She or He...or It?

[Tilo]

So it seems each pet is a different gender to each of us...i.e. Gondria is male to some, female to others...

So I propose:
What Gender do you feel your pet is & why?


Fleck I consider female as the model is graceful, sleek, & all around feminine to me, but strong as well.


Yoshì is male to me, because he's a huge green tyrannosaurus-rex, gigantic maw ready to tear something a part.


Helice is female to me because of how fluid the model is, the glowy heart-beat looking pulse, & how the darker fur ends on the top of her head.


Virtus is a male to me because of the larger worg size & the sentimental value he represents.


Sciuto is female because it's after my favorite NCIS character.

How about you?

[Palladiamorsdeus]

Lucretia, my wolf, is obviously female. And she has a back story! Actually, my cat and spirit beast both are female in my mind as well. Yes, I realize that Loque is technically male, but as far as I am concerned, Loque is still running around in the wild and I still just have a more matured offspring of Harkoa. My devilsaur is very obviously male. Whenever I think of his voice or actions, they just always come off as male, if some what simple. My current final pet is a bear, whom I consider male just to be in contrast with the mostly female cast of my herd. Which balances us out at three male, three female!

Yes, I am an odd little duck.

[Teigan]

Both my hunter toons are female. It seems that my dwarf's pets are mostly female, but my Tauren's mostly male.

So, Teigan the dwarf:

Kyndri, ghostsaber: female, she reminds me of my RL kitty Persephone Sleek, fast, soft looking and absolutely bloodthirsty!

Ulfsdottir, formerly known as Bjomolf: female, I imagine her as a grizzled, worldly old alpha female who left her pack after raising and guarding many litters of little worgs.

Havoc, silithid: female, because in the insect world the drone are usually sterile females

Snortly, armored brown boar: the only male, cause he's got big tusks

Caecilia, ice blue windserpent: female, the wind serpents remind me of a sci-fi book series featuring a flying snake who is female

Gryselde the Tauren:

Tir, white bat formerly know as Ressan the Needler: male, just cause

Shunka, mulgore wolfdog: male, because he remind me of a childhood dog

Strangebeast, formerly Mazzranache: ironically male!

Excelsior, crocolisk: male, cause he's a big, aggressive bull alligator

[Vephriel]

Veph's pets are all male. Not really sure why, but I just like the idea of a guardian beast being male for some reason. Female pets both in game and in real life hold no interest for me.

Gondria, for example, is a 'she' to me when she's herself, but after I've tamed her I've made her a 'he'.

[Vicario]

I already came up with genders for Arclite's pets. I'm wondering whether or not Cuddles should have been female. But then again, I do have Mel as a bulky, hulking leopardess.

Oddly enough, lots of animals out there have dominant females rather than males.

[Daranara]

Kegan is a male, for obvious reasons.

Solana is a graceful lady-sporebat, except when she's being used as a hat (the graceful part, not the female bit).

Tesla... has gone through three names, and with each has come a gender swap, but she is female. An enormous, tough old girl, but a female nonetheless.

Jerkface is a male.

Charlie is male as well, even though I see him as an offspring of loque and har'koa rather than -as- loque.

Mostly males, and before Solana and Tesla they were all males. Dara seems to just gravitate towards male protectors and companions.

[Narasalu]

I always consider my pet's gender to be whatever the undead mobs in the Wetlands say it is.
AKA this: http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=3360#comments

I make a habit of going there and finding out with each long term pet I have.

[Rhyela]

The only female in my bunch is Shikon (Gondria), mainly because I was so used to referring to her as "she" in the wild that I can't shake that. Plus, she has more of a feminine appearance to me - the purple and kind of wispiness gives her a feminine look. That and Rhyela needed a feminine influence in her life. But that doesn't mean Shikon is some girly little pushover, she'll rip you apart. She just might be more inclined to groom herself afterward.

Apollyon (King Krush) is male, there was no doubt in my mind that he would be male. Everything about him oozes testosterone. The roar, the stomping, his eyes, all of it. He's my big, burly, scaly guardian and I love him to pieces. He just wouldn't be the same as a female in my mind.

