We call our children all kinds of weird things these days, but pets have been fair game for a long time. Got something cray-cray you want to test out for future offspring? Try it out on your long-suffering hound or feline.
My cat's name is Dr Watson. Y'know, like in Sherlock Holmes? Don't ask me how this came about. Must have seemed like a good idea at the time. He was such a cute, tiny little bloke when he was a kitten. Now look at him. On reflection, 'Godzilla' might have been more appropriate.
My goldfish is Hannibal. He's been the last fish standing (swimming?) out of three tanks full of goldfish now, and I'm starting to think it'd just be cruel to give him any more victims. Serial killer. No question.
The dog got Arnie, after Ze Governator. Fitting, eh? This dog weighs, like, fifteen pounds soaking wet, and he loves everybody and everything. Recall that I'm from a country where we call redheads 'Blue' and large people 'Tiny'.
But some names are just unfair. I mean, little girls are allowed to have Fluffy or Snookums or Boo-Boo... Actually, my gran had this elusive grey and white cat named Boo-Boo, and it didn't seem to mind...
Still, there's only so much a self-respecting animal can take. When my husband was a kid, his family had a dog - a beagle, I think - called Denis. Apparently Denis used to run away a lot. Snort. Can you blame him?
So. What's this got to do with romance books, you ask? Ahem, nothing, actually. I have two new releases this month and neither of them feature any kind of animal. Oh, one story might have a rat in it. I'm not posting about rats. Just... no.
(But while I'm on: here's a
link to a Valentine's Day anthology I'm in, called My Bloody Valentine. Eight fab stories of the darker side of love, by some wonderful romance and suspense authors. My story is called Unforgiven, and it has vampires. It's doing great on the Amazon charts, so I thought you might like to check it out!)
So what's the story behind your pet's name?
6 comments:
Growing up our dogs' names were Hutch, Cinnamon, and Nutmeg. Our horses were Smokie, Junebug, Dixie, Surprise, Star, Goldie, and Augusta.
Poor animals don't have a chance to they. LOL My lapdog is named, Tink, short for Tinkerbelle because she fit in my hand when I brought her home.
Fun post. Good luck with your box set. I don't read dark books or watch anything dark related. I'm not liking all the dark TV shows because I have to close my eyes during commercials of the shows. Yep, that's me a big chicken.
Hi Erica,
Fun post! Arnie is a ringer for my Grand dog, Binky.
Both our current pets came with names attached. Our German shorthair pointer was a rescue dog named Lanie. Since my granddaughter's name is Lily, we decided to change the dog's name to avoid confusion. We went to Penny Lane, and ultimately Penny. The gradual change worked.
The Cat Who Shall Not Be Named is another story altogether! The shelter named all the cats after physical attributes, so he was called Freckles. We planned to change his name, but my then-six-year-old granddaughter told me in no uncertain terms, "You can't change someone's name, Grandma. His name is Freckles!" So Freckles it is. So innocuous. So misleading!
Our animals are Nesta BP, Django and Djuna. Nesta is Bob Marley's--the singer--real first name and I just always thought it was cool. The BP stands for Big Perm...because he is just one big curly dude.
Django and Djuna are rescue cats named after Django Reinhardt--the jazz musician--and Djuna Barnes, the American writer who partied with Hemingway and the Fitzgeralds in Paris back in the day.
Your cat is "Diabeticat" to me, because I didn't know his name until now ;-)
I named Manny after the Black Books character - a lovely lad who lives with a mopey, angry, drunken Irishman.
Our last dog was adopted from the Oregon Humane Society - yep, I passed inspection and "Sonny Boy" walked out of that building to my car. He sat in the front passenger seat like he owned the world (he at least owned my heart). He and I had a talk and decided Sonny Boy did not fit a regal looking dude like him. We tried "King" and "Prince" but they were ho hum; I don't think he even looked at me. When I said "Duke", I not only got a look but a paw on my arm. That sealed the deal so Duke he was and remained that (or Dukie because there were times he was so cute).
Previous dog names: Deacon, Chandar (he was a black Great Dane and came with the name), Lucky Potlicker (you can guess how he got names). Family dogs: Border Collie - Rocky, Welshe Terrier - Charles! (seldom was he Charlie).
Fun post, Erica.
We let our kids name their pets, so that leads to all kinds of oddities. Our chickens are Eowyn (Lord of the Rings), Kyru (anime cartoon), Chiana (SF TV series Farscape), Rush (rock band), Scoop (kids TV show Bob the Builder), and Tails (character from Sonic the Hedgehog game). The gecko is Yoshi (dinosaur like character from Super Mario Bros. game and gender neutral because we didn't know if it was he or she). And we now have two stick insects - Geddi (from the name Armageddon) and Camo (camouflage).
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