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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Naming baby the same as a pet?

14 replies

horsechesnut · 12/08/2010 11:36

I was chatting to a woman in a shop t'other day and she told me that a friend of hers had named her baby Sam despite this also being the name of her dog. She didn't name her son after the dog, she just likes the name Sam so much, she didn't want to name him anyhitng else.

My question is - would you name your baby the same a your pet if you really loved a name and ... would you rename the pet in question?

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
BuntyPenfold · 12/08/2010 11:40

I know a Katy named after their dog - she just thinks it is funny.

seaturtle · 12/08/2010 22:12

I read a book about a woman and her guide dog (true story) and the woman names her baby girl Kerensa Emma. Emma was the name of the dog.

Steve Irwin's daughter Bindi Sue is named after his dog Sui.

EightiesChick · 12/08/2010 22:28

I've struggled with this as I loved the (female) name we gave to our second cat, who died. However, since I had a DS rather than a DD, it wasn't an issue. Don't know what I'd do if I had a DD - I still like the name, and its first owner isn't around Sad but our friends/family would know it as her name originally IYSWIM. I do like other names; it's not that my heart is absolutely set on this one, so I would probably not use it in the end.

I do know people who gave their first DS a middle name that was also their cat's name - it was not a standard person's name either (not Fluffy; think along the lines of Viking or Warrior). However their naming preferences were generally pretty wacky.

luciemule · 12/08/2010 22:33

We had a kitten before we had kids called Dylan. He was our baby. Then we had our baby and before the birth, the only boy's name we thought we wnated was Dylan. Finally we decided that we simply couldn't call the baby the same sname as the cat and thankfully dd was a girl so we didn't need to worry.
I don't think it matters too much if you really love the name. That was the reason you chose it for your pet to begin with.

Lora69 · 13/08/2010 07:07

hahaha, i am having the same problem- but with my TEDDY BEAR!!! Me and OH are both very into our bear Henry, talk to him and cuddle him every night, im not even kidding :P

luciemule · 13/08/2010 09:41

Henry is a lovely name for a baby boy and nobody need know that's what your bear is called. Bit more removed than a pet - obviously not dissing your bear!

Lora69 · 14/08/2010 14:27

hehe, damn right dont diss my bear!! My bear is like a child to me haha, like one of those weird women with monkeys or plastic dolls instead of a baby.. I cant actually sleep without him, everyone who I've ever lived with talks about my Henry LOL. How sad am I :)

In answer to the OP question, I would use the name and I could NEVER rename my precious bear! (or pet!)

diddl · 14/08/2010 14:35

"Steve Irwin's daughter Bindi Sue is named after his dog Sui."

Wasn´t Bindi also his favourite crocodile?

It might depend on the age of the petBlush

Wouldn´t rename the pet if I did do it, though.

Threelittleducks · 14/08/2010 14:43

I had a hamster, a while before I even conceived I might add (and had no plans to conceive) and called him Thomas, as I was currently studying an Englsh degree and had a fondness for Thomas Hardy.

A year later, struggling to find a name for a boy we unwittingly didn't think (and very honestly) when we settled on Thomas for our ds.
We just love the name.

Little Thomas Hardy was duly renamed a variety of things such as Tum, Tuminus, Mr.Tumnus, Tompon....anything except Tom/Thomas.

It's ok, I don't think the hamster minded.
And I don't think think that it's such a bad thing to name a child :)

Threelittleducks · 14/08/2010 14:45

P.S My teddy's name is also something we are considering for ds2.

Oh god, lol.

It's ok, his name is Benjamin :)

seaturtle · 14/08/2010 23:07

Diddl- apparently Bindi means "girl" in an Aboriginal language. Wouldn't be surprised if it was a crocodile's name though. He loved his crocodiles. Saw footage of him weeping over and cradling the body of one that had passed away.

splatt · 15/08/2010 04:05

Our dog is called Harry and my husband is very stubornly stuck on Harrison for a boy. Which will clearly get shortened to Harry. He doesn't seem to think there's any issue but have told him under no uncertain term that the baby and the dog are NOT having the same name!!!!

SpiderWilliam · 15/08/2010 07:42

The joke in DH's family is that he was named after MIL's childhood dog. As a result they were occasionally referred to as "James boy" and "James dog".

This has meant that DH won't contemplate naming our children with any of his pets' names. That's fine for Brett and Jasper, but I was a bit annoyed that he wouldn't countenance Max. Grin

FerminaUrbinoDaza · 15/08/2010 08:24

When DD was born she was given a toy cat that we named George. Fast forward to my next pregnancy - a DS on the way - DP and I both wanted to use George but couldn't face the ribbing we'd have got for naming DS after DD's favourite toy.

AS it is I like the name he has better than George in the end.

I certainly couldn't have used a name I'd previously used for a pet, however much I loved it. Although, I don't think there's actually anything wrong with doing it.

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