Chicago! Most beautiful city, most beautiful little kitty.

Chloe got her name became I love the name and it sounds delicate, feminine and she was delicate and tiny when I first met her so it fit. And she's soft spoken but assertive.

Chloe's sister Ursula was a little bossy ball of fluff who first sat up on her hind legs at 4 weeks when I saw her and roared at me and waved her paws in the air. She had no name then, but I thought geez she's like a little bear. Then I thought Ursa Minor - no Ursula. And it stuck, she's Ursula. My little fluffy bear but sexier.

I just started calling him, just anything. I his name began..

Well, he was kind of named for a person, but not a real person. McNulty was named for the character of Jimmy McNulty on the HBO show The Wire, which is my husband's and my favorite show of all time. Appropriately, he is called "Jimmy" part of the time by some people, "McNulty" by others, and even "McNutty" or "Nutty" by a few (Bubbles, a homeless character in the TV show, calls police detective McNulty "McNutty" on a regular basis). And my husband and I mostly just call him "Monkey"

My first dog's name is Cubby. I didnt have a name but all it took was looking at him to realize he looked like a bear cub... so we settled on Cubby. 8 years later came our little Fendi. Mommy is a bit purse obsessed, and Fendi's coloring is the same as the brand's trademark browns... so that's that!

Gadget came with his name and I decided to not change it. Then if you've ever seen the cartoon Inspector Gadget, he had a daughter named Penny. So I named my new cat, Penny. My mom then called her Penelope one day and it stuck too.

I was going to name my 1st cat Patience because I had waited SO LONG to get him. My boyfriend is allergic to animals so I was pet-less for years. Then I decided to look into Sphynxes and I fell in love. Or so I thought. I found a breeder and emailed her every day, waiting for my kitter to be born, then waiting for him to grow up. I bode my time by researching everything and finding the best of everything for my little guy. Then I went to meet him. Oh my God. I fell in true love at first sight. His teeny tiny body sat in my hands on my lap and he stared up at me for who knows how long, as all time had stopped. I felt everything in my body tingle and I knew we were soul mates. I named him Cupid.

Opal came named.

max is a pretty common name for dogs. we chose it because its an easy training name and it just seemed to fit..i like to joke that max is short for maximum overdrive, my favorite stephen king movie w/ AC/DC songs, my favorite band..

Kiko I researched online using baby name meaning websites...I can't find it now but at the time the meaning was very fitting.

Princess on the other hand, I picked out and named before I even got her (**warning -- do not do this...they KNOW what it means!!)

Sadie came with her name, she's the only one I didn't get as a puppy but as a 2-3 year old...not something I would have picked but I love her all the same

It took me forever to name my Stella- I met her @ 2 weeks and didn't pick out her name until she was 6 weeks. I always thought I would name my dog an Irish name (tradition in our family) but she's a black and white lab/pit bull mix and the names just didn't work for me. Also I didn't want any of the traditional black & white names. But she's smart and spunky, like you would imagine a Stella would be. And I love Stella Artois- great beer. Plus Stella means "star" and I like that- she's my little dark star!

A bodhisattva is someone who has reached Nirvana, but choses to stay in the wheel to help others reach Nirvana. Kinda like a Buddhist saint! So thats her name, but we just call her Bodhi.

And Sullivan... The BF wanted to give him a good solid Irish name, not thinking that there is a really popular beach here called Sullivan's Island. Every other dog at the dog park is Sullivan!!

Most people think I named Dolce after the designer, but I really named her that because it means sweet in Italian, and she is a chocolate lab. I also got her when I was planned my big trip to Italy, so I was inspired that way.

His name comes ALL from his personality -- Maximus. He's a tough guy with a heart of gold. His last owner had named him Hershey which I just didn't think fit him AT ALL.

Hahaha well mine isn't that extravagent! My bf calls her kitten and I call her Little and she answers to both haha.

I name my pets after characters in my favorite novels. My dog Ayla is from "Clan of the Cave Bear"...my other dog, Strider, is from "Lord of the Rings".

Oh I love reading all these stories!!!

My childhood golden was Mac Murphy. M A C were my grandmother's initials and everyone in my family has names that start with M. We often called him Macaroni because that was his favorite food--and we just liked Murphy.

