NAMES

Names...

How do parents choose names for their children? Hmm.  I do not know.  I have not had any children, so I do not know...

I have had several pets over the years:

When I was seven, my family acquired a dachshund.  My parents did some research, such as it was, into a type of dog that would be good with children, since, when my oldest brother was younger, he was bitten by the dog my parents had, a spaniel poodle mix we called "Spoodles." 

We had some cats:  Red, who was a red cat, and escaped from my parents shortly after they took him to the vet for medical care.  Greysilk, who was a grey and silky cat we had for years growning up.

We adopted a dachshund.  I wanted to call him Limpy, based on a dog character in a book.  Since our new puppy did not limp, my parents convinced me a different name was in order.  We called him Wimpy.. He was a "hot dog" but the famous Wimpy of the era was from the Popeye cartoon character: "I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today." No hot dog, but a hamburger. 

We had other cats with exotic names that I chose...

After Wimpy, we had a Labrador cross we called Pokey.   I do not know why...

The next pet I owned was with Lisenby.  A black and white cat with a Hitler mustache.  The birth family of this cat said it was a female, and Ken wanted her to be named "Toostsie," ala the Dustin Hoffman movie of the era... Well, as is often the case with young kittens, the first identification of gender was incorrect, but we kept Tootsie's name, as it was so fitting.  He was a good cat...

Before Tootsie died, we acquired Maxwell: the dachshund terrier mix who chose us... We went to the pet store over the Thanksgiving holiday.  Maxwell chose us.  For short, we called him Mack...Why now escapes me...

Well after Mack died, the next pet was Sake:  Bob and I adopted a very furry cat whose owner's children called her "Sockie" because of her 3 brown paws, against gray fur... We changed the spelling...

When I acquired the next cat, her prior owner called her "cat."  No capital "C" even. She was not a wanted member of that family... I wanted to name her with an Oriental sounding name, to correspond with Sake. I thought about Haiku even before I saw the cat.  Haiku is a striped (lined) cat.  I think of lines and syllables re: haiku...

So, for some reason today, I was thinking about names.  About how do parents name their children.  How did I get my name?  I know that.  I also how my siblings got their names. I can say that I know how my mother, a maternal uncle, and several cousins got their names...

What do names signify: Honoring ancestors.  Perpetuating memories. Reincarnating lost loved ones. Signifying characteristics.