July 23rd, 2004 at 11:53 am
names
Posted in: General
And how to make a choice. I guess it depends on the purpose. Several girlfriends have recently or are currently going through the protracted process of choosing a name for their children. Family names? Old names? New names? There are infinite options. I, myself, have only ever been involved in choosing names for pets. Ah, the gentle art of compromise! In recent conversation with my parents (who, having had seven children, would seem to be well practised at the art of naming – or at least in choosing perfectly servicable, good Catholic names) the subject of naming pets was addressed. Their current ‘family’ consists of Fred, Barney, Betty, Wilma (dec.), Brendan, Ronald, Nancy and Boofhead. Can you spot their inspiration?
Cartoon characters?
Movie characters inspire a lot of people. Influence them totally.
I once read that the English give their pets the daft sort of names that we give our kids. Well, maybe we’re just confused.
July 23rd, 2004 at 5:49 pmHere are my pets:
Ruffy (dec.)
Kettle (dec.)
BoBo (dec.)
Teapot (kettle’s daughter)
Bucket (dec.)
Taco
Ginger
Pumpkin (is a rabbit)
Fork (dec. fish)
Chainsaw (dec. other fish)
Simba (dec. first fish)
Mr. Crab (dec. crab)
When I get out on my own I plan to get a dog similar to a Bermise (spl) Mountain Dog and name it Rotisserie, Rottie for short.
July 24th, 2004 at 3:44 amMy Pets
July 24th, 2004 at 3:12 pmMarita’s discussion has kicked off another idea to blog about. My first pet, from photographic evidence and from being told by my mother, was a dog (golden retriever, I think) called Waggles or Waggie … Apparently, he died before making…
the flintstones and the reagans i get…but brendan? is there a story behind that?
July 24th, 2004 at 9:43 pmmy cat mina was named after ms harker from dracula, but she almost got called phoebe after holden’s sister in the catcher in the rye.
i guess i got more pretentious as i got older because when i was a kid we had snowy, and smokey. 🙂
My name choices (both human and animal) all reflect a literary theme, if you will allow the extremely loose use of the word “literary”:
– Melissa (Missy) the cat: Named after a character in Anne of Green Gables
July 25th, 2004 at 8:36 am– Pollyanna the fish: After character of same name
– Pipkin (Pippy) the Australian terrier: Named after a character in Watership Down
– Tumnus the budgie: Named after the faun in “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”
– Buster the mini-sheepdog: Named after Buster Keaton, whose bio I was reading at the time
– Jemima the cat: Named after Job’s third daughter in the Bible (well, that’s kind of literary) – chosen because it means “grey dove” and cat Jem was grey and gentle
– Basil the fox terrier: Named after Basil Brush
– Charlie the Jack Russell: He was already named, so we didn’t get to name him.
– Alia the baby: Named after the character in Frank Herbert’s “Dune” novels
Robert was right. It’s the Flintstones and the Reagans (obvious really). The ‘Brendan’ is the tricky one. It’s a crossover between their family of humans and their family of pets. Why? I could not get to the bottom of it – just one of their own special peculiarities.
July 28th, 2004 at 9:10 amBut where does boofhead come in?
July 28th, 2004 at 12:34 pmNancy featured in an old comic book. She was a little girl with a bobbed hairdo and a very straight fringe across the front. She looked cute. Her boyfriend was an uncouth (but well-intentioned) roughnut called ‘Sluggo’. He had a shorn head and a Bronx dial. There was a scene where Sluggo comes into some riches. Then, as he’s being driven along in the back seat of a limousine he spots Nancy trudging through the rain, so he removes flowers from a vase attached inside the car and tips the water over himself.
Boofhead was also a comic book. He had a large, roughly shorn, awkward and stupid-looking head. Some folks I know have been called boofhead as a result.
Well now, writing this makes me realise that hairdos can be important as an indication of character. Social standing too. And lots more. For instance, I’ve noticed that balding, shaven-headed men tend to be well-off.
(Sorry for all this)
July 31st, 2004 at 9:30 am