Baby Name vs. Pet Name (vent/opinions?)

SissyKate21

I keep hearing a lot of people discouraged by the fact that the name they want to give to their offspring has been bestowed upon a four-legged fur-baby.

As a personal preference, I only name my pets peculiar non-human names. Part of the reason is because it is odd...okay, that's the main reason. But part of the reason is because I don't want to use up a "person" name on a pet. Of course, I've been known to have peculiar pets, too.

The Hedgehog was named Bellus Erecius (or something like that) because it means "beautiful hedgehog" in some combination of obsure languages.

The Iguana was named Drakkina Salto because that meant "leaping dragon" in another obscure combination of languages.

The Kitty is named T.K....for "The Kitty".

See what I mean? No children names.

 

An acquaintance came to me the other day and said it was really weird for him knowing my DH (Ben) and I (Sarah). Because his two Golden Retrievers are named Ben and Sarah. Thanks, dude.

 

What do you think about this topic? Are you being discouraged by your favorite name being used for a friend's pet? Or better yet - did you get the name idea because of a friend's pet?

FutureMrs.Steen

My uncle has a cat named Sarah and I named my daughter Sarah! I just love the name and it had nothing to do with his cat. I wonder if it's weird for him...

I have a cat named Lily and I'm glad that she is named that because it's one more name I get to cross off the list. Our next cat will be named Jack because DH won't consider it for a child so I said that if we adopt a male cat, that's his name! lol I love human names for animals.

SissyKate21

FutureMrs.Steen:

My uncle has a cat named Sarah and I named my daughter Sarah! I just love the name and it had nothing to do with his cat. I wonder if it's weird for him...

I have a cat named Lily and I'm glad that she is named that because it's one more name I get to cross off the list. Our next cat will be named Jack because DH won't consider it for a child so I said that if we adopt a male cat, that's his name! lol I love human names for animals.

Your uncle had a pet named Sarah and it didn't stop you from naming your daughter Sarah - excellent!

Personally, if I like a name, I'm going to use it.

Good for you!

kristinem17

I hear ya' and agree, somewhat.  Of all the pets I or my family have had over the years, we have never given any of them a name that could be used as a person's first name...  it just seems weird to me to give human names to animals.  The first cat I had in the early 90's I named Easton, as that is the city where I was born - of course now I see it pop up on some baby name lists.  My second cat I named Washington, as that is the city where I grew up.  I can see both of those names being a last name, but not a first name.  The baby names I like, to my knowledge, are not used as a name for an animal. 

mlf625

We gave all our pets people names- Henry, Griffin, Ralph, and George. ?I'm just not into cutesy pet names.

FutureMrs.Steen

mlf625:

We gave all our pets people names- Henry, Griffin, Ralph, and George.  I'm just not into cutesy pet names.

That's awesome! My friend has a cat named Vincent. It cracks me up every time she talks about him. 

SissyKate21

mlf625:

We gave all our pets people names- Henry, Griffin, Ralph, and George.  I'm just not into cutesy pet names.

Good point. I could see myself naming my pet Henry or Ralph. But that's because I wouldn't name my child those names. Not because they're bad names or anything like that...just because they aren't "on my list".

gjkhjr01

Our last name is Hills, so I named our pug Beverly. There's no way I'd name my kid "Beverly Hills", but it's cute on a puppy.

FutureMrs.Steen

gjkhjr01:

Our last name is Hills, so I named our pug Beverly. There's no way I'd name my kid "Beverly Hills", but it's cute on a puppy.

LOL that's so funny!

wheelenl

I think this is mostly a case where people like us, who obviously are into names more than the average person, are overthinking things too much.

I don't have any pets, but the ones I've had always had human names. Well, except for Butterball, my hamster.

If that's going to stop someone from naming their child that, then that's not my fault. 

We have as many dogs named Lily as we do little girls on our street, two of each species.

JustSadie

My name is Sadie, and growing up all I ever heard when I met new people was, "My uncle's sister's best friend's niece has a dog named Sadie!" I hated it when I was younger, but now have just learned to roll my eyes. Haha.  That said, most of my favorite baby names are common dog names:

Lucy
Molly
Ruby
Maggie

If this baby is a girl, she will be Lucy - which is my best friend's cat's name, but I seriously came up with the name on my own and didn't even make the connection until later.

My cat's name is Lola.  It's a name I love, but personally consider it a little too eccentric (or celebrity-ish) to name a child. 

ubermoose

Even when I was a toddler naming pets, I generally gave them real names. It's easy to get tired of Muffin, and cute things like "Chairman Meow" stop being funny afte a week. To me, my pets were always good friends, and as such, I liked to give them names that seemed fitting for a friend to have.

That being said, I think I'm a lot less restrictive on names for pets than I am on names for people. When considering baby names, I want something that's versatile, that's not too trendy, that's not too out there, that doesn't have any overwhelming associations to other figures, that works with our last name, etc. For a pet, though, I'm a lot more likely to borrow names from favorite entertainers or books, or pick something that I simply think is cute.

