What are your pets' names, and how did they get them?

We have a cavapoo named Rosie. We got her at age 12 weeks from a family that had already named her. My husband wanted to call her Allegra, but my sons and I couldn’t stop laughing at the thought of calling this little sweetie such a “glam” name, so Rosie she stayed.

Our dog’s name is completely overdetermined. We adopted her from the SPCA in Ithaca during a 24-hour college visit to Cornell. Her name was Lady, which we hated. We settled on Penelope – Penny for short – both for Odysseus’ wife, the queen of Ithaca, and for the luminous groupie in Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous – Penny Lane – about whom, in the movie’s last scene, you learn her birth name was Lady Goodman.

Our cat was the kitten of a barn cat in a horse stable. To form a pair with the dog, we gave her a fancy Greek name connected to her origin with a plain Anglo-Saxon nickname. So, Hippolyta, the Amazon horse queen, and Polly for short.

Recently, a rabbit named Twinkie, a goldfish named Treasure, (both deceased) and a cat named Timmy–he was tiny when we got him, so, Tiny Tim? Sometimes H calls him “Mr. Pretty Paws”(gag). He’s part Tabby/part Siamese, very handsome (blue eyes), but kinda mean.
We’ve had a bunch of outdoor/stray cats that adopted us: Walter Mitty, (white paws, H said “Mittens”–I thought that was overused) Aunt Bea, Chester,( left behind when previous owners moved. Chester moved, but found his way back twice–about 6 miles, across a highway, so then we kept him). Macula (“Spot” in Latin–black cat), Bobby (no tail), Sojourner (stayed awhile), and Hermione (kids were Harry Potter fans).
My kids “adopt” neighbors’ pets and re-name them–so we have a part-time, huge fluffy black cat whose real name is Fur Bag–we named it “Behemoth” after the character in the Russian novel/movie The Master and Margarita (sounds like “beggy-mote” in Russian). I’d just seen the movie when the cat showed up and reminded me of the character (the character is evil, the neighbor’s cat is friendly). In the past we had a neighbor’s poodle, Baby that the kids named Curly, and their black lab we called “Pooper” (can’t remember his real name), a cat named Marcy that we called “Cinnamon Tiger” and another we called “Princess Tippy” (white tipped tail). Last two names by H, again. Imagine my H talking to “Mr. Pretty Paws,” “Cinnamon Tiger,” and “Princess Tippy” in a high voice–ridiculous and kinda creepy.

My sister has had a few cats–the first one her H named “Little Sh*t”, which became “LS” then Ellis, and then Ellie when they realized it was a girl. Now they have a Neo, Gimli, and Eowyn.

LOL @atomom Great post.