Why do people name their pets human names?

1. 36

   Christa Swopeposted 10 years ago

   Why do people name their pets human names?

   replyreport
2. 39

   Borsiaposted 10 years ago

   I never did. My pets were always named after personality traits. My first dog was Dizzy, he chased his tail. My next dog was Taco, he stole tacos his favorite snack. My cats were Trouble & Mischief suited them perfectly when I first saw them Trouble had paint on her nose and Mischief soot on his head.
   I would say the majority of my friends used more "pettish" names as opposed to human ones.
   I always wondered what animals call each other?
   Do ants have names? How do they remember them all?

   replyreport
3. 77

   JohnGreasyGamerposted 10 years ago

   What dog names do you know? What name has been invented specifically for a dog in the same way humans name each other? We can only call them 'woof', 'snarl', 'whine' and 'bark' if this were the case. I named my cat after an old friend, but I also named one of my pets Smudge for the black smudge on her nose. If you can't think of a human name, one will likely turn to the pet's traits.
   
   I'll also ask the same question Borsia does: how do animals or identify each other? We say all ants look the same, and yet they'd say the same about us humans. It's a mystery.

   replyreport
   1. 0

      sheilamyersposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Smudge is a cool name. My cat I have now is named Smudge and for the same reason.

      replyreport
4. 0

   sheilamyersposted 10 years ago

   I have no idea, but I think it's funny when they're standing outside and yelling at a dog and, if I don't know the people, I think they're yelling at a kid. Most of my cats have been named after characters from books and movies. Tigger from Winnie the Pooh, Hoggle from Labyrinth, and Pippen from the Lord of the Rings.

   replyreport
5. 51

   Mksteinposted 10 years ago

   I have always named my pets "human" names, because to me, they are similar to children. Well, except my first dog, I named her Misty strictly because we tried out lots of names and none really stuck until one day she tooted and I said, "Whoa! You're making my eyes misty!" And she perked up her ears and seemed excited when I said that word. Not the ideal way to get a name, but boy did it suit her personality!
   Otherwise, my cat Oscar was named by going through the phonetic alphabet, my cat Sophie was named after a missionary, my Jack Russell Lucy was named by my 5 year old son, and  his superior inventive name for her brother, Brother Jack. And now we have a Rat Terrier named Penny! and my son was 10 when we got her. She was advertised in a paper called the Penny Saver and she has spina bifida, and the people we got her from abused her, so he said we saved her, thus Penny Saver.
   He also bought his girlfriend a puppy last year and they brought him home on Dec 18th. I grew up in CT, and to honor the loved ones lost in Newton, they named the puppy Sandy Hook. He just goes by Sandy now.
   But they have all been extensions of my family, and I loved and do love them. I guess that  is why they get human names.  Sometimes they have traits that resemble humans, especially that they just want to be loved.

   replyreport