Bexley Macintosh was named by my brother and I LOVE his name. Bex came from David Beckham (Becks) and he just spelled it Bex instead and added the ley. It suits him so well--we don't know any other dogs that have the name--I just love it! His middle name is Macintosh because my brother is obsessed with Apple products. He says if he gets another dog it will be Macintosh Bexley but we can never have another Mac, he was one of a kind!

If I get another golden anytime soon I have a bunch of names picked out and I love names from some of my favorite novels and authors (Ernest Hemmingway, Fitzgerald, Holden etc)

My new chocolate Lab puppy's name is Mango Chloe. My boyfriend and I came up with Mango a long time ago for Phish's "The Mango Song." Chloe is what my dad suggested as her name, and I really liked it, so I added it on as her middle name. But my whole family thinks Mango is a "gay" name and they all say they're going to call her Chloe. I say get over it!

my dog is coco as in chanel
and my cats are pusser (like pussycat) and boo.. as in gangsta boo.
random i guess

Right around the time we decided to get a puppy, my husband and I had taken to calling "Shenanigans" on each other a lot whenever we caught each other in little white lies. Then one morning he came bounding into the bedroom like a five year old on a sugar high and woke up me to tell me he had decided that Shenanigans was the perfect name for our pup. When we went to the Humane Society to pick her out, he literally went around to all the puppies asking "Are you Shenanigans?" And the black lab/collie mix we got fits the name perfectly!

And yes, she has LOTS of nicknames, most of which she answers to.

I have two cats, they are called Benson and Hedges, after a cigarette brand.

i love all these stories!
Growing up I loved Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and always wanted pets names BeeBop and Rocksteady (the warthog and rhino punk rock bad guys). Both names are also types of music, and my family is super musical. When we got our puppy he was so spunky the name fit. I changed it to B-Bop, but it's Perfect for him! I love it! I call him Bop, Bopper, Booger. One day we'll get another dog, bot probably won't be rocksteady. Who knows tho!

Mooshi got his name because he was all "HELLO HELLO" at the shelter (mooshi is japanese phone greeting) Oliver is because he is orange like cartoon, and Gypsy because she is so aloof and beautiful.

Other pet names have just manifested on thier own, after behavioral traits, places, people, movies, books.....

Heck i had a nieghbor who named thier dog "dammit" because the thing would get out all the time and thats what it responded to after awhile

We recently rescued a kitten from outside our bushes on Christmas Eve, so we named her Angel because she is our little Christmas angel.

My dogs are named Sara and Megan because they just suited them and they responded well to the names.

my first pet was a kitty named talula because it is my all time favorite girl name, and i know any future kid of mine would hate me for naming then it, so its now just my cat's name.
Midas's name is because his paw gets darker when he's stressed out. The vet verified it. He has a stress paw. "the midas touch".

Linus is because basset hounds have french origins and his ears are like Linus's blanket in Peanuts.

Tsuki was harder to name. We had a lot of Japanese words picked out b/c she's a Shiba Inu. We settled on Tsuki no Hikari (moon beam) but we call her Tsuki for short. She likes it.

I was reading a book about Che Guevara when I got Cuba. Then one of my friends said he HAD to have a last name so I gave him Guevara. My biggest pet peeve is when people say like the actor and I say no as in the country.

My dog Iris is a sato ('street dog') from Puerto Rico. A local construction worker found her mother and a litter of puppies in a garden behind a construction site. They contacted the local animal shelter and the woman there named all of the puppies after flowers in the garden. I got her in a shelter in MA that has a partnership with the shelter in PR. She and her sister Wisteria were there, but Iris totally caught my eye. I decided to keep the name because the story was so great.

My other dog Spirit is a Shih Tzu and was a show dog called Windsor's Ashkay's Catch the Spirit. It doesn't really describe him that well, but he was almost two when we got him and we thought it wouldn't be nice to change it. These days we call him Floor Spirit cuz he just lays on the floor all day.

About four months ago, after much searching, my fiance and I finally found the breed of dog we'd been looking for, a Shiba Inu. Well, as luck would have it, after not even being able to find ONE, we stumbled upon two of them at a petstore (not where I intended to get them from, but oh well) and my FI wouldn't let me go home with just one while the other, his brother, stayed in a cage.

After deciding to get them, we came home, bought all of their stuff and got online to research Japanese dog names since Shibas are Japanese hunting dogs and are traditionally given Japanese names. When I found "Yoshi",which means "good" or "quiet" I immediately knew that I'd choose it for my puppy's name. FI saw "Ryu", which means "dragon", and picked it because his puppy was a reddish color (aka sesame).

