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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To give my pet a human name

190 replies

Iliketoparrty · 28/09/2015 21:56

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 Hmm

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.

OP posts:
Hersetta427 · 29/09/2015 13:35

oh and the rabbits are Holly and Delilah (and the chinchilla is Leo).

BathshebaDarkstone · 29/09/2015 13:37

YANBU, I don't care.

Hersetta427 · 29/09/2015 13:38

In our defence we rescued Dave and his 2 sons and at the time he was called Big Dave but as it is also my husband's name, he said if there was anyone going to be called Big Dave it was going to be him, so Big Dave became just Dave!

MyNameIsRonnieFuckingPickering · 29/09/2015 13:41

I feel bad now for dissing guinea pig single dad Dave.

flowery · 29/09/2015 13:47

We have a springer called Hamish and there is a staffie who lives near us called Janet, which I think is fantastic.

MollyCarpenter · 29/09/2015 13:55

Our dog was called Sophie and our cats were Gemma and David. The mice, four of them all exactly the same, were called Charlie. The boy mouse, who had to live on his own, was called Cuthbert.

Your SIL is bonkers!

Petradreaming · 29/09/2015 13:55

My SIL gave my niece the same name as my horse. The horse was here first but she didn't mind the baby being her name sake.

MonstrousPippin · 29/09/2015 14:05

As a child I had guinea pigs named Humphrey, Hilary, Gerald and Snuffles. I'm not quite sure how one of them got the cutesy non-human name but it gave a nice contrast!

helenahandbag · 29/09/2015 14:49

flowery

Janet the Staffie Grin

Outstanding.

Plomino · 29/09/2015 14:55

One of my my neighbours has a horse called Colin . I know this because she bawls it in Hyacinth Bouquet tones every evening when she gets him in . I have an Enzo myself , and used to borrow a Basil ( the slowest horse in the world ) every so often.

Moln · 29/09/2015 14:56

The poster up thread is correct: gerbils must have human names. It is hamsters that should not.

My hamster was called 'fat cheeks' in Welsh. He's sadly missed.

Phone your sil and tell her immediately. The bit about the names, not about my hamsters death, that's too sad, even twenty years after.

FrenchJunebug · 29/09/2015 15:57

YANBU I have a cat called Serge.

Lancelottie · 29/09/2015 16:08

Huh.

All of our gerbils were called Gurgle, except for the one that was called Pip.

The hamster was called Derek.

LadyBaelish · 29/09/2015 16:17

YANBU. Two of our cats have human names, the other has a name that people usually think of as a dog's name. When I was young my hamster was Hammy so whatever you call him, be more original than I was! Grin

LadyBaelish · 29/09/2015 16:19

Just after posting, because that's always when you remember things...a guy I work with has two hamster, Steve and Matisse Grin the difference in names always makes me smile

ToadsJustFellFromTheSky · 29/09/2015 21:39

So the hamster isn't actually called Kevin then?

ToadsJustFellFromTheSky · 29/09/2015 21:44

I would say most of my pets have/had human names. The ones that didn't have human names were the ones I had as a child but any pet I had from about mid teenage aged onwards was given a human name.

None human names for pets tends to strike me as being quite childish tbh. I know that's not rational and I'm not sure whether I think that because only the pets I named as a child myself had non-human names whereas all the pets I've named as an adult had human names or I've given them the names I have because of this view Confused.

Right now I have two cats, a hamster and two guinea pigs. All of them have human names.

QueenofLouisiana · 29/09/2015 21:44

These are all much better than my reply!

I think you should just nod and smile at SIL. Remind her of this conversation in 6 years time when she isn't hormonal leg challenged by pregnancy. She may even be able to laugh!

I had some really odd melt-dozens during pregnancy, I'm almost ready to admit I may have been unreasonable

Sallystyle · 29/09/2015 21:45

I have a dog called Gordon, and one called Charlotte.

A hamster named after three of my children's dad.

2ndSopranosRule · 29/09/2015 21:59

Dh wanted to call our cat Bungle (as in Rainbow) which I vetoed on the grounds that I was not listening to the vet call "Bungle [our surname]" in the waiting room.

Anyway, our old next door neighbour had a bichon frise called Dave.

Ethylred · 29/09/2015 22:02

Outstanding post, OP, your SIL sounds hilarious. Do you have any other SIL-related stories?

MERLYPUSSEDOFF · 29/09/2015 22:34

My NDN has a spaniel called Zack. The other side have a son called Zack. Human Zack thinks it's great.

Andylion · 30/09/2015 01:24

Am I the only person who read the title of this thread as "To give my pet human a name"? Blush

BikeRunSki · 30/09/2015 12:23

Was that you Tigger?

AlpacaPicnic · 30/09/2015 12:50

I have two cats called Matthew and Jeffrey.

I had assorted hamsters...
Gin
Pickle
Melville
Spot
Bob, Lord of Evil.

Guess which hamster DH named...?