Serious or Silly?

[Neverforever]

I see a lot of people in this forum seem to drift towards more serious names for their pets. Pretty ones, but i'd never really liked naming pets like that. I tend to pick names that resonate well with my sense of humor or names I figure just fit well.

You can see from my stables:
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/a ... t#13568597

When deciding a name, what factors really urge you to choose a more serious name? I understand that on RP realms it makes sense, but even on normal realms? I'd never really gotten it.

[Ocyen]

Depends on my toon at the time. I have 3 main hunters I play, my PvE/RP one has serious names, my PvP one has something between and my dumbass PvP/RP Orc has silly names...but then again, his name is Meatfist.

[Rhyela]

I suppose that I'm just more of an RP person. When naming my characters, I want them to be named something believable. I guess I put too much RL thinking into it, maybe. For example, I would not name my child "Bigbewbs", so why would my character's parents do any differently? My characters, most of the time, have a name that means something to me.

And for pets, it's probably about the same thing. With pets I have a little more leniency. My dog IRL is named Truffles, but then I have a cat named Mia. But I still wouldn't dare name my in-game pets anything that I wouldn't name one of my beloved pets IRL. For example, I wouldn't even think to name my dog "Imwithstupid" or "Dumbbutt", that's just demeaning to the pet. It can't choose its own name, therefore it's up to me to give it a good one. So, that's how I treat my in-game pets, too.

I probably just put too much thought, RL and RP into names, but that's the reason for it, anyway.

[Vephriel]

Pretty much what Rhyela said. I may not RP in game, but I'm always immersing myself and thinking along those lines regardless.

Probably the silliest name I have is my undead boar Frankenswine. I'm not completely opposed to humourous names, but as a whole I go with more 'realistic' or suiting names.

[Nahale]

.

[Serenith]

I'm on an RP server, which is why I like more serious names that I can see my hunter actually naming it. If I was on a normal server, you better believe I would want some more cutesy names (Like "Lime" for Kirix ). I'm really picky too, and most names that I like just don't suit my hunters. Raeya, Serenith's white kitty, is named after my wonderful white house cat that passed away last year. Her name was Rachel, but I twisted it to fit a night elf hunter. Had I been on a normal server I would have named her exactly after her, but since she is a RP elfy, I needed it to sound more appropriate to the race. (She also has a wolf named after an anime character, but it fit so I was happy)

Thats just what I am like. I can't hate on others for wanting silly or stupid names. I often find myself wondering how some people come up with the names they have cause they are just that silly or random. While amusing, it just doesn't work for me.

[Sam]

I see a lot of people in this forum seem to drift towards more serious names for their pets. Pretty ones, but i'd never really liked naming pets like that. I tend to pick names that resonate well with my sense of humor or names I figure just fit well.

You can see from my stables:
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/a ... t#13568597

When deciding a name, what factors really urge you to choose a more serious name? I understand that on RP realms it makes sense, but even on normal realms? I'd never really gotten it.

Yours are humorous, but not low humor like the names Rhyela mentioned. "BearlyThere" is pretty funny, and "DoubleVision" for a chimaera is great. (And you have the purple one! I looked and looked for that one, lol.)

I use a mix and probably more are humor-based than not. My main's chimaera is Tesla, she has a tiger named Parker (for Richard Parker in Life of Pi), a crab named Cake, and her pink tallstrider is Divine. Throbulator, her brain bug, is definitely on the stupid side of humorous names. Fardels, her beloved bear, is named for a line in Hamlet: "Who would fardels bear?" Nobody seems to think that one's funny but me, but I don't care.

One of my hunters has an Egyptian pun name, Samenhotep (after Amenhotep). All her pets have Egyptian names. Her spider is Neith, goddess of weaving and of hunters so very appropriate. She has an undead vulture named Nekhbet for the vulture goddess. She also has an Anubis and a Bastet. And she has the flaming boar. Took me awhile to come up with a good name for him; I settled on Kyphi, which is an ancient Egyptian incense. It seemed appropriate for a pet on fire.

