Name |
animal
type |
notes |
Agnieska |
lamb |
this
is a Polish form of Agnes, which means "holy." However,
most baby name books get it confused with the Latin
"agnus" meaning "lamb." |
Alannah
Jocelyn |
human |
Cabbage
Patch kid-- I can't remember her real name. I think
Jocelyn was in it somewhere. The Alannah part was after
Alannah Currie from the Thompson Twins, of course. |
Annabelle
Lee |
raven |
ravens
reminded me of Edgar Allan Poe, apparently. |
Alexander |
tiger |
This
was my sister's tiger. I don't know why I ended up naming
him. I think it's because my sister never named anything,
and that bugged me. |
Alice |
hedgehog |
Just
liked the name. |
Aurora |
human |
My
first baby doll-- I saved up my allowance for her. After
the Princess Aurora in the Disney version of Sleeping
Beauty |
Bláthnaid |
hedgehog |
means
"little flower" in Irish. I had a thing for Irish names. |
Blake |
bird
type thing |
name
was originally "Gorple" I changed it to be after Blake on
the tv show Blake's 7. |
Britannica
Cassandra/Brittles |
cat |
Originally
when I was in my pre-namenerds phase, I named this cat
Brittles (no clue where that came from). A couple years
later, I re-named her Britannica. This was the most
beautiful name I could think of, and it sounded important
since it was an encyclopedia. Cassandra was the second
most beautiful name I could think of. |
Broccán/Brock
|
badger
|
Broccán
means "little badger" in old Irish. Creative.
|
Camilla
Renee |
human |
Cabbage
Patch kid-- she came with that name |
Cecilia |
seal |
get
it? Ce SEAL ya |
Clyde |
emu |
it
sounded Australian to me at the time. |
Colberta
Nigeline |
human |
was
originally a Cabbage patch baby named Colbert Nigel until
I gave him a sex change. |
Conor(ry) |
camel |
Named
after Sean Connery, and then re-named during my Irish Name
Phase |
Deirdre |
cat |
a
handmade craft fair cat-- this was the beginning of my
Irish name phase (See also Siobhán). I think I technically
stole this cat from my sister.
|
Dutchess,
Toulouse, Marie, Berlioz |
cats |
My
great-aunt knitted this cat family. Luckily, the mom was
white, and the kittens were orange, gray, and white,
corresponding perfectly to the cats in The Aristocats,
a movie which I obsessed over way too much as a child. |
Eddie |
t-rex |
I
think he was named after Eddie Vedder |
Elizabeth |
human |
she
was a china doll, dressed in vaguely
turn-of-the-20th-century clothes. I picked the most
old-fashioned name I could think of at the time. |
Eric/Brenda |
human |
was
an orange-haired doll made by my great-aunt-- originally a
boy, I gave him the only guy name I could think of. When I
decided he was actually really a girl, I named him Brenda,
which was the ugliest name I could think of at the time. |
Eunice |
unicorn |
I
think I may have spelled it Unice to make it more
unicorn-y |
Evan |
tiger |
My
favorite name at the time. |
Ezra |
duck |
I
have no idea where I got this name from. |
Ferdinand
& Morten |
rattlesnake |
originally
called Desert Dan and Little Danny, this was a home
economics project. I think Morten was named after the guy
from the band A-ha. After I named them, I realized that
they had the same names as Mickey Mouse's nephews, Morty
and Ferdie and was embarrassed. I don't think anyone but
me noticed or cared, though. |
Fiona |
hedgehog |
My
boyfriend at the time gave this to me, and we always
listened to "The Thistle and Shamrock" radio show with
Fiona Ritchie. |
Frankie |
Ugly
doll |
I
think his name really is "Ox." I think I was inspired by
the movie It's All Gone Pete Tong and the way all
the characters always called the main character "Frahn
kay" with their various European accents. |
Frederick |
bilby |
he's
wearing a bow-tie and a tux jacket for some reason; I
thought Frederick sounded nice and formal. |
Gabriel |
dolphin |
named
after Gilbert Gabriel from the band the Dream Academy.
