Why did you name your pet that?????

Cherokee was originally named Dizzy, but since she was abused and neglected by the people who named her that, we wanted to change it. She was my sister's dog for a while, and she named her Shenandoah, but that was so awkward that my sister always called her Doah, so I started calling her DoDo Bird and Dopey. My sister got tired of that after a bit, and changed her name to Cherokee. We're part Cherokee (like 1/16th or something..), and my sister is quite proud of that, so yeah... By the time Cherokee became mine, she'd been Cherokee for a few years, and I wasn't about to change her name.
 
Nicknames:
 
Cheriokee (like karaoke)
Cheerio
Cherky-Jerky
Pupster
Puppy wuppster
geddup (she is ALWAYS laying right where you're trying to walk lol) []
Cap'n graybeard
el freako
etc.

Maggie was the name the breeder person gave her, and it stuck. We were going to name her Ester, but we kept calling her Maggie.
But, she also responds to
Precious
Puppy
Dog
Meegee
The mutt
Babies
and other random things we call her.

Basil got his name because he had to be a proper English gentleman. (it's pronounced bazzle, not bayzill like the spice!)

Nicknames: Bazz, Bazz the Spazz, Spazz, Kiddo, Fatso, Shredder, Ripley, Bubs, Free-ranger, Bad-zill, Good-zill (for when it actually happens LOL), PupPup, Senorito, and a million others XD.

Of our current crop of dogs - Billy is actually Bilbo the Adventurer, which altho he does answer to Bilbo , "Billy" is the preferred (and he just plain IS a 'Billy').  But Billy the
Venturin' english cocker spanYELL is just SOOOOOOOOOOOOO him.  Two days after we brought him home (he was about 6 then) I found him out in the laundry building on the TOP of the 8 foot shelves.  HOw?  dunno, but he is definitely adventurous and with those big furry feets he's a Hobbit for sure.  But he's a zillion names from My Boy, to "mommy's boy" to "Kid" to "Mr. Perfect" and many others.
 
Luna is Lunabella as she came to us (and we thot and still think it's a stupid name).   Luna COULD be short for "lunatic" -- and that fits so we kept that much of it.  But I call her Luna, Belle, Bean, Ms. Luna, Ms. Tunes (Lunny tunes??) and when she howls I call her Maria Callas.
 
Kee Shu was probably Kishu before she came to us.  She had a brother Mishu (I wanna Kisshu and I'm gonna Misshu??  gag me with a 2X4!!!).  No way could my husband figure out how to call "Kiss shu" out the door.  So we just spell it Kee Shu and call her "Kee" most of the time.  I also call her Miss Kee and she likes that.  She also likes Sweet Pea. 
 
There was some serious abuse there before we got her.  She isn't trusting of people but she has such a sweet little spirit -- to have lived thru all she went thru ands till stayed 'sweet' is pretty wonderful.

Chyna was named when I got her.
We call her Chyna, Chyna Poo, Poo Dog, Poodle, P-Doodle, & most of the time it#%92s just Poo
 
Bevo is named after the mascot of the University of Texas. My fiancé graduated for UT and bleeds burnt orange and white.
He goes by Bevo, Bevy, Beaver, my annoying shadow (after I trip over him when I come out of the bathroom) , Buddy, & usually Buda.
 
Brinxx came home and barked at everything, So we decided that she was our own home security system. She is a bit spastic so we call her a few different things.. Brinxie, Binxer, Usually we call to her in a high pitched voice Binxer, Binxer, Binxer!!
 
Shooter came home on the run. He shoots all over the house and yard, and never slows from a run unless he is sleeping.
He answers to Shooter, Shooty, Shoey, Shoe, and Worm.

My Border Collies have pretty traditional people names - June, Bree, and Nick. My mutt is Ginger, and Pap is Zippy. Nick is the only one I've named, and I was looking through his sire and dam's pedigrees and that name popped out to me. Well, it was either Nick or Rip, and I decided on Nick. Suits him too. June, Ginger, and Zippy came with their names, and DH named Bree (a spinoff of the name of my main char. in our favorite MMORPG, but also a traditional BC name).

Oddly enough, though Benito was not my kitten originally, but my upstairs neighbors, I was the one who named him and it was for Melville's novella, Benito Cerino. I believe the titular character is Spanish in the story, but Benito is also Italian (though not as popular since Mussolini).  Iggy came to us as an 8 year old cat with that name, but we Italianize it for him to fit in. Iggito.  Then we inherited Ernie, but re-christened him Ernesto.
 
We had just come back from Italy when we heard an acquaintance had a pup she'd found abandoned in a park and could not keep.  She was looking for the right home for him and someone suggested us and several others agreed we'd be ideal. So she interviewed us and we met him and fell in love - he was only 8 weeks old.  We toyed with a few Italian place names and Giacomo, but suddenly my DH hit on naming him for my maternal grandparent's hometown.  Pofi (rhymes with Sophie) is a little walled, medieval village in Lazio region of Italy.
 
Here's the town:

 
Mia was adopted from a rescue org and had the name Meeka.  We changed it over the first week of having her, settling on Mia because it is Italian, was close and also for Mia Hamm, US Women's Soccer star.  We called her Mia-Meeka, which sounds a lot like the Italian for "my girl friend" (mia amica) and it's also appropriate because she's a bratty little sister and thinks everything is "mine". 
 
Pofi, Po, Po-po, puppy Po.
Mia, la Mia, Mia-pia.
Benito, Benny, Benny-toes, Ben-Ben.
Iggy, Ig-Ig, Iggito, lamby-cat, Grey.
Ernesto, 'Nesto, Ernio, Nernie.

