking for a name similar to "Gidget," my chinchilla with a seizure disorder, as the gerbil also has seizures.
Auhlae (gerbil) - Named after a wolf at an RPG due to her similar coloration.
Pretty Bird (Amazon Parrot) - Rescue; came with the name.
Aspen (conure) - Green, wanted to name him after something plant-related.
Velveeta (parakeet) - Yellow like a big 'ol block of cheese.
Sigma and Theto (parakeets) - Math names, though theta was masculinized for him.
Jesus (finch) - Miracle bird who survived the death of his parents, pnemonia, rickets, mauling, etc.
Grizraz (goldfish) - Used to be grey, named after a grey cat in the book "Tailchaser's Song" (is now orange and white )
Tangaloor Firefins (goldfish) - White with orange fins. Named after another TCS character, Tangaloor Firefoot.
Reebum (chinese algae eater) - Named after a frog in TCS due to his colors and eyes.
Pitaya (Betta) - Named after a red Texas wildflower, as she is red and from Synirr out in texas.
Shyboy (Betta) - Spooked so easy that he almost starved to death in the pet store as he'd panic and bury himself in gravel during feeding time.
Kedamono (Betta) - Named after a webcomic character who was stupid and impulsive, as I bought him impulsively.
Innoby (Betta) - Innocent Bystander. Almost died of columnaris in a pet store as no one bought him after 3 weeks in a crappy, dirty cup.
Jeff Klee (betta) - Named after two friends with self mutilation problems, as he tail-bites.
Matamoras (betta) - From PA and named after a city here.
Clarence (betta) - Nearly fought to the death in Petco by some @$$hole kids. Named after a dog rescued from a pitbull fighting operation.
Shokora (betta) - Chocolate brown, and named "chocolate" in Japanese.
Rosalinda (tarantula) - Chilean Rosehair; chose a name that sounded spanish and related to her coloration.

 

[prankster705]

Well my tarantula got it's name from thinking it over and over and I yust couldn't think anythink better than Matilda

 

[WILDER]

Kitty and tasmin were from my husband parents farm, though they all have been neautered now can't spell that word, kitty was meant to be kitty kat, but she got called kitty, tasmin was meant to be tamzin, but got turned into tasmin, we had to take her to the vets as she had a bad eye, though they removed it so she a one eyed cat, bless her, edward adopted from next door they split up long story.

 

[rdd1952]

As I just finished posting on the other mentioned thread, our cat Minus got his name because when we first got thim he acted so dumb that the kids said he was minus a brain. The name just stuck. He is now 14 years old so he must have had some brains to him though. No real story behind the dog's name (Trixie).

 

[Bloo]

My cat Shaka - because he's pure black - I'm South African and King Shaka was a South African (black) Zulu warrior. I wanted to call him Nelson, but my mom wouldn't let me

Bit ironic as he's such a big baby and makes the name of a warrior a bit of a mockery.

 

[-cAtFiSh-]

My first pet Ella was a rabbit. i was like four at the time so cant remember where the name came from.
Same with Dennis my guinea pig, i had him at the same time.

Then i had some hermit crabs, one was Claude and the other was Nelson. I think my parents came up with those.

I had a dog Ruby, she was a ridgeback. had to give her away though because she was too much work . dont know where the name came from.

Now i have two dogs, Monty and Scotty and a Budgie, Twitty.

Not sure where Monty came from, we thought we were so clever when we thought of it though. turns out its a very common name.

Twitty was originally Tweety because i am so creative but when i taught it to him, he pronounced it Twitty. so that stuck.

And Scotty. we didnt come up with that because we kinda inherited him off someone because they couldnt affored to look after him anymore. too expensive for them. so his previous owner got the name Scotty from "scot no legs" because he has short stumpy legs

and thats my story

 

[Kiarra]

