Pet names

I believe that, for the most part, most of us tend to name our pets according to the personality that we perceive in them. Although, your question made me chuckle as I remember what a holy terror my mom's cat was. (She had named him Hitler)

I think that the names you give your pets come from something you see in their personality. For example, I have a dog named Scuba who is a springer spaniel mix. When I first got the pup I was into scuba diving and when the scruffy 8 week old puppy dragged my scuba gear into the living room, I knew exactly what to name her. And it so happened that she really loves water and swimming. Norman, who is a ridgeback mix was given his name because, as a pup, he would just storm through the house and sometimes even miss the doggie door opening because he was in such a hurry, thus Stormin Norman came about. My dog Toby, who I found half starved, with a broken leg, got his name because of a Toby Keith song that was playing on the radio at the time. I was so afraid that the little guy wouldn't make it through that first night, I named him Toby Keith, who is a big strong man, hoping the pup would have enough strenth to pull through. Little did I know the young pup would soon develop a tough pup attitude much like the real Toby Keith. And last but not least, my blue healer mix, Keiko was named for the killer whale that was used in the movie Free Willie. I first brought the pup home from the humane society and this little black and white dog started doing back flips off the couch. It reminded me of a killer whale breaching out of the water, not to mention that the inside of her mouth was pink and black and full of sharp teeth just like a killer whale. OUCH!! Pets should have interesting names because if your pets are anything like mine, they are interesting creatures (sometimes a little too interesting)

I've never heard that about pets, but I have about people. When one of my cousins was born, her parents wanted to name her Hattie. Everyone in the family was telling them no, because if she turned out to be fat, she would be "Fatty Hattie" or something similar. Well, the decided that everyone in their part of the family was stick thin so it was okay. Her sister has always been supermodel thin, but Hattie... well, she lived up to her name unfortunately. That's cute about the guinea pig named Mr. Cuddles though. I volunteer at a guinea pig rescue and a lot of people name them Mr. Cuddles it seems. A big red and white pig stands out in my mind whenever I hear that name though. You should adopt a friend for him, guinea pigs do best in pairs. Check out Petfinder for a rescue near you. Back to the subject of names... I don't think my pets became their names. My 13 year old rabbit came with the name Sunny. And I named my younger rabbit when I found her, I named her Floppy because even on the day I caught her, the only reason I could get her is because she flops over all the time. So she lives up to her name still because even as I right this, she is flopped out on the floor. She is so funny. And then my guinea pigs ended up with people names, Quin because she is snobby like Daria's sister on that show. And Dakota just because I like the name. But they're foster guinea pigs and will probably be adopted soon since they are so friendly.

I don't know about the names affecting the animal's behavior, since animals don't speak english and don't really know the meaning of their names past "when I hear that word, I should pay attention". I think though, that the name does affect how people view the pet. If your dog has a name that is very silly, people are more likely to pick out the silly things it does and associate them with the pet. A dog named Fluffy is going to be percieved differently than a dog named Killer, even if they act exactly the same. My cat is named Murgatroyd (as in "Heavens to...") and my dog is named Franklin (after the county his shelter was in). the cat has a wierd, kind of silly name, but he's really laid-back, but hardly ever silly (unless catnip is involved). And Franklin sounds a bit proper, I suppose, and that fits him at times, but he can be a big goof when he is playing, so I guess their names are sort of fitting, but I didn't really see them "grow into" the names after I got them.

my cats names are esme and yzma. the name esme came from a movie i liked in the 70's that had a snake named esme. yzma is the villainess in the disney movie 'the emperors new groove'. their names really have no bearing on their personality since they ignore everyone anyways.

I don't think that an animal's name affects it in any way. I've named my pets some very weird names. I had some birds named Spicy (his feathers were like salt and pepper), Kermit (he was green), and Toes (that's what I felt when he sat on me). My cat's name is Sunny (he's orange like the setting sun). I had a gerbil that I named Blackie; not very original seeing that he was black. I guess I just call them like I see them.

I think people read too much into that. Pets can't really grow into anything on purpose unless they know the langauge. That's what I think, anyway.