I've seen the name we've picked for a girl, Molly, is fairly common as a pet name. It really doesn't bother me. To me, that doesn't mean it's unsuitable for a real person... it just means some people thought it sounded cool for their pet. By the same token, I hope all the parents of Jacks and Chases out there don't get upset that that's what I call my kitties.

Harms80

I really liked the names Lucy and Abigail and those have both recently been used as pet names.  So, yep, I'm discouraged from using them.  It doesn't help that both owners compare their pet ownership to my pregnancy and the birth of my LO.  They are over-the-top about their pets being their kids and it drives me crazy.

vannakay

Hmm.. Our pets are Spencer Lee-Dog, Deuce Davis-Dog, Arrie Jane-Cat and Dexter Paul-Cat

And yes our pets have middle names, We are really big animal people and It wasnt planned... It just came in time of having them.

Megan55

What a fun post!! I guess my pets have had a mix of human and pet names, but mostly they have been human names! When I was younger I named my puppy Gabe becaues it was my favorite name, and now I can't use it for my baby. My neighbors have a cat named Lily, and dogs named Lucy and Jackson. I loved the name Jackson for a boy, but after remembering the dog, I nixed it right away. Also the fact that it is very popular right now helped me let go of it.

sestock17

We gave our pets names that we wouldn't consider for our children.  They are, for the most part, common names though.  Our cats are Madison and Ivy and our dogs are Piper and Dewey.  I see that Piper is making a comeback and Madison is pretty popular name. 

Naming your pet is the same as naming your children, it is nobody elses business.

EastCoastBride

In general, human names for pets is almost boring. But for some reason, my friend named her cat Steve. Steve the cat just cracks me up.

BelleIsa

The dog I had growing up was Freckles (that's what you get for letting a six-year-old name a dog), and now my dog is Guinness.

I wouldn't be discouraged to name my child a name that's on the Top 10 Dog Names of 2010, for example.  

anna7602

My mother vetoed our using Xiomara for a DD because it was her pet bunny's name when she was a kid.

In general, I like more off-the-wall names for pets (our dog growing up was Taco, because he was a Yorkshire Terrier and looked like a little Taco) and DH and I have already picked out some fun literary reference-type names for our future dog.

GulfCoaster

I have a cat named Callie (short for Calico)... so it's always a little weird when I see posters on here including that name on their girls' name list.

MrsAngel2008

3 of our 5 cats have "human" names, and my parents' cat is Sophie, which I liked for a girl until so many friends/coworkers chose that name. DH named his girl cat Sonja before we met...too bad, 'cause I kind of like that name too for a little girl.

I worked in a veterinary practice for 2.5 years, and there are some names that will always be dog names to me now--notably Molly, Maggie, Maya, and Bailey. There's no way I could name a kid any of those. I did notice that female dogs & cats were much more likely to get "human" names than the boys were.

FullersGirl

I like giving my pets people names.  I think it's funny. 

But... there were a few names my husband liked that I said, "NO" to because they sounded more like pet names to me.  Max... Sadie... and a few others.  I don't know if I'd heard of a pet named those names or if they just didn't sound as good for a human as they did for a pet.

lilygirl

mlf625:

We gave all our pets people names- Henry, Griffin, Ralph, and George.  I'm just not into cutesy pet names.

This. Our dog is Lily but some of our best friends are still considering using the name for their daugher.  Doesn't bother them, doesn't bother us.

I'd use a name regardless of it was a dog name, i.e., we like Charlie and I feel like several people have told us they know a dog with that name. Oh well.

AggieDee

I always name pets with people names but people names that I would never use for a child of my own.  i.e. Milton, Lucy, Cassie Lee, Morgan, Toby, Oliver

MrsLilyE

All of my pets have human names... most of them aren't things you'd use for a baby, but I do have a kitty named Audrey, which is getting pretty popular right now. It was a little wierd when a friend of mine IRL named her baby girl "Audrey," but I recognize that it was a human name first. (Also, my friend lives in another state and is unlikely to ever meet my cat.) 

I think basically as long as I'm not giving my child the same name as my pet (now or in the past), it's not a big deal.

Actually we sort of have reverse plans for our future dog.... a big name in my family is "George." I don't love the name all that much really, but I'd always kind of planned to name a son after my dad/brother/grandpa/and so on, using my maiden name as a middle name. (It would actually work well as a first name, and I may still do that at some point.) Well wouldn't you know, I met DH, we got married... his last name is Harrison. I'm sorry, but I'm not naming my child after a Beatle, even if I do love George. So our next dog will be George. 

queenbone

I hope people don't consider me to be part of the problem.  I like old man names for pets.  I apologize to all those who were hoping to name their baby son Mortimer.

DNK777

One of the names I liked was Sadie, but DH had a dog named Sadie, so he said no.  I don't think it would discourage me from using a name unless it was a name of one of my pets or DH's pets.  I don't see anything wrong for naming pets people names either though.  I prefer them over Fluffy or something of that nature.  My dogs are Murphy, Harley, Kiya, and Skizzy.