Fun Facts About Names

  Posted on March 5, 2012  by Joy of Living  No comments

Did you know today is Fun Facts About Names Day?  I found this article online at Vetstreet.com  the other day about how and why we pick the names we do for our pets.  Here’s an excerpt…..

“Pet owners nowadays are favoring more human-like monikers for their animals — Charlie and Chloe, anyone? — and even pop culture-inspired picks that pay homage to cult movie characters, including Bella from the Twilight series.

It turns out that the names we select for our pets say a lot about our culture — and the fact that we have truly come to view pets as indispensable members of the family.

Laura Wattenberg, author of The Baby Name Wizard and creator of babynamewizard.com, explains why less-than-expected monikers, such as Zoey and Bentley, are all the rage these days.

Popular names like Lulu, Milo, Leo and Louie bear a striking resemblance to a current baby-naming trend that Wattenberg calls “Guys and Dolls–style.” These are nicknames that are short and cute but somewhat old-fashioned. “Parents are giving pets the more extreme versions of their kids’ names,” says Wattenberg. “While they’re happy to name their children Leo and Max, they aren’t quite ready for Lulu or Milo for their kids.”

The names we choose for animals also symbolize our increasing connection to pets — and this is particularly evident when it comes to female kitty names, such as Lola, Stella, Zoey and Penny. Not only do these picks have a soft, cozy sound to them, but Wattenberg also points out that “the more human names we give our pets, the more family-like a role they tend to play. These names lend a feeling of warmth and personal attachment to the pet.”

Another popular pet-naming trend that speaks to our tendency to look at pets as children: single-sex picks like Dexter and Gunner. “Classic unisex pet names used to be about physical characteristics — Spot, Midnight, Fluffy — which you might think of as objectifying today,” says Wattenberg. “Now pets are given more traditional, single-sex human names.”

As long as blockbuster books and flicks continue to hit the market, people will gravitate toward pop culture monikers. A couple of hot names for pets today: Bentley, the name of a baby on Teen Mom, and Nala, a main character in The Lion King.”

What inspired your pet’s name?