Where did your pets' names came from?

[kamoodle5]

There are plenty of cases where you name one of your pets after a certain character in a movie, game, story, etc. Other times, it out of random. So, where have you got the inspiration for a name for your pets?

As for me, I've had most of my pets named after a movie or some other source. I'll show you what I mean:
1.) Consuela: my black and red spider. I was almost thinking about naming her Charlotte compared to the story Charlotte's Web but I ended up finding a better name. The name Consuela came from the movie Eight-Legged Freaks. That huge female spider actually almost had the exact same patterns as my spider.

2.) Kiara: my Araga. Lion King II after Simba's daughter.

3.) Antares: my bright-blue scorpion. Named after one of the main stars on the Scorpius constellation.

4.) MasaMune: my indigo wind serpent. The e was supposed to have an accent. Maybe when I can afford the Pet Rename scroll in the AH, I'll try to use one of the window alt codes to add an e with an accent. The name came from a fantasy story in an old rpg site I know of that had two characters named Masa and Muné that travel by wind.

And...well, my pink bird's name, Fritz, was completely random. I wanted to give her a name that was remotely silly and also included at least one z in the name, since Mazz has two z's. I once knew a guildie that named her blue tallstrider Fiesta. Also, on my retired hunter, I mentioned before I had an orange cat I named Diego after the saber in Ice Age.

Shared my reason for name choices.

[Redith]

Wolf-Dragon Named after a MWD I worked with
Devilsaur-Rhage named after a character in a vampire book who if is hurt badly turns into a dragon
Hawk-Falco (im lame)
warp stalker-(no name)
Blue tiger-No name

[Vephriel]

Skorn: black devilsaur - Thought up this one while trying to fit with the general naming schemes of Devilsaurs in WoW. One syllable, slightly mis-spelled. I like it. ^^

Beast: red corehound - This guy was The Beast from Blackrock Spire, and though I was tossing around a few name ideas I realized that just plain 'Beast' fit perfectly, and I wanted to keep that characterization with him.

Frostbane: Loque'nahak - Loque has always invoked a cold sort of theme due to the icy blue glow that he has, so I knew his named had to have the word frost in it. Took me a while to find the perfect name, but Frostbane just clicked instantly.

Skoll: Skoll - Another pet that I had to keep the original name on. Nothing else seemed like it would fit, and Skoll was just perfect.

Vengeance: Arcturis - I decided that this beautiful bear would be the spirit of my old diseased black bear named Grudge. The name changed due to his ghost returning to avenge the old grudge that he had against the scourge.

[Sukurachi]

I had those lovely demon-wolves from Zul-whatchamacallit (Northrend zone) on two of my hunters, and I named them for my own dogs: Inouk (means "person") and Tuvaq (means "ice-that-floats-on-water").... I think you can guess that my dogs are both Eskimo dogs.

One of my hunters has a white wind-serpent I named "Schneedrach", which loosely (or maybe not that loosely) translates as "snow dragon".

My two main level 80 hunters (I dual-box mostly, so everything is in pairs) each have a Gondria, which are ALSO named after my dogs: Inouk and Tuvaq (my real-life cats are called "Stewie" and "Raoul"... which are just ... NOT big scary shiny cat names)

I lost all interest in naming pets on two of my alt hunters (yes, I have a LOT of hunter toons): I called their pet Ghost Sabres (yes, each has a Ghost Sabre) Engineer and Alchemist. And yes, those two hunters happen to be - you got it - an engineer and an alchemist. Original? nah, but who cares.

I'm having a tendency now to stick to the same name for all pets associated with a single toon. I have far too many characters to really get into naming their pets now. I play at least 20 different hunters, on multiple accounts across multiple realms.

Hell, I have a hunter with Echeyaki (however that's spelled), and he's still called "cat". I haven't found a name for him yet.

[zedxrgal]

Since I have a butt load of pets I'll only choose a few.

