Does anyone have a funny story about how they (or someone else) named their pet?
One of my closest friends was visiting with me in my office, and I had my new puppy with me, sleeping in my sweater pocket. I was looking on the computer for names, and scrolling through lists, running them by everyone. I got to “Pikachu” and she thought I was saying “Peek at you” – as in a little dog peeking out of a pocket at you. We kept saying it back and forth, but it sounded the same: “Peek at you?” “No, Pikachu.” “That’s what I said, ‘Peek at you!” Eventually we were laughing so hard we couldn’t talk, and of course we named her Pikachu, or Piki for short. It’s apropos, because she looks so much like the Pokemon, Pikachu. The reason the story is a bit sad for me, is that my friend was killed in a single car accident the next year. She was reaching for something on the floor of her car, and lost control of the vehicle and it rolled. She died instantly, and I never got to say goodbye. We shared some wonderful times though, and she was a wonderful influence in my life. I’m so glad w
He is a 13-year-old-black pug, and naughty does not begin cover it. However, 13 years ago, I was going through pug withdrawal, having lost my first pug 3 years before. Long story short, I brought the little troll home and went through all kinds of names. Since the black pugs have a Japanese heritage, I was looking for something Japanese. I walked around all weekend with a ridiculous grin on my face because of the new wrinkly-face in the house, wondering when a name would present itself. After I mentioned my naming dilemma, a friend who was a big naval history buff started rattling off the names of the 5 Japanese aircraft carriers at Midway in WWII. They were named for mountains, and I used to know them all. After he called out each name, I asked what it meant. “Increased Joy,” he said. “That’s it!” I said. And that is how Kaga got his name. This is not Kaga; it is a better-behaved facsimile. But who could not love that? Sources: photo courtesy
My friend (okay, my boyfriend who I sometimes refer to as simply “my friend” around here so that it won’t seem like most of my “someone I know” stories are about him) has a cat named Willow. Willow was named after the character Willow Rosenburg from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Willow has ginger hair, it makes sense. Then they found out Willow wasn’t a girl – the cat, not the character, the character is definitely a girl. But they had already been calling the newly realized HIM Willow for weeks. Never to fear, a solution was found: My boyfriend named his cat Willow after the character from the movie Willow. They are both men. Yes, the cat and the character. Men. Any other story of how this cat may have been named is nonsense. Nonsense, my boyfriend says. Stories about other Willows are spread purely to show, um, something that isn’t nice and are, um, totally unfounded. So there. (For some reason this sends me into fits of giggles, yet helps me remember the cat is a boy.
