What names have you given your animal companions?
The Giving and Receiving of Animal Names
When we do our workshops or book events, we always ask the participants to introduce themselves and tell us the names of their animal companions. This exercise gets a lot of laughs as people share the creative names they have given their furry friends.
Diana, from Australia, says that the impulsive adoption of two pullet hens caused her to name these new members of their family, Spon and Taneous. They joined Diana's other two hens, Little Red and Riding Hood.
Literature often provides the inspiration for animals' names. Janice says that she and her husband named their five puppies after characters in THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS, a book Janice had loved to read as a child. They called the pups Christian, Purity, Chastity, Tenacity, and Charity. Another woman re-created her childhood by naming her new kittens Papa Bear, Mamma Bear, and Baby Bear. They joined Bear, the adult cat, who already ruled their household.
Beverly says that Shana Punem, in Yiddish, means "beautiful face." The name had special significance to her because this is what her father used to call his niece when the girl was little. Beverly says, "He would cup her face in his hand and say, 'Shana Punem.' It was such a sweet gesture." When Beverly adopted a dog nine years ago,
she named her Shana Punem.
Lisa wrote to tell us about her dog, Trouble. He got that moniker because when Lisa adopted another dog in addition to the two she already had, her sister-in-law predicted that Lisa's husband wouldn't be very happy about it. "You're going to get in trouble," was her admonition. As it turned out, according to Lisa, "Trouble was never any trouble at all. My husband and I both adored him." She says that Trouble was a dog who never did live up to his name.
An orphaned kitten named Gabriel was so sweet that his new human companions named him after the Archangel Gabriel. They write, "It backfired! We've found out that feline angels can be very mischievous!"
Although people get very creative about giving names to their animal companions, some say that the animals have let their humans know what they want to be called.
Melodie writes about the adoption of her tiny, juvenile green iguana. She says, "For a week, I tried many names that seemed perfect for her, but none of them were right for this little creature. During the second week of having her, a strange name was just in my mind. I truly believe that Eeghana-guana told me her name."
Our beautiful golden retriever, Prana, chose us from a litter of adorable puppies by coming forward and untying Allen's shoelace. On the way home, she seemed to whisper her name in Linda's ear. Later, we found out that "prana" means "breath of life." Prana surely was a breath of life for our family during the years we were blessed with her presence.
What names have you given your animal companions? Did you choose this name or did the animal choose it for you?
Generally, I find the animals name themselves, if given a bit of time to do so. One wonderful experience I had was in naming a beautiful male cat I rescued who had a dramatic face that looked a bit like the rock singer Sting. I no longer recall the name I gave him, however, I vividly recall a powerful dream a few nights after naming him (the wrong name!). He came to me and very kindly informed me that his name was Bombay. And it's been that ever since. He, also, immediately would answer to that name when I spoke to him. The dream was such a surprise that I woke myself up out of it long enough to jot down the name he spoke, to be sure I got it right. It has never happened to me before or since.
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We have 3 tiger-striped named Isaac, Fig and Newton. We started with Isaac who was adopted from a shelter. A year or two later my daughter found a kitten walking down our busy street late at night. We named him Newton. A couple of years after that my daughter adopted another tiger-striped kitten (who we eventually inherited)
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A scared feral (whom we named Skittles because she was so skittery), gave birth to 4 kittens under our deck, and we began the naming process about two months later. I looked directly at one of the kittens who was looking back at me and I asked it, "What's your name?" I saw in my mind's eye: "May-Belle." I said out loud, "I can't name you that. That is too strange." Three days later, out of the blue, my partner said to me, "You know that cat with the black and white patchy sections, why don't we name that cat, 'Marble?' It was the same cat. May-Belle/Marble. Look how close sounding those names are. We both had intuited the cat's name. We call her May-Belle.
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Only a week after my favorite cat died at the age of 20, a cat appeared in our yard, backed by many acres of woods, that looked just like her. I soon discovered she was a feral cat and although it took me years to touch her, it was worth it. In that time we were able to trap her and have her spayed. She never did meow like normal cats. All she got out was a squeak when she talked. So when we moved out of state we took her along and named her Squeek. She's now queen of the screened porch and loves being a Healthy Happy House Kitty! See her photo here:
http://www.theherbsplace.com/gallery/cats/IMG_8925
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This article is funny to me, because I think my cat has a very unique name, Freak. Freak definitely named herself as her original name was Princess Maria. How wrong I was to choose that! Within two days it was changed to Freak as she is a little bit crazy! She is one of the funniest, most playful and entertaining cats I've ever seen and lives up to her name wholeheartedly! However, I still think of her (and treat her!) as my little princess and wouldn't trade her for anything.
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