To choose a baby name that has been used for a family pet?

[PatoPotato]

So we're looking at baby names at the moment and my DH won't let me choose a name that his family has used for pets. The issue is that his family and mine have used two names I really love on pets, Charles (Charlie) and Luna.

WIBU to use a name that have been names of dogs of my in laws or my db?

I did - new baby has the same name as my childhood pet (well same shortening anyhow) Not a problem for anyone except my father who looked at the current dog, then looked at the baby and asked if that was going to be confusing for the dog. No dad, that dog died 25 years ago. It's not the same dog. Oh, he says. Wasn't even the same size or colour dog

Yeah I think it would be a bit weird at first but then the baby becomes far more important so everyone so it probably gets forgotten about that it was the pet’s name

My cousin's wife chose a name that was the name of my cousin's dog as a child and, since, used as a nickname for ME (there was a reason). The wife becomes hugely cross whenever anyone uses my nickname now, or indeed dares to refer to the dog. She doesn't want her child to know. If you're OK with the child knowing that (which I would be as I love my nickname and the reason for it she was a very beloved dog) then go for it! If you think that it might be award then give it a steer.

Funnily enough I didn’t use Ben because my DSis’s (deceased) dog was called that. A few years later my niece, my DSis’s DD, called her DS Ben. 🤷🏻‍♀️

My sister named her daughter the same name as our childhood cat (who actually died less than 10 years ago)

When I asked her if it was in hommage to the cat she said she had never even made the connection.

Worked out okay for Indiana Jones

My dd shared her name with the neighbour's cat when she was born! Since then we've come across all types of pets with the same name, it's a family joke now. It's a lovely name but it seems a lot of pet owners agree!

Is the name Fido?

DH had a cat which had his own name!

So many lovely names are used on pets these days so it makes it difficult. Charlie is dead but Luna is still alive. I guess I could choose Rufus, Coco, Felix, or Fifi to even the score for humans a bit?

My Nan had 6 dogs at one point....

My mum had a late pregnancy (he’s 6 months older than my dd)

His name is the same as one of my nans dogs (who is still alive), and my dd has the same name as another though she passed away a couple of years ago

My DD is named after my first hamster

YANBU

My second son is named the same as my ex's first dog.

We both decided our baby was better than the dog - and apparently the dog had been an extraordinary dog!

I dont see the issue if they're fairly normal names, I personally wouldn't name my child Boots, sparks, Spot or Nala (the cats and dogs we had as children) but that's just me! My in laws have a dog called bella and had one called daisy and I wouldn't bat an eyelid calling a child these! (However I wouldn't call a child Scampi - their other dog!!)

I have a friend who was named after a dog, and I named a cat after my Granny.

I have thoughts of a baby called Bubbles (cat) who I believe was named after the Pears soap ad.

I would avoid Alfie, so many of them as pets and children and never think of Luna as being anything other than a pet name but Charles is rather Royal.

My cats are called Bella and Rosie

My daughter is called Isabelle Rose.

I'm not very creative

It turned out that DGM had a dog many, many years ago with DS's name. That was back in the era of Fido and Rex, so DS's traditional name was an unusual choice for a dog. Had I have known, my reasons for giving DS that name were still far stronger than the slight downside of having shared a name with a dog from a few decades before.

A pet alive or in recent memory in close family probably would put me off.

I also had a hamster with the same name as DS, but he was actually named after DH’s grandpa... I only remembered years later it was the name of my hamster

My DD's hamster was called dumpling, I don't mind if you steal it for your baby.

My cat is Jerome which is a pretty cool name if I do say so myself. Had a cat called Prince before him. Don’t think I’d call my DC either of those names, they’re better for cats .

My daughter is named after my childhood dog, he was my partner in crime growing up!

My first child his middle name is named after my childhood cat. My son is 16 now and actually doesn't mind ziggy being his middle name

I had the same name as our next-door neighbour's dog. Neighbour got the dog while DM was pregnant with me, my DM said the neighbour knew she'd chosen my name for a girl but called the dog the same. DM still liked the name so used it. It's been thirty six years and my DSis still delights in telling people I was named after next door's dog! I can't say it ever bothered me too much. Personally I wouldn't use the name of a current pet of a relative I saw regularly, purely due to the confusion it'd cause calling out the name, but I'd use a past pet name. DH has the same name as a kitten I had as a child and I almost never get confused 😉

I gave our first dog my second best baby girl name, then my first choice baby name became hugely popular and I had no fallback

Imogen, first choice, Lily second choice...i did wonder for quite a while about having the baby and the dog called the same, it might have saved me a bit of time?

Went with the third choice and within five years that was everywhere too EVErywhere