[Aleu]

Depends really. I often give them serious names, but I know two pets in my stable that don't have serious names. That being my Worm which is just an inside joke between me and my boyfriend. >.> The other is GrapeSoda, my Deth. XD It was suggested by my guildmates. I think for me it just depends on the situation in which I tamed them and whether or not I'd ever think to use them in lore/RP.

[GormanGhaste]

My names run the gamut. My most serious-sounding pet names right now are on my Worgen, but even then, many of them are punny: her wolf Virjinia, hyena Esme, bear LeGuin, boar Ima, and spider Butler. (Her croc Marlowe, however, claims no relation to the playwright.)

As to your question, I'm probably in the middle of the spectrum. I like to put some thought into my pet names, but I try not to take myself too seriously, either.

[Cerele]

Serious

I have one silly name... but thats a story for another time

[CrystalKitten]

I do use both, as can be seen on my stables: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/l ... et#1217177

Pretty much though, I agree with not naming my pet something I wouldn't name a real pet.. Or stuffed animal (yes... yes... i know.. haha) for a slightly more silly one. I'm not overly fond of compound names in general unless there's a REALLY good reason.

But yeah, some examples.. Ardenset and Variscix are named after other words/terms and then modified. Kinserok and Zyra are just random fantasy like names. Suki is named after a very very special pet which was recently put down... (her story is somewhere). Nine is a reference to my fav chocolate bar, and Arrow is similar. Then I've got some more slightly silly names, like Squiggles, Bubbles, Pydar, Sparkles.. which are either little inside... not quite jokes, but things for me, or just names that instantly hit me with "OMG THAT HAS TO BE IT'S NAME!"

[Nubhorns]

Silly names suit my character's personality, so I tend to get a lot of them. She's got a devilsaur named Kiwi, a vulture named Pickles, and a core hound named Debbie, along with Hadouken(Skoll) and Shoryuken(Gondria) as little nods to my OOC life - my other hunter has Boone, Cass, ED-E, Mojave and Fallout, the first three being the names of some of my favorite Fallout companions. ;) On the other hand, I've got Nero, Lemmy, Killinger - slightly more serious names. When I tried to force myself to name something 'in character' when I was an orc, it just felt dull and boring - I still bonded with Umbergore, but his name is a lot 'fancier' than the other pets I love just as much.

I guess most of my names are silly. But I can't force myself to give something a name I don't like. :P

[Feralclaw]

I suppose that I'm just more of an RP person. When naming my characters, I want them to be named something believable. I guess I put too much RL thinking into it, maybe. For example, I would not name my child "Bigbewbs", so why would my character's parents do any differently? My characters, most of the time, have a name that means something to me.

And for pets, it's probably about the same thing. With pets I have a little more leniency. My dog IRL is named Truffles, but then I have a cat named Mia. But I still wouldn't dare name my in-game pets anything that I wouldn't name one of my beloved pets IRL. For example, I wouldn't even think to name my dog "Imwithstupid" or "Dumbbutt", that's just demeaning to the pet. It can't choose its own name, therefore it's up to me to give it a good one. So, that's how I treat my in-game pets, too.

I probably just put too much thought, RL and RP into names, but that's the reason for it, anyway.

Exactly. While I do have several silly names (example: Shellfuras the Terrorpene ) nine times out of ten I use serious names (Go ahead and browse through my hunters' stables, the links are in my sig) for the reason Rhyela said above.

[Zhuge]

I tend to pick a name then try and match a pet to it - such as Jiffy and Zak (these are based on my rl doggies and I think they are the best representation of them in game ) I'm so fond of them I wanted them to join in the fun and adventures in Azeroth with me :3 In rl both are sausage dogs, but Jiffy is brown, quick, spazzy and feisty (hence a brown hyena!) whilst Zak is black, eats EVERYTHING, defensive and grumpy (a epic black boar was the only option as he also does the same cute butt-wiggle xD).

My spirit beasts have a theme going thanks to a former guildie who has sadly stopped playing. When I went into Kara with him to farm the horse reins he said my first SB Loque shot lazers like Sephiroth lol - so since then all my SBs are named after video game bad guys I'm fond of (Raziel, Wesker, Himiko).