Sheldon (generic [but adorable] green turtle) is a male, just because I had to name my turtle Sheldon and it sounds to me more like a male name. Though honestly with turtles I could have gone either way. The name just happened to decide the gender on this one.

Tetsusaiga (Echeyakee) is a male because he's a lion with a mane, so...yeah.

And Twinblade (green Outlands chimaera), even though I just tamed him a couple days ago, seemed very masculine to me. I think it's a combination of the colors and his roar-thing, and the giant protruberances coming from his chin. Everything about him just seems masculine.

Some beast families that are more likely to be either male or female in my mind are cats, hyenas, turtles, birds of prey/carrion birds, wasps.....animals that don't really have an appearance that would suggest one gender over another.

[Kryte]

My pets' and mounts' genders tend to depend on a lot on the character that they're attached to. In general, my female characters are more likely to have male pets and mounts, and my male characters are more likely to have female companions.

[Niabi]

When is comes to determining the gender for each of my pets I usually just ask myself, what impression does the pet give me? Does the pet look masculine? Feminine? Great! The decision is made for me!

If the pet is gender-neutral however which 99.5% are or can be and/or I can't make up my mind, I just find a name I really like and let that decide the gender for me. Easy-peasy.

Khau's Pets:
Tsavo is male.
JubJub is male.
Kekoa is male.
Askari is male.
Ragnar is male.


Auroryn's Pets:
Seraph is male.
Evrae is male.
Ember is female.
Gemini is male.


Kadija's Pets:
Sundara is female.
Senka is female.
Havoc is male.
Aizea is female.
Tsifira is female.


Niabi's Pets:
Lyra is female.
Sumehra is female.
Kiwi is female.
Zenith is male.

[Golden]

Hmm, let's see now. :D

Usva is female, as the name I picked for her ended up feminine
Savu (Savage) is male - named in honor of my first hunter pet ever, who I always saw as male
Hades is obviously male
Otieno is male
Azubuike is male, seeing as he's always flirting at Subira's direction
Latarir is male, named after his mistress' father
With this skin it always depends on which mob I tame: I see Rak'shiri as male, whereas Shy-rotam is female, seeing as she has a male mate and all

[Artume]

I always consider my pet's gender to be whatever the undead mobs in the Wetlands say it is.
AKA this: http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=3360#comments

(Jaw drop) I never noticed this! I know what I'll be doing for part of the afternoon now!

I'm pretty sure I've enforced new genders on several of my pets. Old Cliffjumper I always reckoned to be an Alpha male wolf, but I named him Lupilou and now he's a she.

Maned lions are pretty safe from sex-swaps: The Rake became Leonidas and Echeyakee became Illeone and (with my Tauren) Itchyscrachee, but poor Rak'shiri the tigress wasn't so lucky ... she became Tarquin.

I have an alt with a black worg named Agrotera, which is a female name, but I do feel like I've performed a gender-bender when I look at it.

Aotona sounds like a female name to my ears, and Pining remains a female.

My long-departed crab was Buster, simply because I can't resist lame jokes. Same with Colinmocherie the raptor: could be any sex, but was only ever going to be Colin

Edit: I didn't really answer the "why" of the original question. It's simply because the name almost always comes first, and I then going looking for a body model I like. The biggest exception would be Takk the Leaper: he was Art's first fully Bloodsail pet and I agonised for days over something slightly "piratical". I called it Lash and that struck me as male, but had I gone with Catonine (tails), it would have been female.

[Kastarakovski]

It varies between my hunters. Oftentimes, it's a careful attempt to be balanced though.

Laz has mainly an Alpha team:
Nightshade's a girl (Gezzarak), tomboy is a better word for her, definitely the "Alpha" of the girls though
So's Boannan (Rak'Shiri) and Amenti (Araga) - one's a pridesister and the other a regal pridequeen
Griefstrike & Tiberias however are Males - Grief is the clear elder and Tibs is the subordinate (and stubborn) male

Kas is a bit different:
Ophios is male and thinks of himself as packleader
Drachenstein and Stjärnfall are also males (ingame NPC's refer to both as girls stunningly and in some ways they may be correct about Drach...)
Qendresa and Tanzanite are females, one's a pridesister and the other's a prankster

I think the only hunters that have either all males or all females are the alts I just started.
I haven't yet quite gotten that far to discerning their lot in life ^^;

[FuzzyDolly]

Gondria to me is female. Words ending in A or E are feminine in Italian. Words ending in O or I are male. I believe it is the same in other Latin based languages.

