Often I see posts in the rat newsgroups where people don’t know what to name their new pets and ask the group for help.  To me, one of the fun things of getting a new pet is naming it.  There are many methods to naming a new rat.  Of all of the many rats I’ve had over the last few years, there were different methods used to come up with their names.   Some had simple names after a famous person or character, while others are foreign versions of a trait they possess. A simple marking on its back can inspire a great name or even a sound the animal makes. Sometimes it’s good to wait a few days after you get your new rat to see what kind of qualities he possesses or how his persona is to give you an idea for a good name. Other times it’s best to just come up with a name right away. Here are some techniques for coming up with a pet name:

Famous People.  Probably the most common type of name for a new pet is after someone famous. An actor, an athlete, a famous figure from history. There’s no shortage of people in the news and media to draw inspiration from.   If you’re stuck, just look in the newspaper. Better yet, get an almanac. Those have everything.   A President, a director, a talk show host.  The possibilities are endless. I’ve named a few of my rats after famous people.  Hannah was named for Darryl Hannah (one of my favorites).  Josh was named after an old Negro League catcher named Josh Gibson, who many consider one of the greatest players to ever play.  My late rat Dusty was named for Giant’s manager Dusty Baker. My late rat Claude was named after actor Claude Rains, who was in one of my favorite films of all time, The Invisible Man.  My late rat Monty was named after Monty Cliff, who was in From Here to Eternity.  Kirby and Harmon, two of Samantha's babies, looked exactly alike, in fact, I could barely tell them apart. So I named them after two famous Minnesota Twins, Kirby Puckett and Harmon Killebrew. Another take on this is to name your pet after a famous person’s recognizable trait. If you have a rat who jumps high, Jordan would be good (after Michael Jordan).  What about a rat who squeaks a lot? How about Yoko (after Yoko Ono)?

Famous Characters.  I think I’ve named more of my pets after famous characters in film and literature, than any other method of naming.  It can be from you favorite book or movie or TV show.  Maybe a cartoon you loved as a kid, or a comic strip or a famous fairy tale.  Greek mythology is common, or even just famous characters who’ve lived throughout the ages (Paul Bunyun and Babe, Bigfoot, Santa).  Or other pets in film: the rat’s name in the movie The Abyss was Beanie.  My great late rat Luke is named after my favorite movie of all time, Cool Hand Luke.  Samantha was named after Bewitched.  The theme song came on a commercial when I was trying to think of a name for her and Samantha just popped in my head (Samantha Stevens, Darrin’s witch wife).  My late rat Rupert was named after Rupert Pupkin, Robert De Niro’s character in King of Comedy.   The late Hercule and late Kato were both named from characters in the Peter Seller’s Pink Panther movies. Hercule was his assistant and Kato was his butler.  Dunbar was named after the Kevin Costner character in the movie Dances With Wolves and Cisco was named after Dunbar’s horse.

Personal Characteristics or Markings.  A rat’s color, traits, habits, looks and anything else it reminds you of is always a good naming convention.  A shape of coloring in their fur, the noise they make, how they act something they’ve done always can beget great names.  My late rat Mimi, one of the all time greats, was named that because when she was little, she had a constant sneeze, where it sounded like she was going “mi…mi…mi…mi…”.  Cinnamon is named because of the color of her fur.  Spot was named because he has a big, distinctive spot on his back.  T-bone was named because he has a distinctive “T” on his back.  The Sugars were named because of the pure white fur they possess (like sugar).  I still have a mouse named Squeaky for obvious reasons and my oldest living rodent right now, is a mouse named Cyclops, who lost an eye when she was a baby.  One of my all time favorite mice was named Wunnuy (one-eye), which is also now a name I use for email. Swirl, one of the most popular rats I get email about, is named because of the markings on her face. It looks like her head was dipped in chocolate-vanilla swirl ice-cream. Lucky was named because she is the luckiest baby of her litter.  She was Swirl’s baby, the only remaining female that wasn’t sold as snake food before I rescued her.   The late Leanne was a rescue from a couple in San Leandro who couldn’t keep her, so I named her after her home town.  And the great April was named for her birth month, one of the easiest names to come up with.
 

Foreign Words.  This is one of my favorite methods of finding a name for a pet.  You take a trait your pet has, and rather than simply naming him “dot” or “happy,” or “pretty,” you find a cool sounding foreign equivalent.   I’ve found that the two best languages for great sounding names are French, because they sound so suave and amazingly, Swahili, because the language has a lot of “K” sounds and “OO” sounds in their words.   This makes for great sounding names that always seem to fit the pet really well.   The late Puku was named after Swahili for “rat.” The late Joli was named for French for “pretty.”  Tatu, who has three distinct dots on his back, was named Swahili for “three.”  Kasi was named Swahili for “energetic, vigorous.” Eppy, whose full name is Epsilon, because she was the fifth and final female from Samantha’s litter, is Latin for five.  Another thing to get is a Baby Name book.  You can find meanings for regular names that fit your rat well.  For example, my Manx rat Hillary is named because Hillary means “cheerful.”   Her late sister was named Belle which means “beauty.”  Here are a couple really good websites that might help you name your pet in this manner:
http://www.babynames.com/
http://dictionaries.travlang.com/ (this one is numerous languages, a definite bookmark)
http://www.yale.edu/swahili/ (this is the great Swahili language, check it out)

Named After Former Pets.  An easy method is naming current pets after former pets. It’s not just easy, but in a way, a kind of a nice tribute to late pets that you want to remember.  Generally what I do is if it’s the same type of animal (naming a rat after a former rat, etc.), I’ll add a “junior” or a “2” to the name.  If it’s a different animal (naming a rat after a dog, etc.) I’ll simply keep the same name.  For example, I named the late CJ after the late Claude, who CJ looked exactly like.  I called him Claude Jr., or CJ.  If I ever get another rat that resembles those two, I may end up naming him C3. I have a mouse that looks like my other mouse Goliath, so I named him G2.  My late mouse Psycho roomed with another mouse who looked like him, so I called him PJ, for Psycho Junior.   I have two rats, Suzy and Schotzie, who are named after dogs I had as a kid.  Gigi, was named after the late Mimi. She reminded me so much of Mimi in name and personality, that I gave her a name that rhymed with Mimi.

Named After People You Know.  This is a technique I’ve never really used but I know people who have.  You may have a rat who looks like your old uncle Pete.  Maybe you’ve got a playful guy who acts like your drunken brother.  Or maybe a mean rat who reminds you of your Aunt Betsy.

Named By Other People.  Letting friends name your pets can actually end up being a good method. My first two rats were named by two friends of mine.  I told one of them to pick a name and she said Felix.  The other friend at first wanted to name his brother Pinky, but then decided on Oscar, because of the obvious Odd Couple connection.   Of course, all the saved rats from previous owners came with their own names.  Mickey, Cheetah, the late Cocoa, the late Petey, Thelma and Louise and others.   And like I said, there are a lot of people who go into the usenet and ask people for help with names, which isn’t bad.

By being creative, you can end up with a cool name for your pet that will stick with you for a long time.  Whether you take days to come up with the perfect name, or simply open a page in the baby name book and randomly point your finger, there’s no reason to end up with bland, boring names for your pet. Pet’s aren’t bound by social stigmas. No rats with goofy names are going to get picked on in the school yard or made fun of by co-workers.  There’s no limit to the cool names you can come up with for your pet. But simply naming your rat Bob or Ed isn't bad either. If it fits it fits.