Fig is, insufferable as I am, that bit about paralysis of choice and having an existential crisis in the Bell Jar.
“…I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn’t make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.”
Some previous ones:
Scooby (named before I was born so I take no responsibility)
Joe. Just thought it was a nice name for a cool dog but then I started going out with a guy at the same time who was called Joe Bone which was an even better name for a cool dog but it was my boyfriend.
All my rats were named after Scandinavian protagonists or gods (Troels, Theis, Ukko, Torben)
Ah I always think about what a cool name Blaise Pascal had! (also the accidental inventor of the roulette wheel as part of his pursuit to create a perpetual motion machine iirc)
Rocket, cat: originally called Gizmo (terrible name imho) but he raced everywhere at top speed which I termed “rocketing”, thus the name
Minstrel, cat: Rocket’s mum, maybe named so since she was black and white? I really hope not though … but she had the name when we got her and she was a bit old/already unsettled, so we didn’t want to change it
Cooper, cat: originally called Copper (wrong colour, he was more sandy), but me and mum had been watching Twin Peaks when we got him and felt it would be an easy change and fitting tribute to the big man
When I was a kid we had Mr and Mrs Malone (dunno what they’re named after, no chance it would be the poem), they were rabbits. Mr Malone died and my dad told me it was because Mrs Malone ate him as that’s what female rabbits do to males. Thanks dad.
We were going to call our new pup Duggee (after our boys favourite cartoon dog) bit then he arrived with these beautiful asymmetrical eyes and he was immediately a Bowie.
My wife was unconvinced until she independently found out the day he arrived was also David Bowie’s birthday.
My last dog was called Alfie, named for Alfred Hitchcock (were living in Leytonstone which really goes in hard on the local connection to him).
My first naming experience was getting two fish when I was 6 and calling them burger and chips.
one of mum’s oldest friends used to have a cat called Banana Eric , who would jump onto their shoulders from the top of cabinets if they tried to do the washing up. Sounds like a legend