Pet Names. Ideal for your new puppy or kitten.

Pet Names. Ideal for your new puppy or kitten.

Maybe among your plans, you have thought to be a pet parent, but how will you name it?

Here are a number of name suggestions (with their meanings) for fun and loveable names for pets of any size, shape or color, ideal for your new puppy or kitten.

Acrobat - one who performs gymnastic feats, is your pet athletic?

Addy - one who is concerned in an act or action

Aero - of the air

Airy - of or pertaining to the air

Ajax - in the Illiad: the son of Teleman and the bravest of all the Greeks

Allure - that which attracts or entices

Ally - any friendly associate or helper

Alpha - the beginning or first of anything

Amber - a reddish yellow

Amour - a love affair

Amulet - a charm

Angel - a heavenly guardian

Apricot - a reddish yellow color; fruit

Arabesque - a ballet position, is your pet graceful? 

Aria - an elaborate solo for a single voice

Ariel - an African gazelle

Arrow - from Middle English “arewe” meaning ‘arrow-like one’

Arty - creative: of the arts

Atlas - a Titan supporting the pillars of heaven on his shoulders

Audio - of or pertaining to characteristics associated with sound waves

Auto - self propelled

Autumn - the third season of the year

Avant-Garde - those who support the most recent trends

Baby - an infant

Bangles - from Hindu “bangri” meaning a bracelet or anklet.

Batik - a process for coloring fabrics to obtain multi-colored designs

Bauble - a showy trinket

Bazooka - a tubular missile weapon that fires an explosive rocket

Beacon - something that serves as a conspicuous warning or guide

Bear - from Old English “brun”; ‘brown-haired one’

Beauty - a special grace or charm

Biscuit - from Middle English “bisquite”, twice-baked bread.

Blackberry - black fruit of certain rose family

Blackjack - a card game

Blade - a rakish young man; wild, reckless fellow

Blaze - to burn brightly; to blare forth

Bliss - heavenly joy

Blitz - to attack with sudden overwhelming force

Blossom - a flower

Blue - devoted, faithful as in “true-blue”

Bogie - famous actor, as in Humphrey Bogart

Bolero - Spanish dance usually accompanied by castanets

Bon-Bon - a sugared candy

Boogie-Woogie – a style of jazz

Boomer - one who pushes a boom; one who is active in promoting 

Boots - pet with white paws

Boss - an employer or director or work for others

Bounce - a bounding or elastic motion

Bravo - well done; good

Buckwheat - a plant yielding triangular seeds used as folder and for flour

Bud - a term of direct address (also Buddy)

Buffoon - a clown

Buffy - a yellowish or grayish color

Buttercup - yellow cup-shaped flower

Butterscotch - candy or extract made with sugar, butter and flavoring

Button - a fastener (or ‘as cute as a button’)

Calypso - a type of song originally improvised and sung by natives of Trinidad

Candy - sugar or molasses crystallized by evaporation

Captain - one at the head or command of others

Caramel - a confection variously colored and flavored composed of sugar

Cat-Nip - an aromatic herb of the mint family of which cats are especially fond

Cato - name of two Roman statesmen

Cavalier - gallant, haughty

C’est la Vie - ‘that is life’

Champion - one who fights on behalf of another

Chaos - a condition of confusion

Chap - a fellow

Charcoal - black, porous substance

Charisma - one who has grace and is able to obtain favors

Chase - to pursue with intent (also Chaser)

Chenille - soft, fluffy type of yarn

Chocolate - cacao nuts roasted, ground, sweetened and flavored

Cinders - from Middle English, cinder means ‘ashy one’; in a pet, the purplish, gray of ashes

Cinderella - heroine of a Fairy Tale

Cinnamon - a spice, a shade of light, reddish brown

Cocoa - a powder made from cacoa, a beverage; with a chocolatey taste

Coquette - a flirt

Crumpet - from Middle English, ‘crompid’ meaning a ‘curled-up cake’. 

