The meaning/reason behind your birds' (and other pets') names

[AprilRobin]

What is the meaning/reason behind the names of your bird(s) and other pets?

(I apologize if this has been asked before. I did a few different searches and couldn't find a similar thread.)

 

[rheashard2]

My CAG was talking when I got her at 3 1/2 months. I couldn't decide on a name. My sister started calling her Forever Nameless. 2 weeks later she started responding to Nameless but repeated it Name-lisp. So I made Nameliss.

 

[LaManuka]

Fang because his predecessor's name was Kang so we continued in a similar vein. It backfired a bit though cos when we first took him to the vet they thought we'd called him that cos he was a biter but he certainly is not.

Jem because he arrived in our back yard, having escaped from elsewhere, only a few days after the passing of a much-loved PF member whose name was Jim - I went with Jem cos I originally thought was a she and was going to call her "Jemima" but by the time I find out Jem was a boy the name had kinda stuck!

Peachie had already been named "Peach" by someone who had bought her before me, but incredibly had returned her back to the pet store because they "couldn't manage her"!! She's such a sweet little thing, I couldn't imagine anyone not being happy with her but I'm glad they weren't otherwise I wouldn't have her!

And Lovejoy - before I got my purple crowned lorikeet way back in 2018, I'd already thought that if I got a hen I would name her "Lilly Pilly", and if it was a rooster his name would be "Lovejoy". A few months after I lost Lilly, she sent me LOTS of signals telling me the time was right to go looking for another lorikeet, and through a few contacts I found my little red-headed rooster. Naturally his name was always going to be "Lovejoy", he is here because Lilly sent him here

 

[Vampiric_Conure]

I have a tradition of naming my birds after Transformers or astronomical phenomena. Redshift is named after the measurement that measures space distance (IIRC). Vortex is named after a Deception that turns into a helicopter. .

Charlie and Yvons were both named before I got them .

 

[GivemeSeedsorgivemeFlesh]

Oliver Percival Archimedes McBudgie came to me already named Ollie. His thoughts and Opinions exceeded and continue to exceed five letters, so I expanded his name to more appropriately fit his personality. Percival is a nod to Dumbledore. Archimedes is in honor of an older and far lesser known Archimedes and something about a bathtub...both evidencing similar talents regarding water displacement...etc etc (a distant and extremely indirectly direct ancestor, I'm sure), and McBudgie, because he sure seems Irish to me.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Oh, boy! 19 names of living budgies!
Rocky Balbirden, the first budgie I hand raised, because we assumed a boy and a fighter, but Rocky is a girl. We also call her Rockstar because she's the star of the show. Rocky's mother was Lilibet, a big beautiful English budgie we named after the late Queen, and her father was Buddy, our first budgie after I moved to Maine 8 years ago.

I got Beau Birden and his brother Hunter in spring 2020. We named them after our then new President's two sons. Hunter died two years ago and Beau is now Rocky's faithful manservant.

Skyeote (like coyote), my oldest budgie at 6, because we already had a Sky who had just died.

Tiki, the second I handraised, after the South Seas and our party boat.
Baja and Bennington after boats.
Shelby after a car
Emerson after a cardboard box company. (Long story).
Tilly after my sister's Gerbil 50 years ago who had a lot of babies.
Dilly as in pickle because Pickle had just died.
George and Sally after people at work.
Joey, the third I handraised, because when she was a baby she would ride around tucked into the front of my bathrobe, like a baby kangaroo Joey.

THE ENGLISH
Jimmy and Jane Buffettbird, in his honor.
Donzi and Mariah after speedboats.
Corona aka Big Fluffy after beer.
Elan after a snowmobile.

 

[GaleriaGila]

When I wandered into a bird store in New Mexico lo those 41 years ago, the 3-month-old Rb was already saying "Hello, Rickey" due to a brief romance with a Macaw of the same name. I wasn't sure if he'd ever learn to say anything else, so I played it safe and named him Rickey, a.k.a. The Rickeybird. Now, decades later, he says everybody's name in the house, names of past dogs and cats, and I think he may be close to saying "Finches"... sounds like "Fffffimmmmis".

And anyway, the rest is history... or something.

 

[cnyguy]

My three previous parrots, George, Ralph and Scooter, were all named before I got them. They recognized their names and I didn't change them. Three weeks ago I brought home my new cinnamon green cheeked conure and I've been calling him Little Parrot because we haven't settled on a permanent name yet. I've been trying out lots of different names to see if he reacts to any of them, but so far he's been indifferent to everything. Even when he does have a real name he'll still be called Little Parrot sometimes. All of my parrots had nicknames along with their regular names.

 

[Jcas]

JJ came to me already named. I don’t know if the two “Js” stand for anything. Seeing as he had been named that for twenty plus years ( and says his own name!) I wasn’t about to change it.
My budgies I name after old Hollywood movie stars. It started with my first budgie, Humphrey Bogart ( aka, Bogey) who I named that because he just had “ it.” A real presence. Since then, I’ve had: Gregory Peck, Carey Grant, Gary Cooper, and Fay Wray.
It’s fun to hear the reasons behind other people’s bird’s names!