Riley (Australian Shepherd mix dog) - Naming pets is always a fight at my house. My mom wanted to call him Charlie, but we negotiated and ended up calling him Riley, which we heard randomly and both agreed on.
KitKat (cat) - Another name fight. We got her when I was 10 or so. It amused us to name her after a candy bar.
Charlie (cat) - Since I wouldn't let her name the dog Charlie, my mom named the new kitten we got two months later that.
Tommy (cat) - He's a tomcat.
Molly (cat) - We had another big name fight over this cat. We started out calling her Lucy, but I HATED it. It didn't suit her. My mom wanted to call her Shasta after that (after a tiger/lion hybrid born to Hogle Zoo, who currently resides there as a stuffed critter), but it just didn't suit her, either. My dad came up with Molly, and it seemed a reasonable compromise. I call her Molly Blue, because of her blue eyes. She answers to both Molly AND Blue these days.
Cali (cat) - She's a calico. Well, actually a tortie tabby, but close enough.
Cricket (Campbell's Russian Dwarf Hamster) - I had trouble coming up with a name for her. But, when I threw some crickets into her cage for her and watched her promptly bounce around and chase them...I started calling HER Cricket, and it kind of stuck.
Wicket (Campbell's Russian Dwarf Hamster, recently deceased) - Named after one of the Ewoks from Star Wars. It just fit.
Trinket (Campbell's Russian Dwarf Hamster) - With her perfect and truly lovely coloring, she just looked like a precious little toy.
Kiev Rus (Winter White Russian Dwarf Hamster) - Named after the formerly Russian city. I wanted to name him after a Russian city, and I chose Kiev Rus instead of Moscow.
Luna (Winter White Russian Dwarf Hamster) - When I met Luna, she was in her winter coat, all white except for the darker ears, dorsal stripe, and hints of side arches. In her own way, the coloring kind of reminded me of the moon, all white with gray markings, so she ended up with the name Luna.
Tucker (Campbell's Russian Dwarf Hamster, recently deceased) - It rhymes with what I called him when he bit me.
Cole (Campbell's Russian Dwarf Hamster, recently deceased) - He was black as coal, and once I made the comparison, the name stuck.
Hannah (Campbell's Russian Dwarf Hamster) - When she was 3 weeks old, she was just the cutest little thing. Hannah was the name I always thought of when I thought of her, and it kind of stuck. I call her Hannah Bug.
Lily (Campbell's Russian Dwarf Hamster) - Her coloration is a red-eyed lilac. I didn't want to call her Lilac, but Lily was close and pretty.
Lara (Campbell's Russian Dwarf/Winter White Russian Dwarf hybrid) - I let my boyfriend name her. That's what he came up with.
Terra (Campbell's Russian Dwarf/Winter White Russian Dwarf hybrid) - I was stuck when it came to names for her. But I liked the name Terra, and it related to her mother's name, Trinket, by the shared T. So it worked for her.
Lightning (Campbell's Russian Dwarf Hamster, recently deceased) - She was black, with white mottling in strange streaks that looked like bolts of lightning.
Lexa (Campble's Russian Dwarf Hamster, recently deceased) - Feminized version of Lex Luthor, plus I thought it was a pretty name. Most people who met her were convinced she was evil. Very bitey, formerly neglected hamster. She and I got along just fine during the time I had her before she died.
Gidget (Syrian hamster) - I saw Gidget my first day of work, at the infirmary in the petstore I work at. I felt bad for her, the little one-eyed hamster who had been in the infirmary for a month after a fight with another hamster. She was shy, skittish, but never, ever bitey. She went home with me the second day, after work. Gidget just seemed to suit her, injury and all.

(Note: so many recently deceased hamsters due to an epidemic that swept through my hamster population. I lost 7 in total, despite efforts to quarantine, isolate, and treat.)

Edit: I forgot the horses!
Casey (Mustang) - Yet another name fight. My mom wanted to name him something...exotic. But everything she came up with was unworkable, and she couldn't get anyone else to agree with her. My dad and I vetoed her, and started calling him Casey because he was so timid we joked that he was afraid of his own shadow (Casey's Shadow).
Ryssa (Mustang) - My horse, gotten when I was 14. I named her Ryssa because it sounded dainty, elegant, and feminine, just like I found her to be.
Shiloh (Mustang) - One of only a couple name fights my mother has ever won. I managed to talk her out of several things I found to be truly horrible at the time, but I couldn't dissuade her out of calling the horse Shiloh.
Abigail Rose (Mustang) - My mother mostly let me name her. She was 6 months old when we got her, and very cute and dainty. I chose Abigail for her, but we call her Abby. My mother added the Rose part to it.
Nikki (Mustang) - We didn't expect this horse to live when we got her. She was VERY sick. We needed something to call her, and she would nicker and call to us every time we went out to see her, so we started calling her Nikki. It stuck.