Jasmine writes:
I don’t want this to seem flippant, but I’m having some trouble naming my parakeet and I thought it might be fun for you/the site readers to enjoy.
Here’s the problem: my parakeet is a boy. All the boy names I would consider for a pet are also names I would consider for Potential Future Offspring, and I don’t want to “waste” my good names on a pet. The names I like tend to be offbeat and quirky: Zeke, Bruno, Rufus. I’d like to name him something that is an actual people name, or something that sounds like it could be. One name I considered is Zuke (short for Zucchini), but he’s blue instead of green like most parakeets, so I’m not sure if this is weird.
I also like names that have a meaning. With pets, this also extends to puns. I’ve considered Marty McFly and Conrad Birdie, but I’m not really settled on either of them.
Since he’s my first pet that’s entirely mine, I was thinking this could be an opportunity to come up with a fun, loose “theme” that I can use to name future pets. I’ve contemplated authors (Gabriel Garcia Marquez, “Markie” for short), 80’s movie characters (Marty McFly), and characters from books (Pip, but that would quickly become “Pippy”, a girl’s name).
Anyway, if this is too silly to post, don’t, but I’d at least love your input. I recently read that you’re trying to name your cat Bonnet, which I think is adorable, and I thought you might be able to provide a little insight.
Thanks!
Indeed, I empathize: we’ve had our kitten for three and a half weeks and she is still nameless. And this does seem like a nice change of pace from naming babies. Would anyone like to name a parakeet?
We named our blue parakeet Kevin, after the bird in ‘UP.’
Yeah!! I like this deviation from our norm.
I’m digging Antwerp. It’s a shade of blue, not keen an any nick names though.
I have a friend who names all of her animals after alcohol (and she doesn’t drink). What about curacao? (that blue stuff they add to mixed drinks)
Lactarius Indigo – it’s a blue mushroom
Other ideas:
Beauregard
Maynard
Caspian (after all the sea is blue)
Axel (I kinda dig this for a bird, dunno why)
Bono (maybe a musician theme?)
Danny Boy (since he sings)
Adonis
Pippin (similar to Pip, also the name of a great musical)
Walter (just fun)
Tucker (again fun)
Let us know what you pick!
I really like Marty McFly, fun!
If you want to name him after his color, maybe Indigo? which also reminded me of Inigo Montoya (of the Princess Bride…You killed my father. Prepare to die.)
Any way, blue: Cobalt, Cyan, Periwinkle (too girly?), Teal, and there are sports teams associated with blue such as Duke, the Dodgers (Dodger), and Yale.
Good luck!
I like Caspian!!! Sounds regal! I like Azul too. I knew someone who had parakeets and she names every one Pete. Pete the Parakeet.
haha too naming every parakeet Pete, might be weird at number two and three, but then it gets hilarious :-D
I like Periwinkle, you could call him Peri. Pippin is great too, and it gives you Pip. (Piep is the sound birds make in German)
I think Zucchini is cute, so what if it’s green. And you can start a vegetable theme.
I like the vegetable theme – Zuke is very cute or the 80s movie themes – Marty is also great.
Vegetables are great…you’ll (likely) never be debating between pet name or one day child’s name!
I had named my blue parakeet Belushi (as in John Belushi), and one of the phrases he could say was “Toga! Toga! Toga!” from Animal House movie! Note that males can best imitate words that end in the eee sound, so he could say his name very clearly.
I had a parakeet named Harvey Wallbanger, which sounds like a people name but is the name of a drink and makes a good name for a parakeet, since they tend to fly around banging into walls when they escape their cages.
I’ve had a parakeet named Papa, after Ernest Hemmingway, because he had a white beard. We also named some parakeets after the more milk-soppy members of King Arthur’s court (Percival and Galahad, if you must know), but these turned out to be names that only I remembered, so they felt fake. Our latest parakeets have gone nameless or gotten names like “Greenie” for the green parakeet.
This probably doesn’t meet any of your criteria, but what abou the name ‘Zipper’, ‘Zip’ for short?
Your theme could be clothing:
Corduroy
Denim
Smocking
Pintuck
Tuxedo
…
Just a thought!
A friend of mine named hers Kiwi. Food would be a REALLY fun theme for pet naming. A pig named Hamlet, LMAO!!!!!
Oops. I was thinking it was green. A blue food? Though they aren’t blue, Kumquat (Kom- kwat) would be a very funny food name. You could call him Kommy (lol) for short. Hmmm…. Musicians would be a very fun theme too. Steven Tyler Lol!!! I love funny/interesting pet names. Good luck!
I say Inigo Montoya. That is one of my favorite movie and favorite movie quotes EVER!
I like
Blue
Levi
Caspian (a lot!)
Nowheymama – Up is my favorite movie!
Meg and Fiona Picklebottom – I love the idea of cocktails for his name. I’ll keep an eye out this weekend to see if I hear any good ones. ;-)
The Mrs. – Zipper is great! That’s going on my short list. “Zip” is cute, and future parakeets could be items of clothing (I thought of “Button”), or if I just got one more, it could be Zilch (Zip and Zilch!!).
To the people who like Inigo Montoya – Is *Indigo* Montoya too punny?
How about Picasso? (or Pablo) He did have a blue period after all. Our neighbour’s kid is named Picasso and he is Pico for short; it’s cute for this boy, maybe you like it for your parakeet?
I think you should go with Marty McFly and Back to the Future could be your theme – Biff, Doc or Emmett, Pinhead (Marty’s band), Johnnie B. Goode, Lorraine Baines, DeLorean, Einstein…so many fun names there!
I think Marty McFly is super cute.
Caspian is a great one too, for a higher-class sounding name, haha.
So many good suggestions already!
(PS. I enjoy the pet naming posts just as much as the baby naming ones!)
Okay, I was saving this one in case I ever got a bird, but I’m pretty sure that’s not going to happen, so…….
Gary Parakeet.
In my head, it was Gary Parrot, but whatever. Gary! Best name ever.
I love Marty McFly and I also like the idea of an 80’s movie theme; Llyod Dobbler, Ferris Beuhler, Ducky!, etc.
I love the idea of themed pet names. You have a lot more choices than with children and it does not seem weird. Don’t think I’m crazy, but my husband and I name our pets of ways to kill people (our last name is Kevorkian… we had to work with it). We have Cyanide, Molotov (2 chinchillas), and Katana, our cat. I really like the McFly idea and continuing either Back to the Future theme or for more choices, the movie theme. Plus, animal pun names are fun!