 

[AprilRobin]

Thank you all for the responses so far. I've enjoyed reading these!

Kona the Cockatiel - I saw a bag of Kona blend coffee at a store. His grey, white, yellow, and orange colors made me think of tropical flowers and rocks.
Pepper the Cockatiel - We thought his grey markings would turn darker, which they sort of did. Of course, there is a white pepper spice.
Sprite the Sun Conure - My husband had liked this fantasy name for a while.

Budgies...

• Griffin - An easy fantasy name that for a male bird
• Topaz - Yellow and blue are two colors of topaz gems. He has a blue patch on his back, which used to be shaped like a diamond, but it's grown out a little.
• Thunder - His grey areas, with hints of dark blue, made me think of a stormy sky.
• Basil - A handsome green male Budgie
• Willow - She appears to be a Creamino Budgie. The pale yellow made me think of a peaceful mood, like sitting underneath a willow tree.
• Violet - At first, this was just a pretty flower name for a female bird, but she actually has a calm, quiet personality...almost like the term "shrinking violet". Most of the time. She will make sure that she gets her fair share of a treat!
• Nimbus - The cloud type. Found on a list of name suggestions for grey pets.
• Misfit - She was sitting alone in a corner of a pet shop cage and looked like an outcast. She actually became the Boss Hen of our Budgies for a while. Then Freya took over. These days, she is more calm.
• Freya - Found on a list of female pet name suggestions
• Scout - I used to want this name for another female dog someday. However, my husband and I agree that our current youngest dog, Winston, can be a whiny, fussy baby at times. We don't think he would want another dog in the house after his two doggie sisters pass on. He needs to be the "baby". So I decided to go ahead and use this name for a bird.
• Aspen - Aspen is albino. I searched online and learned about the Lemon Aspen trees in Australia (where Budgies come from). The fruits are an off-white color.
• Duke - He looked like a stately, elegant male bird.

Dogs...
Saint (Chihuahua) - She used to clasp her paws and look like she was praying whenever one of us brought her a treat.
Rose (Maltese mix) - Her previous family named her Rosie. I had been watching episodes of Golden Girls and decided to change it to Rose. She is sort of like the Rose from the show...clueless at times, but sweet and loyal.
Winston (Beagle) - Years ago, my husband was forced to give up a dog named Clinton. His mother's sort-of boyfriend, at the time, didn't want Clinton around. Ever since hearing about this, I wanted him to have a male dog buddy again.

 

[LaManuka]

JJ came to me already named. I don’t know if the two “Js” stand for anything. Seeing as he had been named that for twenty plus years ( and says his own name!) I wasn’t about to change it.
My budgies I name after old Hollywood movie stars. It started with my first budgie, Humphrey Bogart ( aka, Bogey) who I named that because he just had “ it.” A real presence. Since then, I’ve had: Gregory Peck, Carey Grant, Gary Cooper, and Fay Wray.
It’s fun to hear the reasons behind other people’s bird’s names!

I always did like your "Fay Wray", @Jcas, I thought that was an awesome name!

 

[Pickle's Mom]

I wanted to be a bird Mom very badly after we were done moving around for my husband's work. I kept asking my husband for "just a little bird" and how much trouble could one little bird be? I eventually wore him down lol. We lived overseas at different times. One of the places was Italy. So Piccolo means "little" or "a little bit" in Italian. He's "just a little bird"

 

[Corkscr.ew]

Ki was a nickname for Kiwi, which was all my 8-year-old self could think of. I shortened it because I felt it was too generic. Similarly, Blue was a nickname for Blueberry, which is the name my sister chose for her.

Windchime, Crescent, and Thimble were all just words that I thought sounded poetic. I named all of them when I was 11-12 and couldn't think of anything meaningful lol.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Thank you all for the responses so far. I've enjoyed reading these!

Kona the Cockatiel - I saw a bag of Kona blend coffee at a store. His grey, white, yellow, and orange colors made me think of tropical flowers and rocks.
Pepper the Cockatiel - We thought his grey markings would turn darker, which they sort of did. Of course, there is a white pepper spice.
Sprite the Sun Conure - My husband had liked this fantasy name for a while.

Budgies...

• Griffin - An easy fantasy name that for a male bird
• Topaz - Yellow and blue are two colors of topaz gems. He has a blue patch on his back, which used to be shaped like a diamond, but it's grown out a little.
• Thunder - His grey areas, with hints of dark blue, made me think of a stormy sky.
• Basil - A handsome green male Budgie
• Willow - She appears to be a Creamino Budgie. The pale yellow made me think of a peaceful mood, like sitting underneath a willow tree.
• Violet - At first, this was just a pretty flower name for a female bird, but she actually has a calm, quiet personality...almost like the term "shrinking violet". Most of the time. She will make sure that she gets her fair share of a treat!
• Nimbus - The cloud type. Found on a list of name suggestions for grey pets.
• Misfit - She was sitting alone in a corner of a pet shop cage and looked like an outcast. She actually became the Boss Hen of our Budgies for a while. Then Freya took over. These days, she is more calm.
• Freya - Found on a list of female pet name suggestions
• Scout - I used to want this name for another female dog someday. However, my husband and I agree that our current youngest dog, Winston, can be a whiny, fussy baby at times. We don't think he would want another dog in the house after his two doggie sisters pass on. He needs to be the "baby". So I decided to go ahead and use this name for a bird.
• Aspen - Aspen is albino. I searched online and learned about the Lemon Aspen trees in Australia (where Budgies come from). The fruits are an off-white color.
• Duke - He looked like a stately, elegant male bird.