Tootsie because its cute and it fits.
_Baby Roo
-Tootsie Roo
-Roo Roo
-Toots

We wanted to name our pup something that had to do with BIG EARS. So in Spanish, "oder" means to hear. We shortened it to Odie. Now, long after the fact, we've begun to notice how similar Odie is to the Odie dog in the Garfield comics, so I guess it was meant to be!
 
Nicknames:
Odie, Odie Pup, Puppy, Monty, Fitzgerald, Odesysus, Squishy. (My boyfriend is crazy and is always making up nicknames! [sm=lol.gif]  )

We got Loki first, and when we first brought him home, he was a whirlwind of energy and naughtiness, so we went looking online for names and came across a mythological names website. We thought it was a cool idea and checked the site out. Loki is the Norse god of mischeif, so we had to pick it for him. It has suited him incredibly well!!
 
We brought Julius home and thought it would be neat to stick with the mythological/historical theme, so we picked out Julius (Julius Caesar) since he came into our house all of 8" tall and acted like he owned the place. It definitely fits him!
 
Kleio (our cat) is also names after a  mythological female (not a really well-known one) who was married to a warrior and had to stay home when he went to war and fight off suitors....I think that's how the story went....I could be wrong.
 
But those are the stories behind their names! []

Shadow already had his name when we got him. But my name for him is Pretty Boy, because he is.
 
 

I try to find different names for my dogs, since I hear the 'regular' names soo often at my work....

Shag - my Dad named her for the 'Shaggy dog stories' he grew up with. She goes by Shaggy and Shag-butt.

Dragon - She was one when we first brought her home! It just was ment to be! She also goes by Drag and Drag'n-Butt.

Stella - she came named by her breeder and has never had a nick-name except for "The Princess".

Spirit - He was a ball of energy when I got him and so proud of himself! He goes by Squirt and Squirrel (don't ask.... )

Pepper - She came named by her breeder. We mostly call her Pep.

Aspen - She came in the fall, when all of the leaves were turning colors. I was watching her play in our aspen grove and the name Aspen stuck! Her nick-name is Rat, Rat-dog, or fuzz-ball.

Jeep - We went thru a bunch of names, but none really stuck. Most of his dad's side are named after fancy, expencive cars - his dad is Ferrari, uncle is Jag, Aunt is Rolls Royce, ect. So, since we could never afford such cars, we called him Jeep and it stuck! He also goes by Jeeper, Jeepster, and Jeep-dog.

Fish - We were visiting the Oregon coast and the litter came almost a week earlier the the ultrasound said it would. We were sitting in the car waiting for a rain storm to pass so we could go for a walk on the beach when she made her appearance! The name 'Fish' just suits her! (She also adores water!) She mostly goes by Fishy or Fish-face.

Ash - He is named due to his color - he is a blue merle. He goes by Asher, Ashes, Ash-man, or just plain Monster!

My husband and I both just like the name Louise. A long, long time ago we made a list of baby names we liked and Louise was on it. But I don't think either of us actually wants babies, so we use the names on our pets instead. We call her "Ouiser" like the Steel Magnolias character or Weetzie like the Francesca Lia Block character sometimes. We named our cat Robin Stone after the main character from The Love Machine because it is fun to imagine him as a Jacqueline Susann character. I clearly enjoy camp.

The first dog I ever named was my mom's Bichon. Her name is Lucy after a character in a Tori Amos song. It's very embarassing. But not as embarassing as naming my hamster Mark after Tori Amos's husband. Mark met an early demise at the hands of my friend's German Shepherd, Wolfie.

Snyder Ubriaco -- (my avatar) He is named for former hockey player, Dan Snyder. Dan played for the Chicago Wolves AHL hockey team, we were season ticket holders and the Wolves hold monthly adopt-a-dog nights and that's where we adopted our little boy. Dan actually knew that we had named our dog after him. Unfortunately when our puppy was 6-months-old, the real Dan Snyder was killed in a car accident. Sad, sad story. His middle name is for the Asst. General Manager of the Wolves Gene Ubriaco.
Nicknames: Snydes, Wiggle-butt
 
Benni Irish-- (pictured below) My hubby & I went to another Chicago Wolves adopt-a-dog night looking to adopt a brother for our Snyder and to name him Simon. He would be named after Ben Simon (current Syracuse Crunch player) and a dear friend of Dan Snyder's. Well... a little blue-eyed freckled girl came running up to me, put her paws on my chest and kissed my nose -- I was in love! So, we named her Benni, and gave her the middle name of Irish since Ben Simon played for Notre Dame.
Nicknames: Ben-Ben; Benjamin (when in trouble); Little Girl (she's 115 lbs!)

SnoStar, I have a horse named Jeep and it never fails to make people laugh at me! I suppose its more worthy of teasing when the animal is a mode of transportation, so to speak. It's good to know there are other furry Jeeps in the world.

Kyan - I remember seeing the Queer Eye show and one of the main characters is named Kyan. I promised myself that my first son would be named that... I just loved the name - it had very little to do with the show itself. When I met my puppy, it became very obvious that HE was mommy's kid and nobody else's, so I had to keep my word. I love his name and to this day nobody has made the connection to the TV show.

Nicknames - Ky, Ky-enne (when he's looking particularly pretty.. lol), Star-feet (when he stretches it looks like he has little black stars for paws), Monkey (if you saw what he can climb and jump onto you'd understand), Honey, Black, Partner, and Kid. My boyfriend (the person he loves 2nd most in all the world) deemed him "Monkey-Head" which I'm embarrassed to admit, I can't help but use from time to time.


I like this post. I feel less humiliated now... You're all crazy nicknamers! [sm=lol.gif]