The breeder of my dog gave him the name Timber vom Uckersee (Timber of Ucker lake). Yes, he was considered a noble because the breeder made sure to keep the blood line clean and that the dog showed all the features that defines this particular breed.
The Ucker lake is a lake nearby. The dog was part of the 20th litter of the breeder that’s why all the offspring got names starting with a t, the 20th letter of the alphabet.

We usually called our dog just Timmi (or Timmy for English speakers). He was a cocker spaniel with red fur and lived to an age of 14.5 years. A good age for that breed (13-15 years life expectancy). Unfortunately we had to put him down. He had a disease that reduced the blood’s ability to transport oxygen. By the time we discovered it all his inner organs were too damaged for him to continue living without serious disabilities.

Now that I remember him I feel sad that I lost him.

My partner named our cat Lana because he wanted to be able to scream “LAANAAA!” like Archer

This is an amazing thread to collect answers to people’s security questions, thanks!

And what happens to be the story behind your mother’s maiden name?

We have two guinea pigs.

Very often, guinea pigs are named after food. Our two rescues came with food names. However, everything eats guinea pigs and I feel it’s wrong to name them after food. We changed their names.

We named them after two characters from Downton Abbey: Daisy and Rose. Plants are the only living things that fear guinea pigs, so they are nice, powerful names for them.

Daisy in the background, Rose in front.

She’s a skittish, posh, and skinny as hell greyhound. We live in Seattle. So…Maris.

We don’t have pets but our neighbour has two cats and they are the bane of my existence. Yowling at the door even though we’ve never fed the little bastards, and scaring the birds away as they like to shake the branches of our tree.

As a result, we call the grey one “that little shit”, and the dotted one “that little cunt”. The names have stuck in our household, and we have to watch ourselves when we trade pleasantries with the neighbours.

While trying to come up with a name for our previous cat I kept getting shot down by my wife. “Nah…nah…” One day we were walking through the supermarket and she asked again and I facetiously looked around and saw a sign in the produce section and said, “How about Kiwi?” We both realized that we liked it. lol

When he was a tiny stray kitten, he ran under a shed to hide from me. He thought he was safe but his back feet were still sticking out. I grabbed him by his toes and now his name is Toes.

Cora, she is a white cat with a black heart shapped mark on her side, if was male the name would be Corazon(One Piece)

Our naming convention was comic strip characters, hence Hobbes, Casper, and Quincy.

I always choose based on personality, or let them choose for themselves if they’re especially chatty.

Some examples:

• Screech, male cat, got him after weaning and the only things he could vocalise were variations of screeches. So, Screech. Also worked well with the fact that he had a full black coat, so you’d always hear him first.

• Mimi, female cat. Found by one of my former coworkers next to an apartment building stairway, asked her what she’d like to be called. She said: “meeee…” in the cutest, squeakiest way imaginable. I asked and what else. “Meeee…” again, so that was that. She ended up earning it, she was exuberantly inquisitive and playful.

• Maia, female cat. It was the most feminine name to also have a sort of benevolent but tired aristocratic aloofness. She was always bothered by your unrequested presence, always complaining with a bored chain smoker’s croon of “mmmmaaawwwww…” She also obsessively groomed every living thing she had in her proximity, including a chicken (the only one dumb enough to not run away) and a hamster.

• Lord, male dog. He was fucking majestic, looked like a miniature lion with black, white and copper stripes (about as large as a Golden Retriever). And he owned that name, always lording over the place. Ironically, got poisoned by an envious neighbor (I’m serious).

• Ralph, the (happy) exception, male dog. So, this guy, had been my brother since I turned 10. First time I met him, he was slobbering. And he was a German Shepherd / Alsacian mix, these guys don’t usually drool a lot afaik. But my guy was dripping. So, naturally, I wanted to call him Spit. I mean… naturally! Luckily, mum intervened with this one and declared him Ralph, because it was the friendliest* German name she could think of at the time. And he wore it well, he was always vivacious, but calculated.

I wonder if this makes sense to anybody else? We have a black and white, German Wirehaired Pointer. His full name is: Spruce Creek Livewire Ace of Spades. We call him Lemmy.

In december last year I had to put down my 15y/o dog, named Santino. He was a little stupid and couldn’t keep still, so I named him after the guy from The Godfather (a bit grim I know). I also have two cats, a three color grump called Hollie (named after Billie Holiday) and a tuxedo lovable fuzzball called Louie (named after Louie Armstrong).

Edit: Oh, I almost forgot. I also had a kitten (who died of complications from being weaned off too early) called Curie.