How did you get your pets/and name them

[OLumeVaSti]

I had Spleen since she was born. The name, well she farts a lot and there is a character from Mystery Men who's superpower is deadly farts.

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[dashesndots]

We named our pit bull Ripley after Ellen Ripley from the Alien series.  The name just seemed perfect when we were talking about it one night, big nerds that we are LOL

Ripley was free.  She was from an accidental litter; the dogs belonged to a good friend of one of my husband's coworkers.  We went to see the puppies when they were 6 weeks old and they were adorable.  There was only 1 girl available (out of 10) and since my heart was really set on a girl, we chose her.  I remember distinctly watching her and her siblings playing with a toy; she was a bit smaller so one of the males just went up and took it from her.  The look she gave me was priceless, like "Mom!!! They took my toy!!!"

Here is a recent picture.  I did not realize she had a big hair stuck to her nose LOL.   
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We like to joke that we must have had some foresight when we named her, because she sure does enjoy "Rip"ping toys into shreds!

[Moony]

I'll just tell you about my kitties
Beebles - Found him as a kitten on craigslist. The people were getting rid of him because they had small children that were allergic. They also said he got sick when eating people food.... uh duh haha! His original name was Neko, then Baby, then Beebs,  and finally Beebles

Teddy - rescued him from a Siamese rescue group. His name was originally Wasabi... so lame! We named him Teddy because he is super soft like a teddy bear. We also call him Teddlies.

Poofy & Stripey - our set of brother kitties. One of my mom's friends were fostering the pair. They are both siamese mixes but only Poofy looks like a siamese. Stripey is a grey tabby with blue eyes. I loved the name Oliver for Poofy but my mom didn't like it Finally we just named them based on their physical description. Poofy is long haired and he was a poof ball as a kitten. Stripey... is well striped xD

Punkin' - Another craigslist kitty. He is an orange and white tabby. When my mom replied to the ad she found out it was one of my college friends families cat! He was named Pumpkin because he is orange He is from Detroit so we named him Punkin'. My parents like to call him Kitty from the D.

Bane - This is my baby!!! A few months after I started working for the vet clinic I work at the shelter we work with brought in this little baby. Again he is a siamese mix. He's a blue point color His name was Nova. It took about two weeks to pick a name for him. My brother and I had seen Batman recently and I just loved the character Bane. He was both good and evil. It took a little convincing to get my mom to agree to the name. I call him Baney Boo most of the time

[Bekuno]

We have a labradoodle named Suzy Q because she is black with a white stripe on her chest, much like the Suzy Q snack cakes

[SeashellnBubbles]

My Irish Wolfhound, Freya, had passed away, leaving my boxer X Mumford all alone. Mumford didn't take it well and began tearing up the carpet, even 6 months later. It was the May long weekend, and I was looking at the Toronto Humane Society's webpage and scrolling though the available dogs when this hideous, grizzled mutt's mug caught my eye. He had one ear up, one down, the flash had made his eyes red, his lower teeth were jutting out of his jaw and were mossy and crooked like old tombstones. He looked to be a miniature schnauzer cross, and I instantly decided to drive the hour and 1/2 to see him.
When I got to the shelter, I told the staff at the front desk that I wanted to see "Wilson" They told me he was old. I said, "I know". Then they said his teeth were awful and that he'd need dental work done. "I know." They said they think he may have bit one of the kennel staff, but they weren't sure. I said that I wanted to see him anyway. They shook their heads and called for "Wilson" to be brought into the introduction room.
When he came into the room he hesitated at the door and cocked his leg right there on the doorjamb! I howled with laughter and he came over o me with his tail wagging. The staff worker said that was the first time they'd seen his tail wag the entire time he'd been there....so it looked like "Wilson" found himself a new home. They estimated his age at somewhere between 9-12 years.
It took a few days to name him....all I could think of when I thought of "Wilson" was that stupid volleyball from the movie "Castaway", but honestly, none of the names I threw at him got any response at all from him. Nothing! Mumford thought he was great, though, and stopped tearing up the carpet, so at least we had that. The third day I had him I decided to bring him and Mumford to the dog park for inspiration. After we'd been there for an hour or so, 2 huge Newfoundland dogs came up and started licking him all over. I said "Oh, god, you look disgusting!! You're covered in Schmutz!" He wagged his tail. "Schmutz?" He wagged his tail again. "You've GOT to be kidding me."
Schmutz means "Dirt" or "Gross stuff" in Hebrew.
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[Scooterbec122]

I have three dogs and two guinea pigs.  One of my guinea pigs is named Millie.  I work in a nursing home and one of my first patients I had we called Millie for a nickname. The name stuck with me. The other guinea pigs name is Maya and my husband named her.  As for my dogs I have Riley, Yosef. And Koda.   Riley is a German Shepard and lab mix. I named Riley because I always liked that name for a girl and so when I got my baby girl I named her Riley ( though I also nicked named her mama, not sure why). Yosef, a German Shepard x collie, was a rescue and I drove 8 hours to get him out of a shelter. He was on borrowed time, but because I adopted him two other dogs got to live we were originally going to name him Apollo, but he wouldn't answer to it. So my husband, who was going to Appalachian State University at the time, suggested the name Yosef, the mascot for the school and it stuck. He also goes by YoYo which is fitting because he likes to bounce.  His middle name is Marie which he also seems to like   . My other dog is a Rottweiler , chow and Australian Shepard mix. He is fluffy and I named him Koda off of brother bear.     

