To give my pet a human name

[Iliketoparrty]

Hi I have a hamster, I just got him. I have given him a human name like Kevin but not. My SIL thinks its 1stly weird I have a hamster (I'm in my thirties) and 2ndly given him a human name.

SIL isn't pregnant but says I have taken a name way from her. She doesn't like Kevin but now I've used it she can never use it

Apparently this is a common rule for names, I should have known this. I should have waited until I knew her baby names before choosing to use a name for anything other than a baby.

Aibu to have not known this was a thing and to have laughed.

I think something similar happened on Scrubs.

Cats - Agatha, Max, and Desmond.
Dogs - Barty and Jake.
Ferrets - Vinnie and Paulo.
Chickens - Myrtle, Ava, and Hermione.

All of our animals have always had people names. I had an African Clawed Toad once, it's name was Mabel.

Foalan! That's a great name, OP. Your SIL sounds mighty odd. FWIW My dogs are Maisey and Wendy. Human names often make the best animal names.

I used names for my pets that DH didn't like for our children.

Pearl the Chihuahua and Edith the Yorkie are the closest I'll get to having my way.

All our dogs, save our current one who came to us named, have had human names. But oddly enough, none of our cats have had them. Hmm, I think I need to sit and ponder this.

Sorry, but how is Foalan in any way comparable to Kevin? It's really obscure!

I really like obscure names for pets so I'm not objecting, but giving your pet a really unusual name isn't taking a name choice away from anyone is it? Do you know anyone (human) called Foalan - when I looked up the name I got an obscure 7th century Irish saint and a (non human) character in a childrens fantasy series.

Your SIL is really really odd!

Should you wish to get another animal, then do consider '[SiL] Is A Massive Arse' for its name.

Breeding twins yourself and calling them Spot and Fluffy or Rex and Queenie might be just a tiny step too far, sadly.

Your SiL is bonkers. Send her virtual hamsters. Get her to justify their names. Or, alternatively and much less trouble, just shun her.

Our snake has a human name. So does DM's dog, and a bunch of friends have named their pets human names as well.

You should get another hamster and name it after SIL

My SIL called one of her sons after the cat. Her family had always had cats called Tom, and she liked the name.

Faolan is fantastic for a biting hamster. Your DH is a genius. I am now thinking of naming my next small pet Wolfgang.

An old school friend named her guinea pigs Finn McCool, Demis Roussos, Barry White and Barbra Streisand.

My next door neighbours used to have hamsters called Helen and Jeffrey.

I love human names for animals!

Even our chickens have human names

This is Hermione, she's sick

We also have a cat named Timothy, and another named Fake Timothy

Fnar!

I have a cat called Moira, which is also the name of our director at work. Much hilarity when I announced that Moira did a weewee on the bed.

We have a huge dog called Fred, before him we had a Ben and a Sam.

Dd had rats called Barbara, Penelope and Sophie. She had chosen Penelope and Sophie as we were going to get a pair, but when we noticed the shop only had three we had to take them all (rats are social creatures and the one left behind would have struggled), she didn't have a third name so we used the shop assistants name, Barbara. She wasn't offended and thought it was lovely.

Some animals suit human names, others don't. Our cat has an Egyptian goddess name (as befits her status).

My friend had a cat called Nigel, she was lovely

A word of warning though, don't use any human names you like for future kids.... naming you baby after your cat or dog is not a good idea. (Actually when I posed this question last year the MN camp was split but we didn't use the cats name in the end)

I wanted to call my cat Daventry but alas she is an Amber.

• Dave - although Daventry is fab!!!

All pets these days have 'ironic' human names. I long to meet a terrier called Pickles rather than Colin.

I've used human type names for many of my pets as stated above, but my Terrier was an exception - she demanded a dog name from the very start

Yes, I don't like the whole ironic names thing. There are so many cats called Colin and dogs called Dave, it's all a bit overdone I think.

My neighbour's hamster is called Peter. I know someone whose dog is called Christopher. I just love how it has to be Christopher. God help anyone who calls it Chris.

We have gerbils called Derek, Peter, Jemima and Evangeline (all girls, but DS named his 2 with boys names), and chickens called Sheldon, Penny, Claude, Blossom, Kentucky and Henrietta (2 inspired by Big Bang theory, a pun ("Clawed"), DD's flowery choice, a hilarious (to DCs) food joke, and a name with "Hen" in it).
The next chickens are having all the baby names I wasn't allowed by DH (because he thought they were "too posh")...

I know dogs called -

Nigel
Harry
Tommy
Steven
Jasper
Dylan

and a cat called Travis

I'm afraid that if I were you I'd be buying a whole herd (flock, flange??) of hamsters & call them every name I thought she'd like......

Or just get one more & name it after her.....

In our family there are a number of fabulously named animals: Alan the cat, Steve the dog, Matilda the horse and a lone fish called Ken Loach DH wants to call our next pet Dave (irrespective of gender).
Your sil is being a tit and I would imagine she is just being stroppy because she is jealous that she doesn't have a hamster called Kevin. Let's face it - everyone wants a hamster called Kevin!!

Pets we've had over the years include

Katie
Toby
Sian
Harry
Sam
Millie
Lottie
Jordan
John
Donnie
Tom
Candy
Cassie