Well... lets face it... whatever you choose to call the little darlings, you have to be prepared to repeat it 15 times at the top of your voice at 10pm at night, for all the neighbours to hear when your fur baby hasn't come home for their tea.
Not that this affects us - as all four of our Abyssinians are indoor cats! We only have this problem when someone does a Houdini act through the conservatory door!
Whatever you call them has to also "work" with your human surname for vet visits. We've seen no end of embarrassed owners hide in their collars when their cats or dogs name has been called.
Naming the two boys here caused days and days of turmoil for The Housekeeper's, back in November as it just had to "fit".
Parsnip was already Parsnip when we got him, and had been for nine months so we didn't think that it was very fair to change his name, and in any case, it suited him.
Crystal was already Crystal when we went to see her at her breeders, and again it suited her very well.
Amber was originally called Fern (as the breeder used initials of the alphabet for each of her litters in turn) however we decided on Amber for her very quickly before she arrived so that the breeder was able to call her by her name for about 7 weeks before she came to live with us.
Jasper had his name ready for him, from the moment that The Housekeeper set eyes on his kitten picture, before she had even been to visit him at 6 weeks old!
Dino, however, caused all sorts of problems. He still does!!!! The Housekeeper wanted to keep the "Stones and Jewels" theme but Mr Housekeeper didn't like very many of the names that The Housekeeper suggested. Hours were spent pouring over books and internet websites looking for ideas.
Dino is actually short for Dinosaur Bone! In case you hadn't realised!!! If you see a picture of Dinosaur Bone in it's gemstone form, you will understand why. So Dino escaped from being called ... Rubyn, Carnelian, Topaz, Garnet, Montana (Agate), Picasso (Marble) or Tiger (s Eye).
So: How did you or your humans come up with your names?
In our case, #1 has a long connection to Japan, having lived there for 20 years. Her first Aby, was born there and thus given a local name, Ikkyu (for a famous Zen onk) but the habit stuck. Tama is short for Tama-Hime and means The Jewelled Princess. Sei is for Sei-Shonagon, a wonderful Japanese writer who lived a thousand years ago. And Bibi is for Ebisu, the Japanese god of good fortune.
ReplyDeletePS: Zen MONK!!!
ReplyDeleteLOL! I wrote a post about Aby names once, too! (http://abyaday.wordpress.com/2010/04/14/words-of-advice/)
ReplyDeleteGun-Hee was named for a main character in a Korean drama. He was a spoiled brat and a bit of a trouble maker, so it seemed like an apt name.
Angel's name was Angel at the rescue, and we liked it so we kept it. I did lengthen it, so her full name is Angelrose.
My husband wanted to name a boy Aby Jake, but I was hesitant since that was the name of the famous Cat From Outer Space. But then, the Red Sox had a great ballplayer named Jacoby Ellsbury, who was a very fast runner and who stole home plate against the team's biggest rivals. So, we ended up with a name we both liked.
Tessie was originally named Butterfly, but we changed it. Tessie is a song about the Red Sox.
Kylie was named after Kylie Minogue.
Going father back...my seal-point Siamese, Harri, was actually named Harakka (Finnish for Magpie), and Harri for short, but Harri is also the Finnish version of the name Harry.
Patrick, my tabby-point Siamese, was originally named Twinkle-toes, Twinkie for short (poor boy!) I renamed him Patrick and called him Tricky, which sounds a bit like Twinkie. Patrick was named after ice hockey goalie Patrick Roy of the Montreal Canadiens.
Sigrid, my red-point Siamese girl was originally named Sugar (I've had some poorly named cats!) but she liked Sigrid better. Sigrid was a medieval Swedish queen.
Cheysuli came with her name--her breeder was a fantasy/SF fan. Gemini was a combination of two older cats who died within ten days. One word that came from their names was Gemini and as she was taking the place of two that seemed appropriate. Ichiro was supposed to be the Male's cat and he loves baseball!
ReplyDeleteI love Abyssinians! I have 2. I gave them Egyptian names, since the breed is now believed to have originated in Egypt. They are named Amunet and Hamadi. I found their names at this list of Egyptian names for cats:
ReplyDeleteEgyptian cat names