I recently told a friend that at some point in the future I hoped to have a dog. Her immediate question was ‘what will you call it?’ This took me by surprise a bit – most people ask ‘what sort?’ I realised that I usually name my pets after meeting them – sometimes within a few hours, more often it has taken me days to come up with something I like and that I think fits their personality or behaviour. The only time I didn’t do this was with Riley (the current cat) who was briefly called Pumpkin.
The reasons for this are/were many:
It is a term of endearment I sometimes use
It was Autumn, not much after Halloween when I first met him
He was sort of orange (ginger) in places
I call the end of the work day ‘pumpkin time’, as in make like a pumpkin and get the heck out of Dodge (to mix Cinderella with the wild west…)
But after having him for a couple of days I went off the idea. It was too cute a name for a cat clearly full of mischief. I needed something a bit more cool, more edgy. Ideas, suggestions, rejections and eventually Riley was settled on. And it really suits him.
Back to my friend. I also know she had her dog’s name picked out ages before she actually got him. But it really suits him too though. So which is it? Does the personality dictate the name or does the name dictate the personality?
What are the best names for pets you have heard? How did you decide on yours?
With pets on my mind I made a couple of really quick and simple cards using Serif CraftArtist and Born to Shop Pets digikit.
Photos are a bit gloomy because it looks like the end of days outside at the moment.
PaperPuff 
Love the cards the layout is so pretty with the background paper. My dog George was named by his previous owner but he suits it.
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Thank you so much. George is a great name, however it came about!
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What a great card – that kit is just fab for animal lovers (with very apt greetings!) We called one of our cats Misty because she’s a grey/cream /white tabby, and Lula our cream, well, I’ve no idea why we called her that!
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Sounds like you meet first, name later too then?! Both are lovely names. by the way.
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Love the cards.
I once had a dog named “Girlfriend” she was my walking partner. Everyone had their comments about her name by she just sat and looked at them with her..can we go look!
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That is a BRILLIANT name for a dog! All those things you can shout out and then stick the word Girlfriend on the end which would just make them hilarious. ‘Stop sniffing that dog, girlfriend’ comes to mind first, but there could be so many, many more!
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Amazing cards! Our first cat was Bart as we were Simpsons fans, the second was Ozzy (after Ozzy Osbourne) as he was all black and had a Halloween birthday.
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Both great names!
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Sossage – for no other reason than it suits her and after nearly 3 months she appears to be starting to respond to it – provided the word ‘food’ is called out within one second of shouting ‘Sossage’.
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There are men like that too…..
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I really like your card! My middle son’s middle name is Riley – I picked that kind of at random; it goes well with his first name, Ethan. We have 2 dogs – Moose, who was named by his previous owner, and Lily, named after Lily of the Valley, which were blooming when we went to pick her up from the shelter. Our cat began life as Laffy Taffy, went to a home and was renamed (I can’t remember that name just now), and then came to us. He responded to “Dude” really well, so I named him Jeffrey Lebowski after Jeff Bridge’s character in The Big Lebowski.
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I think Americans choose the coolest names. The idea of shouting ‘Moose’ really loudly on random occasions amuses me no end. Even if you didn’t choose it yourself, it’s a great name! Jeffrey Lebowski is fab too. Now I think every pet should have two names. I’ll have to give it some thought for my furry pal.
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The post and your responses had me laughing again. Your cards are fantastic! Our Australian Shepherd was named Olive by the breeder. The kids wanted to keep her name, however I wanted to continue the “x” theme we have with the kids. I noticed she has strip of white hair in the middle of all her black hair near her side. So she became Rogue (X-men) Olive. It fits, she does her own thing and sucks the the energy out of us.
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Thanks! Again, Americans, with the coolest names for pets. It sounds gladiatorial, I think. Also, can I just say it is so nice you are back and blogging again!
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Oh thank you so much for saying that about the blogging.
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Your cards are so cute! The attitudes of the cats definitely remind me of our Lola (especially the top card!)
Oh and one of my English cats (lives back home in England with my brother) is called Pumpkin. Actually, it’s a nickname. His real name is Woody (he had it when we got him and his sister, Belle, from a shelter), but he’s so orange and round (with fluff) that I started calling him Pumpkin! 🙂
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Thank you so much! I have to say, mine is more pumpkin-shaped now that he is older! Woody and Belle are lovely names too. So nice that you have been able to give rescue cats a lovely home 🙂
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Great cards. Flo x
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Thanks!
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Love the Cards….fun and full of cat-ittude. 🙂
Naming pets we’ve done a bit of both, naming prior or waited to see what would suit….we’ve had JD for a poodle (he walked like a friend after drinking a bit of Jack), Gizmo for a cat that was certainly on the Gremlin side of life more times than not as a kitten…she kept us on our toes! Oh, and Rum & Coke for two budgies…another cat was Rasputin, who was a Siamese X and very, very chatty with a huge attitude problem when you didn’t pay attention. Seems we forgot at times we were HIS humans.
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Our cat is Kye. He was rescued and came with the name, not one I’d have chosen but he suits it.
My favourite way of choosing a name was my friend’s son. They had 3 names picked out, thinking when they actually met him they’d know which was right for him, but they didn’t. When he fell asleep, they wrote the names on paper airplanes and raced them. He was called after the winner
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It’s nice you kept the name he was used to. It makes me think he is kind of nonchalant?! Love the aerobatic name decider concept. Might use this model next time I vote….
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He tries to be nonchalant, but although he’s a huge cat he’s a wimp and the number of times I’ve watched next door’s cat who is half kye’s size chase him off, he fails at nonchalant
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Aww, so cute!
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