Yeah, that's right. Because I've always been a nerd, I
knew that dolphins didn't have gills (they're mammals), so
I couldn't have named him Gilbert. |
Gareth |
cat |
my
first crush's name was Gareth, so I always loved this
name. This cat is from an Edward Gorey illustration; he
has an orange and black striped sweater. |
Gerard |
Ugly
doll |
his
name really is Ice Bat. |
Gráinne |
hedgehog |
In
Irish Gaelic, "hedgehog" is grainneóg. |
Hank |
platypus |
I
thought the name was funny. |
Harrison |
tiger |
was
my uncle's toy tiger from the 1940s-- I named him after
Harrison Ford because I was obsessed with Indiana Jones
(also set in the 40s well, sort of). |
Jadwiga |
shark |
I
went through a Slavic name phase. |
James |
lion |
My
great-aunt made this lion, I named him James because
that's one of her son's names. I think James Bond may have
had an influence as well. He's bright yellow calico with a
fiery red mane. Not very spy-like. |
Jane |
human |
was
a crocheted doll my great-aunt made; she had Mary Janes
crocheted to her feet, hence the name Jane (I didn't like
Mary). She was the twin sister to Eric/Brenda. |
Jennifer
& Lilybelle |
cats |
they
were a mom and a kitten. I think I got Lilybelle out of
the book The House of Thirty Cats by Mary Calhoun |
Jola
Martine |
human |
was
a cheap Cabbage Patch Kid knock-off. I picked the name
that I thought sounded the most beautiful. |
Jonathan |
mouse |
named
after the dead husband mouse in The Secret of NIMH |
Jonathan
Uncle Dog |
Dog |
he
was technically my sister's-- I named him Jonathan,
because I didn't think "Uncle Dog", the name my mother
gave him because my uncle gave him to her was befitting
for a stuffed animal |
Joe |
sheep |
This
sheep may have started out being my sister's. I named him
after Joe Leeway of the Thompson Twins. He currently is
still used as a door stop by my stepmother for her spare
bedroom. |
José |
giraffe |
no
idea where this name came from |
Julius |
Wild
Thing |
he
was the orange-haired guy with the human feet from Where
the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak |
Kathleen |
human |
my
great-aunt made her. She has red hair and blue eyes; I
thought I should give her an Irish name. |
Lambie/Dmitri |
sheep |
my
grandmother got this from a local artisan at a craft fair.
I named him Lambie, but in later years, a boyfriend named
him Dmitri. |
Lila/Lala/Lalla |
bird |
a
baby bird of some sort; she came with the name Lila. I
changed it to Lala (pron. Layla) and then eventually
settled on Lalla, after Lalla Ward (on Dr. Who) |
Lorenzo |
llama |
like
Lorenzo Lamas, get it? |
Lucille |
seal |
get
it? Lou SEAL |
Ludmilla |
hedgehog |
I
went through a Slavic name phase. I think we were playing
the overture to "Russlan and Ludmilla" in orchestra that
year. |
Magnus |
spider |
I
think I was going to name him Mánus (probably after Mánus
Lunny the Irish bouzouki player), but didn't want another
stuffed animal with an Irish name. |
Meow |
cat |
my
great-aunt Barbara made him for me when I was really
little. |
Minnen
Råtte |
rat |
came
already named from Ikea. It's just fun to say it. I think
I named him Svenbjörn, but the name didn't stick. |
Molly |
unicorn |
was
the prettiest name I could think of at the time. |
Monster
Dude |
monster |
a
monster made by some local artisan, I bought him at a punk
rock craft fair. He seemed too cool for a real name. |
Mulder
|
fox
|
Get
it? he's a Fox, you know, like Fox Mulder!
|
Percival |
rooster |
I
always loved this name. I first heard it as the name of
Nellie's husband on Little House on the Prairie. |
Ralphie |
cat |
he's
the Cheshire Cat from the Disney movie |
Raoul
"Junkyard" deMichael |
cat |
my
mother made cats exactly the same for my sister and me one
year. I wanted to name mine Hello Kitty, but my sister
beat me to it. I was annoyed, thus named him Hello
Junkyard in protest. Later on, I decided that he was a
jazz musician, and that Junkyard was his jazz nickname. |
Ricky |
Dog |
This
was before I was very creative with names |
Ricky |
Raccoon |
I
think I knew a song about a Ricky Raccoon. |
Rocky |
frog |
my
Great-Aunt Barbara made this frog for me out of material
that was blue with little frogs all over it (she also made
my second cousin Mikey pants out of the same material).