[hathorcat]

A bit of both. Harry, the dog, was named Harry because...well he just looked like a Harry I had planned to call him Henry, Thomas, TJ, James or Thatcher. But upon opening the door, coming home from work after my mum and brother had driven half the country to collect him, I took one look at him and just went "Hi Harry". I have no idea where it came from and never planned the name so I guess he just was a Harry all along. Oddly this is also what happened with the puppy Maggie - she was supposed to be Pebbles [because Harrys nickname is Bam Bam], Daphne or Penelope. This time I picked her up and drove her the 5 hours home; by the time we reached home she was Maggie...because she just looked like a Maggie [and I dont admit it was partially because I love Maggie from Walking Dead ]

The cat, Luna, is named because of her appearance. She is black and has eyes which are disproportionate to the size of her head. So they were like big moons staring at you...she therefore was named Luna.

And Max, the parrot, kind of came with his name. Due to his species we got him when he was a good 6 months and those raising them had unimaginatively just called him Mac - he is a macaw and all the macaws they raised were called Mac...Mac the Macaw [creative, right?]. However they are a super smart creature and we could not simply rename him to something different, therefore Mac became Max - which is actually easier for him to pronounce anyway.

[Elisto]

We've had 7 cats since I was born: 3 strays, one feral-turned-house-cat, one adopted rescue, and one kitten from a neighbor, and all the ones who've since died lived pretty long, healthy lives. The only one that didn't live long was a former stray who was injured before we got him, and that eventually caught up with him; he still lived to be 7 though.

As for naming, we're all over the place.

The one rescue we adopted had been named Nicky for 5 years before that, so we kept the name,
Chloe was just a random name that we saw on the credits of a TV show and liked,
Pooh was named that because he smelled bad, and then our second cat at that time was named Winnie to match,
Snowy because he was white (and one of the most gorgeous cats I've ever seen...sleek, long-hair, and gigantic),
Bright Eyes (our former feral) was named by my mom (no pony reference!) because he's dark brown/black, and at night all you can see is his eyes,
and Tobi was named after Tobias from Animorphs, but really just because we liked that name. Shockingly, we found Tobi's original owners who dumped him, and they had named him Toby as well (but after Toby Keith)! Tobi's had the most health/behavior problems, but he's about 22 years old now!

[Gloomygirl777]

I have a black dragon kitty named Gypsy. Me and my husband adopted her from the animal shelter when we lived in VA. At the time we got her we had another cat named Maverick (who now lives outside at a family members house because he decided he wanted to start peeing in the house).....but anyway that is kind of where she got her name......I thought since he had such an awesome loner/traveler name I wanted to pick out something equally cool for my other kitty. So Gypsy was named.

[Hervoyel]

My dogs and rabbits have always come from shelters as adults, so all of them came named (although my rabbits did have names that evolved over time, their original names were always the official ones on their paperwork). 

That said, we did change the name of our most recent dog, but that was because he'd been shelter-named, so he didn't have a long history with the name he had when we first met him.

[hathorcat]

My Irish Wolfhound, Freya, had passed away, leaving my boxer X Mumford all alone. Mumford didn't take it well and began tearing up the carpet, even 6 months later. It was the May long weekend, and I was looking at the Toronto Humane Society's webpage and scrolling though the available dogs when this hideous, grizzled mutt's mug caught my eye. He had one ear up, one down, the flash had made his eyes red, his lower teeth were jutting out of his jaw and were mossy and crooked like old tombstones. He looked to be a miniature schnauzer cross, and I instantly decided to drive the hour and 1/2 to see him.
When I got to the shelter, I told the staff at the front desk that I wanted to see "Wilson" They told me he was old. I said, "I know". Then they said his teeth were awful and that he'd need dental work done. "I know." They said they think he may have bit one of the kennel staff, but they weren't sure. I said that I wanted to see him anyway. They shook their heads and called for "Wilson" to be brought into the introduction room.
When he came into the room he hesitated at the door and cocked his leg right there on the doorjamb! I howled with laughter and he came over o me with his tail wagging. The staff worker said that was the first time they'd seen his tail wag the entire time he'd been there....so it looked like "Wilson" found himself a new home. They estimated his age at somewhere between 9-12 years.
It took a few days to name him....all I could think of when I thought of "Wilson" was that stupid volleyball from the movie "Castaway", but honestly, none of the names I threw at him got any response at all from him. Nothing! Mumford thought he was great, though, and stopped tearing up the carpet, so at least we had that. The third day I had him I decided to bring him and Mumford to the dog park for inspiration. After we'd been there for an hour or so, 2 huge Newfoundland dogs came up and started licking him all over. I said "Oh, god, you look disgusting!! You're covered in Schmutz!" He wagged his tail. "Schmutz?" He wagged his tail again. "You've GOT to be kidding me."
Schmutz mean "Dirt" or "Gross stuff" in Hebrew.
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I just want to This is an awesome story.

