I am continually surprised by the number of people who go into fish keeping forums and ask for help to name their new pets. I can’t help but wonder why…
Before I got Bonnie when I was a child, I spent days agonising over what I would call a kitten. I knew it would be a girl cat because my mum thought a boy cat would pee everywhere. It turned out that naming a kitten is quite overwhelming for a six year old and we opted for Bonnie because it had been the name of one of the kittens my parents’ cat had before I was born. Her name was often shortened to Bon-Bon. When I met Pudding who was already named, a sweet theme became apparent. If I ever have a cat in the future, I foresee a ‘Honey’ or a ‘Treacle’.
I quite like the idea of giving ridiculous names to pets. If I ever have a pet duck, he will be called ‘Crispy’ or ‘Szechuan’. I also like the idea of giving pets names that you wouldn’t normally think of – names which you might not even give to humans these days. Names like ‘Colin’ and ‘Nigel’ have fallen off the radar somewhat in terms of baby-names and would be rather unexpected as names for fish.
I like working with themes.I am reminded of a film called The Cider House Rules. It’s a great movie which covers some very interesting themes. I also really love the soundtrack. I mention it because many of the children in the orphanage are named after Dickens’ characters.
Then again, perhaps the character, features or circumstances of the animal is important in their naming. ‘Lucky’ is an obvious one but can be made more interesting by looking around at different languages for variations. If an animal is quite speedy, you might consider naming them after a sports personality, for example. You don’t have to be confined by stereotypical names! For dogs and cats, one syllable is more recognisable to the animal but for fish, you can name them Reginald Montoclease-Smythe III if you really wanted (although I would like the credit!). I’m not convinced that my goldfish recognise their own names…
My friend Ellie suggested the names ‘Eddie’ and ‘Patsy’ when I brought Jampa and Aggy home, as we’re both huge Absolutely Fabulous fans. There are two reasons why I didn’t – firstly, it didn’t work with my theme, secondly Ellie and I are Eddie and Patsy (darling!) so the fish couldn’t be!
One of these days, I’m going to name a pet ‘Glen Coco’, just so I can have the joy of saying ‘You go, Glen Coco!’
Think about what interests you. Think about what makes you happy and build from there.
Goldfish Fables 