I don't think I've ever had a silly pet name tbh - but then again I never tame a pet lightly, each one is thought-out and much adored member of my team The only pet I did tame for fun was Raiden my seagull, and I never seemed to bond with him I guess in a way I do sort of RP, as I try to fit personality to pet

[Miacoda]

I tend to name my pets more serious names, but I'm totally not against silly ones if they're in good taste.

My corehound is named BLOODLUST. I think I might change him to not be in all caps <.< Once I remember to buy a certificate of ownership.

[Finduilas]

I have 3 hunters on 85 and one in its forties and it really depends on the hunter and on the pet itself what name it gets.
My Orc was my first hunter I got to the max levels (70, 80 and 85). When I started him and tamed his first pet Arod, his tiger, I was all into the Lord of the Rings. Arod is the name of one of the Rohirrim's horses and I just found the name was wonderful. I like calling some pets after book characters I really like. His Morga's cat from the Zul Dungeon is named Alcuin after a character in the book I'm reading right now. Findu's red Madexx is Regin after an evil character in one of my favourite trilogies. Morgas purple warpie is Dobby. I'm a Harry Potter nerd and Dobby is so cute I had to name a pet after him.
http://eu.battle.net/wow/de/character/n ... et#8941664
This is Morga's stable. His stable shows a variety of years of playing with my hunter and his pets. I retamed some of my old pets after we got more stable slots, like Varg, my Skoll. Morga's new spirit beasts from 4.2. all have Indian-American names with some spirit or animal background. Sambas got a funny name. I named him TerrenceHill because of his blue eyes. I don't know if you know Bud Spencer and Terrence Hill films, but the actor has very bright blue eyes.

Finduilas' stable link is in my siggie. With a few exceptions all her pets are named after nordic gods or swedish towns. Nala is my spotted cat in Rl, so I named Findus Loque and Morga's hyena after her because of the spots. And Barky is quite obvious: he's a barking wolf. Idefix is my parent's cat and I named a white one after her, because sadly there are no grey cats with white paws in game

Larkania's stable is a total mix of food and spices along with other names. Some of her pets exist since 2007 like Dösie (nick name for my parent's cat)
http://eu.battle.net/wow/de/character/n ... et#8991523
I wanted to name my Karoma Chanel, but it was not allowed, so she got Coco instead (in my head I'm always adding the Chanel). Flora is my other Rl cat. Some pets of her do have indian-american names, too, as I think they fit a Tauren perfectly.

My baby hunter has no name theme, yet. I just choose names I like and/or think are funny, she has two chocolate bars: Snickers (her parrot) and Twix her raptor, I tamed both for the pet challenge and like names that go along with each other.

I don't take names too seriously, but it has to fit the character of my toon and his/her pets. Normally I like names that are unique for me or I have a special connection to. If I want to bond with a pet, it needs to have a name I apreciate and can go on with for years.
One of my Ally hunters has a bear called "Liebhabär" it's a German joke to name your bear some German word that is pronounced like "bär" (bear) but originally spelled in an other way. You put the "bär" in for your bear pet. Liebhaber is lover in German. But if you write it with "bär" it get's a really funny and lovely pet name There are gazzillion of "bär"-jokes and pets running around on German servers.

So, pretty long post, but lots of names and name themes need explanation.

[Mychelle]

Hmm...I named my Solix "LiteBrite" after the toy...and I absolutely love the name. Would that be considered as silly...?

[Zenali]

My names vary, but are usually leaning torwards nonsensical. x-x

Deth'tilac: Piper, for the character from Charmed.
Solix: Nacho and Speedy
Kirix: Toxi
Olm the Wise: Darius (the singer from Hootie and the Blowfish. HOOTie. Get it?! *crawls off in shame*)
A vulture named Colin for Colin Mochrie.
Purple crocolisk: Charlie and Agro (Steve Irwin's crocs)
Slaverjaw: Snickers and Crunch
Grunter: Waffles
I do have a blue felboar named Glasstusk, I've had people think it was a rare spawn because of that name. XD
Then there's Kassidi's King Krush. I asked what I should call him, a guildie responded mrgrlrlrlrlrlrlrlrl! His name is Murgle for short. =)