Daffodil - flower name

Dandy - a particularly fine specimen of its kind

Dapper - trim, neat, smartly dressed

Darling - one tenderly loved

Dart - a pointed missile such as a javelin or arrow

Dash - impetuosity, spirited, vigor

Dawn - beginning or unfolding

Dazzle - for a pet with a sparkling personality

Dingle - as in the sound of a bell or telephone

Ditto - the same thing repeated or copied

Dolly - child’s word for doll

Doodle - to draw pictures abstractly

Dot - a speck, point or spot; also Dotty

Duke - ranking above a marquis or bishop

Dumpling - originally meant ‘little lump’; could mean short or fat or ‘precious darling’

Ebony - a hard, heavy wood usually black

Echo - a close imitation

Éclair - pastry shell filled with custard or whipped cream

Edgy - brought out sharply

Ember - from Middle English ‘eyemore’ and means ‘fiery one’

Emery - used as an abrasive

Emmy - statuette awarded annually for exceptional performance and production in television

Einstein - name for an extraordinarily intelligent pet

Fidget - name for a restless or impatient pet

Flash - to break forth with light or fire suddenly or briefly

Flashback - a break in continuity

Fiddles - a musical instrument or one who cannot sit still

Flora - a feminine, personal name having to do with nature and flowers

Frizzle - blend of ‘fry’ and ‘sizzle’

Frou-Frou - affected elegance

Freaky - strange or unusual

Fuzzy - covered with a soft covering or fuzz

Gabby - given to talk

Galahad - the purest knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend

Galore - abundant

Garcon - a boy or waiter

Gemini - the twins in the Zodiac

Giblet - as in the stuffings from a turkey

Gimlet - a cocktail with lime juice, to bore into something, piercing

Ginger - spicy root stock of a tropical plant, a reddish-brown color

Gin Gin - a colorless alcoholic drink or a card game

Ginkgo - a Chinese tree with fan-shaped leaves

Gipsy - wandering, bohemian

Godfrey - masculine, personal name

Grant - to give permission, a request

Grits - has connotation of ‘courageous’ and ‘plucky’

Grizzly - grayish, somewhat gray

Grumbles - to mutter

Gusto - keen enjoyment (for an enthusiastic pet, full of vitality)

Guy - slang for fellow

Haggis - a Scottish dish like a sausage made from a sheep’s stomach

Handy - useful, convenient or skillful, good to have around

Hardy - robust, courageous or daring

Harlow - a famous movie star named Jean Harlow

Harmony - friendly agreement, a pleasing combination of sounds, notes sung or played together

Harvey - a masculine name, also the name of an invisible rabbit in a famous movie starring Jimmy Stewart

Haywood - a masculine name, or the last name of a famous movie star Rita Haywood

Hazel - color of a hazelnut shell

Hemmingway - a literary name after Ernest Hemmingway

Henna - varying from reddish-orange to coppery-brown; from an oriental shrub or small tree

Henry - a personal, masculine name

Hercules - in Greek mythology renowned for his strength and endurance

Hero - distinguished fro valor, fortitude or bold enterprise

Hodge-Podge - a jumbled mixture

Hoopla - means a gay or rowdy commotion (for a feisty pet)

Hors d’oevres - an appetizer

Huey - from the famous cartoon duck trio of ‘Huey, Duey and Luey’

Hula - a native Hawaiian dance

Humphrey - a personal, masculine name

Imp - mischievous

Indie - independent; also could be from the Indiana Jones movies

I.Q. - intelligence (for a particularly smart or intelligent pet)

Itsy-Bitsy - baby talk for ‘little bit’ (could be used for a tiny pet or ironically for a large one)

Ivory - almost white

Jabber - chatter or talking excessively

Jangles - from Middle English; means ‘one who babbles or chatters’

Jazz - originated by New Orleans musicians

Jig-Saw - like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, pieces that fit together

Jugs - large container for liquids, a prison or jail

Ju -Jube a lozenge or candy

Junk - trash, rubbish, cheap stuff

Juno - Roman mythology, wife of Jupiter

Keno - a game of chance

Kismet - fate or destiny; from Turkish ‘kismet’ literally means ones ‘portion’ or ‘lot’

Kit Kat - a chocolate bar

Lily - any of numerous liliaceous plants, type of flower

Lingo - slang language

Longfellow - literally means ‘tall fellow’; also the name of an American poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Lu Lu - Swahili name meaning ‘a pearl’

Lunar - pertaining to the moon

Luxe - superfine quality, luxury

Lyric - lyric poem with a musical quality, a song verse

Macaroon - a dumpling or small cake (good for a small, sweet pet)