[HavACrumpet452]

I got my cat, Sunny, when I was 5. My older sister was getting a cat and my mom made the not-so-wise decision of bringing me with. He was orange so like any child I named him a stereotypical name, Sunny. I always liked the Easter song Sunny the Bunny too so that was his theme song. He lived for 15 years.
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I just lost Autumn this past fall. I got her when I was 14 and finally my stepdad agreed I could have a dog. I would have gotten a cocker spaniel from a shelter but my mom wanted me to get a puppy. It was hard to find a pup that fit their picky standards and not several hundred dollars which I would never get my parents to agree to. Then I saw an ad in the paper for a remaining pup discounted to $85. Autumn came from a puppy mill. She was supposedly a cockapoo but we are pretty sure she was an oops from a dual-sired litter. We found the people who owned one of her brothers and they saw the whole litter at the mill and said Autumn and her brother were the only pups that looked like they do. More like cocker and beagle mix. I named her Autumn because she was born in autumn and its my favorite season.
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Naylee came as Naeli, pronounced like a really snobby sounding Nelly. I couldn't stand it so I called her Naylee or Nay. Couldn't change her name completely because she came from my Aunt and she would have thrown a fit if I changed it. She got the dog from a shelter. Nay came from a neglect situation. She spent half her life on a chain not often being fed. My aunt got her to show off that she "rescued" this dog. She only expected her to live 6 months to a year though and the dog outlived that so she got tired of her and gave her to me. Nay lived another 5 years.
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Hlao is named from Watership Down Hlao Pipkin.
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Eleanor showed up on craigslist a week after Autumn died. She looks just like her. At this point I've outgrown the whole name a pet based on color or looks thing. I ignored all the suggestions of Penny, Goldie, Buttercup. Dumb stereotypical names to me. I decided it would be either Eleanor or Delilah. Then my aunt said I could combine them and call her Deli. That was dumb and I didn't want anybody calling her Deli so Eleanor it was.
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Sullivan was a "free dog" ad on craigslist. He was going to go to a shelter that night. He just looked like a good old fashioned hound dog so I went and got him. He's a great dog I don't know who wouldn't want him. I like proper sounding names and have liked the name Sullivan even before I saw Monster's Inc, which is a movie I love. He was Chief.
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I've had numerous rodents, herptiles, and other small pets. Too many to mention. I also have two other ferrets names Meemee and Icy, who came with those names.

[shindow]

I always name my pets after shows I like. My first pets were named:
Patch - 101 Dalmatians
Lucybelle - Lucielle Ball
Oliver - Oliver and Co.

They've all passed though. My current set up is:
Alhponse - She's a female grey tabby that looks like auto mail from fullmetal alchemist.
Eli - Named after Elliot Stablers son on SVU.

I wonder what we will name the fish this time. Most memorable was a killer algae eater we had named "Nomin Hayden" after Norman from Heavy Rain.. Lol

[Khema]

I had a hamster named Chibi - Japanese word for something small and cute. Hubby and I got another hamster later that had red eyes, so he was named Thrawn after Grand Admiral Thrawn in the Star Wars universe.

Had a dog named Lobo, name just seemed to fit. He was a German Shepherd/Chow mix. Looked like a fuzzy GS. Current dog is Sammy the dachshund. He was off craigslist and that was the name he came with. Since it wasn't a horrible name, we just kept it.

[Prideth]

What cute stories!

I have two cats...one is Buddy, one is Dirtball.

I love this name... Dirtball.     I have a friend with dog named "Dingus" and I feel like I can't say his name without cracking up.

Two of my dogs came with their names.  I have Gus and Sapphire.  Gus came to us after one of my coworkers passed away and he had no family to take his dog.  Sapphire was my brother's dog.

My two other pets I got to name.     I have Winston, the pomeranian.  Actually, his name is Sir Winston I, Duke of Fluffingham (but let's not get formal).  It just felt right.

My kitten is named Puca, named so because I always tend to shorten or "cute-ify" my pet's names anyways, so I thusly call him "Pookie".