Karma - Albino devilsaur. Her name is pretty self explanatory for the most part. And since Karma's a 'B' she is also female.
Koda - Mist Howler. It's an American Indian name for "friend" and what the elders from many tribes called wolves.
LuLu - Strider Clutchmother. Just thought is sounded beautiful.
Brimstone - Humar. He's black, giant basement cat. Brimstone, hell fire etc.
TheBigBad - Black Ravager. Well. He's big, he's bad and he's a wolf.
Cataclysm - Ghost saber. I named him this because I tamed him only because of the chance he'll no longer be available once Cat comes. I've really fallen in love with him though.
Drumstick - Mazz. Not sure why but I was hungry at the time and drumsticks sounds good. I thought it was a cute - different name to.

Edit: I went and changed Humar's name. After typing it again it was really starting to eat at me. Thank the WoW god's for the certificate of ownership.

[Belaa]

Loque - Karma (Since he's arguably supposed to the hardest one to get.. and I believe in the 'what goes around comes around' )

Skoll - Treachery (According to wikipedia, it's what his name means in Old Norse)

Arcturis - Borealis (Just seemed to fit and Grizzly Hills reminds me so much of Alaska)

Gondria - Wraith (he's a ghost kitty!)

Bloodmaul Battle Worg - Padfoot (from HP)

[Sarayana]

My main pet (a grey spiked raptor), Rafa, is named after my son's godfather. The nickname just popped into my head after I tamed him. It's perfect.

My clutchmother is named Mizu on both my hunters. It's Japanese for water. I chose it because I wanted to stay with the Japanese theme on Aoani, and her first pet was a beige scorpid from Durotar named Aoi - blue in Japanese. Her third pet is a blue moth from Bloodmyst named Hokori - dust in Japanese.

Sara's third pet is the ghost saber, which is named Tama, Japanese for jade (because of the green eyes).

Safira was formerly Gondria - my ex-guildies picked it out because of her look.

Atha is well, Atha. I felt I couldn't change her name.

[Niabi]

Here are the pet names from my two lvl 80 Hunters.

Tsavo (Humar the Pridelord): inspired from the infamous Tsavo lions who were known to have acquired a preference for human flesh.
JubJub (Snapjaw Turtle): inspired from the name given to Selma's pet iguana from the tv show The Simpsons.
Kekoa (Ironjaw Wolf): in Hawaiian, this name means "brave". I also liked how the spelling and pronounciation of the name complimented the Native American feel of the Tauren.
Askari (Imperial Eagle): taken from the African word meaning "soldier". It seemed like a nice fit to me.
Ragnar (Ice Steppe Rhino): A Norwegian name meaning "strong army". I liked the symbolism of the name and how it complimented my rhino.

Seraph (Echeyakee): a seraph refers to the highest rank of angels in heaven. I felt this complimented my beautiful white lion nicely given that he would act as my Blood Elf's loyal and trusted guardian throughout her travels.
Evrae (Son of Hakkar; Windserpent): inspired from the name given to the guardian wyrm of Bevelle in the Final Fantasy 10 series.
Ember (Eclipsion Dragonhawk): Just seemed like a nice fit to me. Also pays tribute to the Dragonhawk's special ability "Fire Breath".
Gemini (The Kurken; Corehound): in Latin, Gemini means "twins" (referring to the two heads of the beast). Gemini is also a constellation of stars in the night sky (referring to the white glow that radiates around the beast).

[Nikrosnil]

Here it is!

White winter wolf - Freki. In Norse mythology, Geri and Freki (Old Norse, both meaning "the ravenous" or "greedy one") are two wolves which are said to accompany the god Odin.

White Tallstrider - Munin. In Norse mythology, Huginn (from Old Norse hugr "thought" or "mind") and Muninn (from Old Norse munr "memory" or "mind") are a pair of ravens that fly all over the world, Midgard, and bring the god Odin information.