Macrame - knotted work

Magic - supernatural art

Max - a masculine name

Maya - mother of the world

Merlin - the magician in Arthurian legend

Mew Mew - plaintive sound of a cat

Mica - colorless to jet-black silicates

Mischief - a calamity; tendency for naughty behavior (for a pet full of spunk)

Midget - anything very small of its kind

Midnight - dark; middle of the night

Missy - a female name or term of address for a girl often expressing affection (or even reprimand)

Mishmash - a jumble or hodge-podge (a good name for a mutt)

Mister - title of address

Mon Cher - French for ‘my dear’

Morning Star - any of the planets Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, Mercury, or especially Venus, when rising shortly before the Sun

Morris - famous tiger-orange cat, a masculine name

Mosaic - inlaid work composing of bits of stone or glass forming a pattern or picture

Mouser - an animal that catches mice

Mozart - Austrian composer of music

Muffin - cakes or dessert baked in small, cup-shaped tins

Mugs - to make faces

Munchkin - character from the Wizard of Oz, small person

Mystic - of mysterious meaning or character

Mystique - enigmatic character of a person, idea or thing

Napoleon - as in Napoleon Bonaparte

Nehru - an Indian nationalist leader

Nemesis - avenger, an unbeatable rival

Neo - a new or recent development, formation, modification or type

Neutron - electronically neutral subatomic particle

Nettles - a plant covered with stinging or spiky hairs

Newton - English philosopher and scientist

Nick-Nack - a trinket

Nippy - sharp or biting (or also Nipper)

Nightmare - a frightening dream, a horrifying event

Nightingale - a songbird, or as in Florence Nightingale the British nurse and hospital reformer

Nimbus - a surrounding radiance or circle of light

Nimrod - a hunter, or a dumb person

Noble - of high hereditary rink, showing greatness

Noggin - a small mug or cup, head

Noodles - Middle English for ‘nodle’ or a ninny or simpleton, a pasta made with flour and eggs

Nook - a corner, or a quiet secluded spot

Nonillion - a number represented by the figure one followed by 30 zeroes

Nosey - inquisitive, prying

Nugget - like a gold nugget or piece (for a precious or golden-haired pet)

Oatmeal - porridge (good for a pet with a light beige color)

Ocher - mineral oxides of iron, sand and clay with a moderate orange yellow color

Odin - a Norse god

Oodles - lots

Oopsie - used when making a mistake

Opal - from Sanskrit ‘upala’ meaning a jewel or hydrous silica

Opus - a musical composition or creative work

Opie - a male name; also from an old Andy Griffith T.V. show

Oracle - a prophecy made at a shrine

Orion - a constellation on the celestial equator

Oscar - green, furry grouch who lives in a garbage can on the children’s show, Sesame Street

Pace - a step in walking progress made in one such movement

Paisley - resembling a certain pattern made in a distinctive design or paisley, a suburb of Glasgow, Scotland

Patches - pieces of color or cloth (name often given to a spotted pet or one of varying colors)

Penny - one cent, money

Pepper - a pungent aromatic condiment, spice; usually a grayish-black color

Peso - monetary unit of Cuba, Phillipines, Mexico and certain other Latin countries

Petite - (Mon-Petite) meaning little in French

Pickles - as in ‘in a pickle’ or predicament; a condiment made from vegetables and vinegar

Pogo - a stick that hops, a stilt-like toy that propels one to hop

Polo - game played on horseback

Pom Pom - a small tufted ball used as a cheerleader’s accessory or attached to hats, shoes or other articles of clothing

Pot Luck - whatever may chance to be in the pot (another good name for a mutt)

Pouf - a hair arrangement in high rolled puffs

Puddles - a small pool

Puff - a puffball, from Middle English ‘puffe’ meaning ‘puff-like one’ (good for a furry pet)

Pumpkin - a vegetable of an orange color typically used at Thanksgiving or Halloween

Queen - or Queenie, wife of a King

Quirky - one with a peculiar mannerism, eccentric

Quiz - the act of questioning

Quentin - masculine name

Rascal - a trickster, someone who behaves mischievously

Rags - tattered remnants

Ragamuffin - a vagabond or a neglected child

Ramble - to walk about freely

Red - of a bright color

Rembrandt - a famous Dutch painter

Ritzy - smart, elegant, classy

Rocky - a Sylvestor Stallone character as in the ‘Rocky’ movies, a fighter

Roque - one who is innocently mischevious or playful

Rollick - frolicsome manner

Romeo - a Shakespearian character in love with Juliet

Ruffian - one who exhibits rough behavior

Ruffles - means ‘vexing one’ (for a rambunctious pet)

