Top Ten Tuesday – 10 Cool Bookish Names to Give Your Pets

Designed at canva.com

 

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.  Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!

This week’s TTT topic is Best Character Names (make this as narrow/broad as you’d like).  I struggled with this topic a bit because I have a bad tendency to forget all of the names of characters in most of the books I read.  There are a few that stick with me though and those are the ones I file away in my brain for the next time I get a new pet and need to come up with a name.  And no, sadly, the pets pictured are not mine. They’re just stock photos from Canva.

I’ve broken my list out into dog names and cat names, but there are several, like Luna and Atticus, that I would consider naming either.

 

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Top 10 Bookish Names I Would Give My Pets

 

DOG NAMES:

KAZ (from Six of Crows)

SIMON (from Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda)

GANDALF (from The Lord of the Rings)

DODGER (from Oliver Twist)

SIRIUS (from Harry Potter)

 

CAT NAMES:

MINERVA (from Harry Potter)

LUNA (from Harry Potter)

MATILDA (from Matilda by Roald Dahl)

KATNISS (from The Hunger Games)

ATTICUS (from To Kill a Mockingbird)

 

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Question:  Would you ever consider naming your pets after bookish characters?  If so, do you have any favorite names?

46 replies
  1. RO
    RO says:

    Gosh darn it, I’ve never even considered it, but it’s a super clever idea! I totally love Katniss from the Hunger Games, and Gandalf, from one of my fave movies of all times, The Lord of The Rings. Thanks for such a great post! Hugs…RO

  2. Verushka
    Verushka says:

    This is such a cute spin on the topic, Suzanne! And I have to say, I’m so glad you said you tend to forget names — I do too! That made me feel so much better to know I’m not alone! Also, you’ve made me want to name a pet Atticus. Or something at least!

  3. ShootingStarsMag
    ShootingStarsMag says:

    Yes, I love when people have pets named after book characters. Whenever I get a new pet in the future, I NEED to do this. I love the name Luna for a cat…but my dog’s name is Luana, so that’s a bit too close. LOL

    -Lauren

    • Suzanne
      Suzanne says:

      Right? I’m hoping to get a new dog sometime in the next 6 months to a year and really want to go this route unless my family outvotes me.

  4. JennRenee
    JennRenee says:

    so in our home we name all our pets after characters. not just from books though.
    right now in our how we have 3 dogs. two german shepherds one named Luna from Harry Potter and the other Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy. A small shepherd mix named Primrose. So love this post. I love the name GANDALF for a dog. that one will need to be my next dog!

  5. Angela
    Angela says:

    When I was a kid, I named my cat after a book character. I called him TJ after Timothy John, a character in Behind the Attic Wall. Not a super original name, but bookish nonetheless!

    Great take on the topic!

  6. Ali
    Ali says:

    Love this! I love bookish pet names, because I love trying to guess what book they’re from (I’m a vet, so I see a lot of pets with bookish names) (:

  7. Aj @ Read All The Things!
    Aj @ Read All The Things! says:

    Katniss is a perfect name for a cat. I’d probably change the spelling to Catniss, just to be extra ridiculous. I like the name Renly for a pet. I first saw that name in Game of Thrones.

  8. Jordan Rose
    Jordan Rose says:

    I love all of these for pet names! Gandalf would be a particularly adorable. I actually named my black Tahoe Kaz and I love it– though lately I’ve been somewhat wishing I had saved it for a pet name, haha! Dodger would be super cute as well. Great list!

  9. Olivia
    Olivia says:

    I like all of them, but would love to name a dog Sirius, but I don’t think my girlfriend will let me. Oh well!

  10. sjhigbee
    sjhigbee says:

    I love your list of names – if I ever owned a black cat, I’d consider Slinky Malinki from the wonderful children’s books. Thank you for sharing:))

  11. Tanya @ Girl Plus Books
    Tanya @ Girl Plus Books says:

    Cool twist on this week’s topic! 🙂 I’m not a pet person so I would never have the reason to use a name for a pet… but I’d totally name a teddy bear Atticus. Heehee.

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