She filled the frog with sawdust, which I think leaked a
little bit. My grandmother lives in mortal fear of her
house becoming soiled, so she removed the sawdust and
filled him with smooth rocks from the stream bed (hence
the name Rocky). Because Rocky is so heavy, she has been
using him as a door stop for the past 25 years, and won't
let me have him back. NOTE: after my grandmother died, I
combed the house in search of Rocky, but he was nowhere to
be found. :(
|
Roger |
bear |
this
was my sister's bear; I never liked bears. I named him
Roger because he looked exactly like Ramona Quimby's
stuffed bear named Roger in one of Beverly Cleary's Ramona
books. |
Roland |
groundhog |
Named
after Roland Orzabal from Tears for Fears |
Seamus |
mouse |
he
was a really cute dog toy that I rescued from somewhere.
He sort of still squeaks. |
Severin |
spider |
Just
a cool name. |
Síne/Sheena |
hedgehog |
This
hedgehog went without a name for many years. I finally
decided to call her "Sine Nomine" ("unnamed" in Latin).
However, in Scottish Gaelic, Síne is pronounced like
Sheena, and is a form of Janet. Oddly enough-- in the
comic Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, the young girl is named
Janet before she grows up and becomes Sheena. Maybe she
discovered her Scottish roots? |
Siobhán |
cat |
I
think this was another one that technically belonged to my
sister. She didn't really care about stuffed animals,
though, so I took her over. She was a twin to Deirdre (see
also)-- I read in one of the snooty British music
magazines that I was always buying when I was 12 that
Siobhan Fahey from Bananarama's confirmation name was
Deirdre (hence the name of the other cat). |
Sir
Algernon Anonymous |
fox? |
he's
technically named "Sir Didyfus" and he was the guy in Labyrinth
who rode on a sheepdog, but I had a thing against calling
things the names they came with |
Svetlana |
rat |
still
on a Slavic name kick |
Teresa |
turtle |
the
turtle came pre-named Tully, which had to go. |
The
Frog Continuum |
frogs |
these
frogs are in descending order of size and all fit into
each others mouths. There names, separately, are Horace,
Morris, Boris and Doris. |
Thomasine
Agnella "Tommie" |
human |
Cabbage
Patch Kid-- was originally named Agnella Gail. I think she
was named after Tom Bailey from the Thompson Twins,
because she had red hair. |
Timothy |
mouse |
named
after the sick kid mouse in The Secret of NIMH |
Tobias |
spider |
Always
been one of my favorite names. |
Valentín |
hedgehog |
made
for me by a boyfriend for Valentine's Day one year. This
boyfriend was Ukrainian, and had the bonus of having his
middle name be Valentinovich. |
Whitey-Blue |
cat |
guess
what colors she was? This was another one from my
pre-name-obsessed years. |
Woody
Woodchucker |
Beaver |
a
kid in school named him when he said, "what is that, Woody
Woodchucker?" He was
one of the "cool" kids, so I didn't want to be a nerd
and correct him that it was actually a beaver. |
Yasmin
Haley |
human |
Cabbage
Patch Kid-- was originally named Kelly Trixie. This is
embarrassing, but I think that year Chrissie Hynde from
the Pretenders and Jim Kerr from Simple Minds had a
daughter named Yasmin. Also that year, Pat Benatar had a
daughter named Haley. I was watching some year end wrap up
thing about them all on MTV when I named her. |
Zoe |
human |
I
just liked the name at the time. She was a cool doll,
until my sister's dog ate her.
|