Dogs...
Saint (Chihuahua) - She used to clasp her paws and look like she was praying whenever one of us brought her a treat.
Rose (Maltese mix) - Her previous family named her Rosie. I had been watching episodes of Golden Girls and decided to change it to Rose. She is sort of like the Rose from the show...clueless at times, but sweet and loyal.
Winston (Beagle) - Years ago, my husband was forced to give up a dog named Clinton. His mother's sort-of boyfriend, at the time, didn't want Clinton around. Ever since hearing about this, I wanted him to have a male dog buddy again.

This is an awesome thread. You and everyone else are giving me great ideas for names for future budgies! Oops! Did I say "No more budgies"? Well, I lied.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

One of the nice things about having budgies vs larger parrots is that budgies generally get along well so you can have several and add more without having to worry about them hurting or killing each other. If they get a lot of out of cage time every day (at least 5 hours) five or six can easily share one 32x24x32 cage. Can't do that with five or six Conures, Amazons or Greys!
I think cockatiels are similar like this, just larger, but not much larger than the largest English budgies (65 grams isn't unusual). I could see 5 or 6 cockstiels sharing one 60x18x32 cage wirh a divider in case you need to separate any.

 

[AprilRobin]

One of the nice things about having budgies vs larger parrots is that budgies generally get along well so you can have several and add more without having to worry about them hurting or killing each other. If they get a lot of out of cage time every day (at least 5 hours) five or six can easily share one 32x24x32 cage. Can't do that with five or six Conures, Amazons or Greys!
I think cockatiels are similar like this, just larger, but not much larger than the largest English budgies (65 grams isn't unusual). I could see 5 or 6 cockstiels sharing one 60x18x32 cage wirh a divider in case you need to separate any.

I spoke to one breeder who said that Budgies will kill and possibly eat each other. However, he and his wife generally focus on breeding medium and large species. They treat Budgies more like "extra money".

When I asked about this on a Budgie forum, nobody there had experienced it. And most users there have at least five Budgies. I was told that it's more likely to happen when breeders put too many budgies in a colony-style breeding situation. There is a small chance of a bird killing another for a certain nesting spot, or removing another bird's chicks from a nest and killing and eating them.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Colony breeding is definitely (but not always) asking for trouble! Yes, some hens in breeding condition can get violent with other hens and their nests, destroying eggs and killing babies. Eating the bodies? I kinda doubt it, but maybe the eggs. Good breeders either don't put their birds into situations that harms them or is quick to change a setup to proves harmful.

But colony breeding isn't always a problem- it depends on the particular birds. Last summer I had two females and two males together in a 48x24x24 cage when female Tilly, and male, Emerson, started mating. I kept the four of them together and hung a nest box at one end. Tilly and Emerson immediately started using it and raised two clutches of two babies each (I subbed dummy eggs for the rest) and had laid their third clutch when I broke them up. They would have kept on breeding until she died of exhaustion.
All those months, the other male, Dilly, and the other female, an older hen named Skyeote, didn't disturb them at all. No fights or conflicts. They were more curious about what was going in in The Box but never entered it. They also got along fine with the babies when they fledged.
I was prepared to divide the cage if there was any conflict at all but none arose.

I have some MALE budgies that I would not trust to mind their own business in a situation like that. Hens can be very aggressive toward each other but none of mine are. Tilly (last summer's mama) now shares a large cage with her two adult daughters and the female Skyeote- four females together- and they all get along. In fact, the two daughters "mate" with each other and lay infertile eggs!

 

[cnyguy]

One of the aides at the nursing home where I used to take QP Ralph to visit a friend had a pair of budgies named Lucy and Desi, "because they used to squabble all the time." And a woman I was talking to at the pet store once said she had lovebirds named Laurel and Hardy.

 

[CLANCY&NICO]

Nico, I called my Indian Ringneck, because I'm a 21 pilots fan, n they,do a song Nico and the Ninersmy dog, is Samson, he was my dad's, but I had him when my dad passed, but he called him Samson, because my brothers dog is called Deliah, Samson&Deliah from the bible.. But Deliah is called that because my bro is a Stoke City FC supporter

 

[wrench13]

Same way my family named all our critters. Everyone gets to pick a name. No holds barred. Any my kids would come up with the most ridiculous names sometimes. The names get written on a piece of paper, put into a hat and one is pulled out. I came up with Salty, cuz, well, PIRATE! If I remember right, others were Polly Roger, KittyCat, Bob and Tweety-pie. Salty should thank me everyday for that name!