I'm a sucker for norse mythology.

Actually, I've just realised, i'm OCD when it comes to WoW.

All of my pets have to match my character, I have to have matching outfits, and they need to have affiliated names. xD

[Senna-Umbreon]

Heh, I was wondering when this topic would pop up!

So, my plethora of pets...

Sandfur's pets
Duma: Dishu - My sweet little cheetah... His name comes from one of my favourite movies of the same name. And if I remember correctly, in the movie it was stated that the word 'Duma' meant 'cheetah' in Swahili.

Bankotsu: Felpaw Wolf - Bit of a story to this... Stemming from my love of anime and the fact that I love to fangirl over certain characters! This time, it's my favourite character from the anime/manga, 'Inuyasha'. In one season of it, there was a character named Bankotsu (Who is, by the way, one of the best looking male characters in the show... <3). The character had actually been killed over 10 years prior to the main storyline, but had been resurrected by the main villian to try to kill the main characters; hence why I named a undead/diseased wolf after him.

Banyru: Spirit of Atha - Aaaand more pets named after characters(Or in this case, weapons) from Inuyasha! Banyru the Ghost Hydra... She's named after none other than Bankotsu's weapon (If you couldn't tell, I'm officially obsessed with that character.. <3), mostly cause I tought it'd be funny to have a pet with this name, due to how it'd go perfectly with my Felpaw Wolf, and since Hydras look very draconic, and the 'ryu' in Banyru means 'dragon' in Japanese!

Vixen: Loque'Nahak - Probably the least interesting story of all Sandfur's pets; Vixen's name comes to from the fact that I was searching for her in december of '08. Her original name had been Lunaria, but I had just given her that name out of not being able to think of anything else at 4:00 am. My mom had suggested the name 'Vixen' at one point due to the time of year; in fact, I ended up taming my lazar kitteh only a few days before Christmas! So after finding a Certificate of Ownership, I renamed her Vixen, after the reindeer of course.

Voltali: Skoll - And last but not least out of Sandfur's pets, is Voltali! Her name comes from my love of Pokemon, as she's named after one of my favourite Electric Types, Jolteon, who's French name is Voltali.

Wolfwhisper's pets
Rysha: Ice Serpent - Bit of a story for this guy's name... In my favourite Pokemon game, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, I ended up naming my Eevee, aka the character I was playing as in the game, after Wolfwhisper, and during a part in the game, I had recruited both Latios and Latias to my team, and had randomly thought of the name 'Rysha' for Latios. And since the blue Outland Wind Serpents kinda reminded me of Latios... I had to name this little guy after him.

EverRoar: Araga - Not much of a story behind her name, just a really awesome name that my dad came up with.

Blitzen: Loque'Nahak - I tamed this guy on the first of december last year, so natually, I named him after the reindeer, to go along with Sandfur's Loque, Vixen.

Leera: Frost Leopard - Named after the Latias that I recruited along with Rysha the Latios in Pokemon Mystery Dungeon.

Kinen: Gondria - Really small story for this guy, basically his name just means 'memory' in Japanese, which I thought suited Gondria well.

Varadoria's pets
Taiga: Deviate Adder - His name means 'river' in Japanese, which suits a blue-ish silver Serpent quite well, I think.

Gahiji: Warp Chaser - Gahiji's name means 'hunter' or 'stalker' in... I can't even remember what language it was XD

Asavari: Arcturis - His name means 'Spirit of the Heavens' in Sanskirt, which suits my little ghostly bear very well <3

DartFire: Azzere the Skyblade - Very simple name for this guy, but suits him well.

Bah, I have too many pets with somewhat interesting names.. XD;

[Anansi]

Hobo (Mulgore Prairie Wolf) - Named after the infamous titular character of the tv show The Littlest Hobo

FatCharlie (Spindleweb Spider) - My Hunter's first pet, named after the main character in the novel The Anansi Boys (mythologically, Anansi was the spider god of West African legends) in which Fat Charlie's father was Anansi and his brother was named Spider.