Well, the boys are now 6 months old, and Yoshi is NEVER quiet, but a good listener. And Ryu is really shy until he gets comfortable. We've been calling them "baby ryu" and "baby yoshi", or "foxy lettuce" (like the Foxy brand of veggies since Ryu looks like a fox) and "Noshi" or "Babaganoosh".

My cat was a present from an ex-boyfriend (best thing to come out of that relationship) and he (the cat, not my ex) came with the name Sassafras. It really suits him & I thought the name was cute, so I've never had a problem with not being able to pick out the name myself.

When I got my dog, I tried every cute female name I could think of for the first 2 days. And I started to realize they were all names that I'd name a daughter, if I ever had one...Then my brother called & suggested Miga. She is named in honor of our friend who we lost on 9/11... he had a blonde cocker spaniel just like mine growing up named Miga

i named my adorable mutt dollar. he looks just like the dog in the richie rich comic book! minus the dollar signs.

Storm, speaks for itself... she is a lot calmer now but she was crazy. LOL!

Madison came with her name.

Colby Jack - because he is orange like the cheese

We have two Miniature Dachshunds so of course we decided to go with German names. Our first boy is named Otto Von Weinerschitzel Lerma. Our second doxie was a rescue. They had already named him Captain Morgan so all we did was add on the German part. His full name is now Captain Morgan Von Schlafmutze Lerma. Schlafmutze means "sleepyhead" in German.

These are awesome stories!

We had the hardest time coming up with a name for our puppy. Then a friend told me she always names her dogs after the city she gets them in. While that wasn't going to work, as the puppy was born in the county, we liked the idea. Duncan is a Boykin Spaniel, a breed that originated in South Carolina. So I got on the internet and found a list of cities in SC and my husband and I both loved Duncan, but we had a back up in case it didn't fit him. Lucky for us Duncan has been a good fit.

I was pretty much obsessed with the show Meet the Barkers, I think Travis Barker is insanely sexy. So my cat is Travis, haha, everyone says it's a horrible name, but I can't see him as anything else!

We named our tiny fireball of a Pomeranian "Moxie". It suits his personality completely.

I had names in mind for both of my cats before I got them. I've always been a bit of a bibliophile, and one of my favorite literary characters is the Artful Dodger, from Oliver Twist. My first cat, Dodger, is named for him, and the name suits him perfectly. He is a crafty troublesome guy, but he is also pretty lovable.

My second cat, Scout, I adopted from Dodger's vet. At the vet they had named her litter after the Jackson siblings, Janet, Tito La Toya. I went in knowing that I wanted a girl tabby or calico kitten and that I wanted to name her Scout. I hung out with both La Toya and Janet, trying to figure out who was spunky enough to hang with Dodger and get the awesome name of Scout. I settled on La Toya because she was pretty chill, but also a little gutsy. For the first week I wasn't sure Scout was going to stick, and my friend suggested I might change it to Harper, but she seemed to like it pretty well.

My animals have their names for different reasons.

Tippy: Black dog, white tip on her tail

Maggot (Maggie): My mother thinks she is hilarious and decided to name him Maggot because his mother's name is Fly. Groan.

Dallas: Originally named Valentina but it sounded too much like Peanut, one of my dogs that died in a car accident in March.

Tootsie: Named by my Grandmother I'm assuming because of her personality which is sparkling.

Nikki: Named after Nikki Taylor by me when I was in second grade. Fab would be so proud!

I forgot about why we call her Dallas. She came from Texas.

I've been a figure skater most of my life and always wanted to name my cat Zamboni. After my husband and I got married and when we went to the Humane Society to get our kittens, we fell in love with a little black kitten, who was quite large and aggressive for his age. So Zamboni fit him perfectly. The other kitten we chose (little orange furball) was a tad harder because I wanted to keep his name skating themed and couldn't think of anything. Finally, we settled on Wylie after my fave skater ever, Paul Wylie. It ended up really suiting him because he was very playful, smart, and curious, sort of like Wile E. Coyote. Both names were perfect. Sadly, Wylie died a few years ago, but Zamboni is still the kitty love of my life and the sweetest (and still large) guy ever.

Tyler - not named after anyone in particular, but still a person's name.

