What is/was your pet named after?

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)
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My old cat was a combination of

and

When we got Holly and Pascal, we agreed that me and my other half could name one cat each, with no judgement on each other’s choice

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Had two guinea pigs named Laurel and Hardy

no idea what they were named after

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Despite being a cat, and female, and not particularly loyal, and not always good natured, and…

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Ernesto (Che Guevara)
Diego (Maradona I guess but I just like the name in general)
Antonio (my then partner’s dad, Antonio)

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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)

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Sorry I think it’s actually laurel and yanny

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Joe Bone would be such a good name for a cool dog

HIs brother was called Roland Bone which I thought was even better as it sounded like a dog rolling around with a bone.

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They’re lovely <3

Gary Garibaldi was like a Gary Cheeseman, Bob Mortimer esque thing. Just to annoy my partner as it was a condition of us getting a cat.

Similarly I was trying to get Mavis for the other one, but that became Maisie as she goes batshit most days, ie Crazy Maisie

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Orlando, cat: dunno, named before my time

Pippa, dog: dunno, named before my time

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

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Think Mavis is one of my favourite names but utterly ruined by Mavis of Corrie.

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Hamster - Ortis Deley

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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.

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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.

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Guinness the goat - cos he’s the same colours as Guinness and cos Mrs casinobay is Irish.

Splash the goat - cos I ended up in the Union Canal about a week before we got him.

Vito the cat and Epic & Raffles the alpacas all had their names before we got them.

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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

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Our rabbits were called Clover and Haystack, after two of the hutch does that escape in Watership Down.

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fun to think of animals having their own last name that’s like none of your business to know about as a human

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