Should pets be given "people" names?

Yes

5 of 6

by Renee Morgan

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Why not?

Pets have become family members of many households in today's world. For some pets is the only family that some people have, so why shouldn't we give them people names.

Pets are just like people, we have a child, we sometimes have the name picked out before he arrives, and when we looked into his eyes, instead of naming him George he is named Michael! There are people named after states, hotels, streets and bugs, so if we are going to stop using the people names, then why can't we give them to our pets, besides, for centuries we have been naming our children names that we would not give to a dog! We will name child Chlamydia and Gonorrhea and our dogs would be named Nicky and Victor. There are many children who has names that they will surly change the first chance they get.

Like people, some of our pets looks like a people name, like an old hunting hound that looks like a Sadie or a parrot that look likes a Fred. I once had a stray that visited with me for about a year, she had the most beautiful brown eyes you ever wanted to see and she had a sprite with those eyes that made me think of my deceased grandmother, so with her short stay with my family her name was Liz, and we had Bernard, the Great Dane who just looked like a Bernard.

I have had more pets then I can remember and their names where always according to how they looked, some were people names and some were animal names. There was Miss Night a wolf mix, who was jet black, Helen the cat, Little Mama the pit bull, who even as a pup thought she was the mother of the entire farm and Jason the owl who would only answer to his name (I guess he did not mine have a people name). There was Fox and Bear the cats that looked like a fox and bear and Toby the turtle. All of these animals were named for how they looked and were part of our family at one time or another. Not all of our pets had people names but a few did because that was what they looked like.

I have to use the spell check for some of these people names in today's society; I do not want my pets to have names that I can't spell. So, if my cousin can name her daughters Indianapolis and Montana why can't I name my pets Mary and Sally?

Today we have clothing, insurance, doctors and cemeteries for our pets. We will buy dinnerware, air conditioned dog houses, and have trackers placed in their skin so not to lose them. We allow our pets in our beds and in our world, so why shouldn't we give our pets names for the way we treat them, like people.

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