Rumba - a frenzied dance

Rummage - stirring up, to search through

Rumples - meaning to wrinkle

Rumpus - wrangle, a disturbance or outcry

Rusty - reddish or yellow coating on metal

Sandy - color of sand, yellowish to red

Scamp - a rascal

Scrabble - to scratch at something, to climb over something, or struggle to get something, in a scrambling effort

Scrappy - given to picking fights

Smudges - a dirty mark, an indistinct area, smoke or fire

Socks - a soft foot covering (popular for a pet with white paws resembling socks)

Snuggles - cuddle up or get close to someone (for a pet who likes to cuddle)

Sweetie - also Sweetums, as with sugar, sweet (for a lovable pet)

Sunshine - light from the Sun, any cheering influence

Tabby - a mottled or black with grayish striped cat

Tabitha - female, personal name

Taboo - something forbidden or banned

Tadpole - a larval stage of a frog or toad

Taffy - confection made with brown sugar or molasses

Tag - a children’s game, or something used for identification purposes

Tally - a reckoning or a score

Tango - a Latin-American ballroom dance

Tantrum - a fit of bad temper

Tapioca - a starch made from the cassava root used in thickening sauces, puddings, soups, etc.

Tarantula - a big black hairy spider capable of inflicting a nasty and painful bite

Target - anything aimed or fired at, something to test accuracy

Tassel - a bunch of loose threads held together at one end and used as a decoration on cushions

Tennyson - an English poet

Terror - intense overpowering fear (good for a particularly naughty pet)

Teuton - an ancient Chinese people

Thackeray - an English novelist

Theo - a god or gods

Tinker Bell - the little Fairy from ‘Peter Pan’ (for a tiny, delicate pet)

Tiny - very small, minute, wee

T.N.T. - dynamite, blustery, explosive

Ulysses - hero of Homer’s ‘Odyssey’ (for an adventurous pet who like to travel)

Underdog - one who is expected to lose a contest or battle

Urchin - a small mischievious boy or scamp

Usher - one who acts as a doorkeeper, as in a court or other assembly room

Utopia - any place of perfection, an idealistic goal or concept for social and political reform

Valiant - possessing courage or valor

Vamp - a seductive woman

Vandal - one who destroys or defaces property

Vanguard - the foremost position in an army or fleet

Varlet - a rascal or roque

Velvet - soft material (good name for a pet with fur as soft as velvet)

Velcro - a fastener

Venus - the second planet from the Sun, or the Roman goddess of love

Veteran - one of long experience in a given area

Viceroy - a governor of a country

Viking - a Scandinavian mariner

Vishnu - in Hinduism, the second member of the trinity

Waddles - to walk like a duck

Waffles - a breakfast food or a thick light crisp pancake

Waggles - to move back and forth rapidly, a wobbling motion (great name for a happy dog that wags his tail often)

Willow - a type of tree (good for a delicate, slender, supple pet like a Whippet)

Wizard - a sorcerer or magician; someone who is specifically skilled at something

Wobbles - moves erratically from side to side

Wonder - that which arouses awe or admiration

Wordsworth - an English poet

Wrecker - one who destroys things

Wriggles - to turn or twist the body in sinuous motions

Xerox - copy or repeat, copycat

Yeoman - a petty officer who performs clerical duties

Yodeler - a person who sings with a fluctuating voice

Yonkers - a city in south east New York State

Your Majesty - royal title, one with splendor, dignity and power (great for a pet who rules the house)

Yorick - a court jester mentioned in Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’, a clown

Yo-Yo - a fluctuating thing, a toy that moves up and down on a string (a good name for an energetic pet)

Zeppelin - a rigid airship with a long, cylindrical body that used gas to rise

Zig Zag - a series of short turns back and forth

Zippy - means full of ‘zip’ or snappy one

Zodiac - a band of celestial spheres that represent the path of the planets

Zombie - a creature reanimated from a dead body created from voodoo

Zulu - a member of a South African Nation

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