NagoShango (Soulflayer Wind Serpent) - The Trolls of Warcraft revere the Loa spirits, and in Earth mythology, the Loa are akin to saints in Voodoo religion, hence their use for Trolls. NagoShango is the name of a somewhat elevated Loa and is the sky father and lord of thunder, drumming and dance in Caribbean Voodoo legend.

Zarbi (Sapphire Hive Wasp) - Taken from the name of an insectoid alien race in the 1965 Doctor Who serial "The Web Planet". Though the Zarbi were more like ants than anything, I still used the name.

Sikozu (Loque'Nehak) - Named after a character in the tv series "Farscape".

[Tahlian]

For Tahlian:

Daishar: Daishar is named in the language from Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series. "Daishar" means "glory"..and, as she was once Rak'shiri, I thought it fit when I tamed her.

Tsorovan: Another Old Tongue name. "Tsorovan" means "storm." In the wild, Tsorovan was the ever-elusive Loque'nahak. It seemed appropriate for a sudden flash of light from out of the sky "zotting" you when he attacks...and seemed to have the dignity such a special model deserves.

Clayburn: Clayburn the devilsaur is named after my cousin, who is an amateur stand-up comedian. We went to see him perform one night at our local comedy club's open-mic night. During his set, Clay told a joke in which his wife told him he was walking around "like a skinny T-rex." While I was laughing at the joke, I knew I just had to tame a devilsaur and name it after him. So I did, and Clayburn has sort of become the mascot of my 25-man Icecrown raid, and is a great favorite with our feral druids.

Cinders: Cinders, the Vargul Blighthound is named after the Justicar's sentient hellhound cloak in the D&D novels set in Greyhawk by Paul Kidd. He describes Cinders the hellhound cloak with a personality much like I see in the Blighthound animations. Also, given the flame effects that the Blighthound has, a fiery name like Cinders seemed appropriate.

Jabberwock: Named for the famous monster in the poem "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll. I wanted a name for my new white warp stalker that sounded like a monster that was here-yet-not here, and I was reminded of the line from the poem "Beware the Jabberwock, my son - the jaws that bite, the claws that catch!", which I also thought were very descriptive of a warp stalker.

[FuzzyDolly]

Almost all my pets have come named... Skoll, Gondria, Loque, Nuramoc, Aotona, The Kurken (when I had him). I figured since their mommies already named them, who am I to change it?

The others I've had...

Bumble the white devilsauer... because Bumbles bounce. (And you can't tame yetis)

Archimedes the owl. My first pet. He's visiting relatives in Darnusses until Cataclysm. He got tired and needed a break. 70 levels will do that.

Lucy the barking mulgore wolf. Because she looks almost exactly like my RL dog Lucy. Even including the "mane" behind the head.

My new Troll hunter has Eechyakee (already named), Mazzaranche (already named) and Macula, the tiger from Echo Isles. Why Macula you ask, because it's Latin for Spot and I just had to do it... lol

[Rhyela]

Rhyela's Pets:

Apollyon - means "The Destroyer" in Greek. I can't even begin to describe how perfect that name is for my King Krush. After he destroyed my attempts to tame him several times, I finally got him, and now he just destroys everything else. To me he is the epitome of destruction.

Dante - when I see Loque'nahak, I think of blue fire, one of fire's purest forms. This caused me to try to think of fiery-esque names, and just out of the blue my mind stumbled upon Dante's Inferno. I've never read it, but I still know of it, and the name just clicked. I did re-name him a couple weeks ago to Roku, but it just wasn't right, so I changed it back to Dante. And Dante he will remain.

Shikon - named after the Shikon Jewel from the Inu Yasha series that I used to watch religiously. It was a beautiful jewel of power, and Gondria's purple color and swirling essence, along with those jewel-like eyes (and with some help from fellow Petopians)...everything aligned just right and the name clicked.