[Azunara]

Firewing:

Rak'shiri: Moonlight: Male. He's always been an older brother-like figure to Firewing. Very protective guardian like character. Kind of like Veph with this one.

Shattered War Hound: Iorek: Male. His namesake, an armored bear in the Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman was male. (There's a fun trivia question: Firewing's wolf, Iorek, is named after what animal?)

Loque'Nahak: Artemis: Female. I thought Artemis was a fantastic name for a creature that shot moonfire-esque beams. Also, very fierce name. Artemis is a child of Loque and Har'koa, sent to Sholozar with her father to hide.

Gondria: Echo: Female. Another daughter of Loque and Har'koa. I thought she was just better as a she as opposed to a he. Also, at the point I got her, my stable was all masculine.

Future Skoll: Apollo: Male. My counter-balance for Loque. I thought it was a fitting name, since he chases the sun as well. He's also not ghostly, like Loque. I thought they balanced each other fantastically, and since Apollo is a male name, he was male.

Terania:

Feral Dragonhawk Hatchling: Phoenix: Male. Essentially the Moonlight equivalent for my blood elf. More sensible and keeps Terania and their newest addition, Ember, out of trouble.

Azzerre the Skyblade: Ember: Male. Literally tamed a few days ago, I never planned to get a wind serpent. I saw it though and was like: Pretty! Must get! As for why he's male, it just clicked in my opinion that he was male.

[Bulletdance]

I tend to think of all of my pets as males. I don't really know why I'm the same with pokemon I'll only catch the boys. Thank goodness for ditto or I'd have no eggs

[Teigan]

Niabi, are your pets grouped by hunter? If so, it looks like you have a bit of a color theme going on most of them!

Narasalu, that is interesting...I might have to go do that. But then, what if I picked the wrong gender! Maybe in the future, if there's one I'm not sure about.

[Ryai]

So lesse.

Yas;
Skoll; Freki [temp name atm]: Male
Loque'nahak; Landowar: Male
Gondria; Moonglow: Female
Corehound; Orthros: Male
Worm: Sunscale; Male

Ryai;
Hydralisk: Erebus: Male
Sapphire Hive Queen: Aurelius: Female
King Mosh: Jareth: Male
Skoll: Neptune; Male
Loque'nahak: Jupiter; Male

Rosalyn;
Bear; Luna; female
Arcturius: Arkaidos; Male
Numaroc/Nuramoc[8D recent tame too!]: Dusksong [Gender unknown atm, leaning Female]
Wind Serpent: BloodWing: Female

Ryai [Bloodhoof]
Clutchmother; Edin: Female
Serpent: Kalon; Male
Scorpid: NerfBat; Male

etc etc etc....



Tbh I know they're genderless but it's just the little bit of backstory/rp I put into it. Or the reasons for the naming, IE Edin and Kalon on my orc hunter Bloodhoof wise- the two names come from a couple RP characters of mine and a friend, one of a bird-kirin esque creature and the other a snake god. The rest are just on a whim names or ones that I just felt fit. And while it seems I do have a tendancy for make creatures, it's not that I see my characters as weak females but instead the pets as male when I tamed them or when I discovered a fitting name for them.

[Narasalu]

But then, what if I picked the wrong gender!

I called my petopian hunter's wolf Albert. I'm very fond of Al now even though I intended to abandon him when I got a WC serpent, but... what if I unknowingly gave a female wolf a masculine name?

The shame would be immense. I almost don't want to know the truth .

[Kryte]

I always consider my pet's gender to be whatever the undead mobs in the Wetlands say it is.
AKA this: http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=3360#comments

I make a habit of going there and finding out with each long term pet I have.

This actually does not work, much I hate to be the bearer of bad news. With the exception of maned lions, all pets seem to have a female base, meaning that they will always become female when cursed by the Wetlands mobs. This includes even warlock pets such as voidwalkers:

http://www.mmo-champion.com/class-warlo ... walkers-o/
(Possibly NSFW, voidwalkers with, uh. Secondary sex characteristics.)