I named my pupster Herschel Irving. When I adopted him from a local animal shelter he came with the name Benji but seriously that didn't work for a Bichon Frise. So on my way over to my Mom's house to introduce her to my new pup, I had a feeling something magical would happen.

When we watched Days of Our Lives in the 80s Calliope Jones and Eugene had a benji looking dog that they named Herschel and I thought "what a stupid name for a benji looking dog" so the name hit and stuck. The Irving came from my Great Uncle who didn't like dogs and called his dog Pepe but always added Dammnit so the poor dog thought his name was Pepe Dammit. The tradition in Judaism is to name a baby after a family member who has passed. So in honor of my Uncle and Calliope and Eugene, my new puppy became... Herschel Irving.

And it is perfect.

I didn't plan to have a dog so when I've rescued Polka, I just couldn't find a name during 2 days!!
Some friends told me it was a "P" year for dogs so I've tried to find something.. But nothing.
The 2nd day, I've spend all day long with her. She was running all over the house, jumping around... And as my boyfriend is a musician he told me: "she looks like she's dancing a POLKA" (which is a very speedy dance!)....
And so, we named her POLKA!

I named my dog Howard because it seemed like at times it could be a serious, adult name and yet gentle and fun-loving at the same time. In a couple weeks Howard is getting a brother, Henry. I have a problem with H-names I guess.

My kitten's name is Ziggy - short for Zigamus. My aunt captured a stray kitten out of a brood she was feeding and my Lithuanian grandmother kept him for a few days before I got him. Apparently my great great grandfather's name was Zigamus, so I guess he got to keep his namesake!

My dog Rudy is a doxie that was named after the main character in the movie Rudy. My hubby had him before we got married.

I adopted my cat Ace from Rudy's vet office. My husband is a huge Kiss fan and at the time did not like cats. He allowed me to get "Ace" but grumbled about it. I decided to name him Ace after Ace Frehley so that my hubby couldn't help but like him. He's a very mischevious orange and white kitty. And Guess What??? My hubby loves him, although he will never admit it.

We named our newest kitten Velcro - because she sticks to EVERYTHING. We adopted her from a local group but we werent looking to add a (fourth!) cat. She was adorable - she refused to be calm unless she was wrapped around my neck or on my boyfriend's shoulders!

Our dog Jack got his name because we couldnt pick between Jack or Butters, and Jack just ended up sticking, though Butters would have been more suitable to his ADD personality. Everyone else (Chloe, Lucy, and Serena) just got their names because they were tossed in a hat and chosen at random! Lucy almost became Tai (after a dragonrider in Anne McCaffrey's "The Skies of Pern") but I'm glad Lucy stuck.

My cat's name is Jimi Hendrix. He picked the name himself. I started yelling out random names at him until he responded to one of them.

We have two cats. A pain in the butt tabby whom we thought was a boy at first but my husband insisted on naming "her" Stimpy. He loved the Ren and Stimpy cartoon growing up. Fortunate enough for Stimpy, we found out he was a boy at his first check up and the name suits him just fine. Our other cat Moxie, lives up to his name too. It took a week to find out what to name him. We found him outside on a very cold day (in Ohio, VERY cold is 12 degrees, and it was about that) and he has so much life and spirit and love we had to fight to find a name that suits him. Now hes a warm kitty that sleeps on my pillow with me every night. We shouldve named him "omg we love this cat too much" because we do.

We have two animals, a dog named Miko and a cat named Hemingway. When I got Miko, I couldn't think of a name for her. So, my dad started looking through the section at the back of the TV Guide that lists a short description of movies playing on tv that week. When he said "Miko" it seemed perfect. I didn't know it was the raccoon from "Pocahontas" until a couple years later when I told somebody her name and they said, "Oh - like the raccoon on Pochantas." I felt like saying no because naming my dog after a character from Pocahontas seemed dumb, but I guess that's what I inadvertently did!

Our cat was named Hemingway when we got him. He had belonged to our friends who named him Hemingway because he is a polydactyl cat (more toes than normal on each foot) and Ernest Hemingway had a lot of those kinds of cats. They are apparently also called Hemingway cats sometimes.

Both animals have lots of nicknames, though. Miko, Mikey, Mikey-moo. Hemingway, Hem, Squeak, Squeaky, Squeakers. Hemingway is only referred to as Hemingway when my husband and I talk about him to other people. Otherwise, we call him Squeak because he doesn't meow - he squeaks. And he squeaks ALL THE TIME.