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?