Tetsusaiga - yet another Inu Yasha series name, this time named after Inu Yasha's sword. It becomes a weapon of incredible power when Inu Yasha wields it in defense of human beings. It also has a white-furred hilt, and was formed from his father's fang. With Echeyakee being a white lion with those obvious large fangs, and the fact that he is a protector of human(oid)s, it fit.

Rainey - she is named after Ma Rainey, the "Mother of Blues". Since Rainey was in her previous life the Strider Clutchmother, who is blue, the name was just too perfect.


Hildna's Pets:

Ostrom - named after paleontologist John Ostrom who is famous for studying deinonychus, which in a nutshell (from what I remember) is the "real" velociraptor popularized in modern books and movies. Deinonychus is larger than velociraptor.

Regal - named after Regal Bryant from Tales of Symphonia, one of my favorite RPG's. There really aren't many similarities between my lion and Regal, other than that they're good fighters (and I really liked Regal's character/personality) but I thought since lions are dubbed "the king of the jungle", the adjective/name Regal seemed to fit.

[Lazuly]

All my pets are named after the Hindu pantheon:

Hyena - 'Rudra' ('The Howler'): God of the hunt, storms, and the wind
Firefly - 'Shri' (a.k.a. 'Lakshmi'): Goddess of light, courage and prosperity.
Warpstalker - 'Kali' ('The Black One'): Goddess of death, time, and change

[Wassa]

Most of Wassa's pets names are Maori, Japanese or African in origin, since they all sound like trollish names.

My current pets:
Hahadori (Strider Clutchmother)- Japanese for "mother bird" since she is the clutchmother
Mimizuku (Owl) - Japanese for "horned owl"
Hirameku (Warp Stalker) - Japanese for "(1) to flash (lightning, etc.); to flicker (lights); to glitter; (2) to wave; to undulate"
Hukarere (Skoll) - Maori for "snow"
Kintari (Ghost Wolf) - named after a friend. The word is African in origin but I don't know what it means.

[VelkynKarma]

Karma - Albino devilsaur. Her name is pretty self explanatory for the most part. And since Karma's a 'B' she is also female.

Loque - Karma (Since he's arguably supposed to the hardest one to get.. and I believe in the 'what goes around comes around' )

D'awww, y'all namin' yer pets after meeee?

I mean, what? No? Aw...

XD

For Tahlian:

Daishar: Daishar is named in the language from Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series. "Daishar" means "glory"..and, as she was once Rak'shiri, I thought it fit when I tamed her.

Not Tai'daishar, out of curiosity? If I remember correctly (and it's been a few years) that was the name of Rand's horse.


Anyway, Silinrul's pets all have a 'drow name' theme, they all mean something
Jiaphyon (Scarlet Tracking Hound) ~ "Laughing Death"
Rhylnar (Loque'Nahak) ~ "Moon Ghost"
Felyndril (White Devilsaur) ~ "White Knight"
Altonin (Skoll) ~ "Lightning Lord"
The fifth slot still shifts, I haven't found the perfect pet for that final slot yet.

Taigi's pets are mostly words in the Tauren tongue, but her infamous Humar is named Jackson after my friend's lion-sized housecat.

~VelkynKarma

[kamoodle5]

Any karma is a good karma.

[VelkynKarma]

Any karma is a good karma.

~VelkynKarma

[Tilo]

Old Cliff Jumper
Fippy - the terrorizing gnoll from Queynos Hills himself; Fippy Darkpaw

King Krush
Yoshi - Super Mario Bro. dinosaur
Reptar - Rugrats godzilla dinosaur

Loque'nahak
Fleck - spot - well Loque has spots so... ya'

Skoll & Arcturis
Virtus - courage - for my stepdad who passed away last year
Helice - the great bear - same reason as above, his nickname is bear, & he's a big guy