by Laura Payne

Created on: May 02, 2008

Choosing a name for a pet is when the fun and excitement of owning a pet begins and there are some general rules of thumb that should be considered before starting your list of potential names. If you plan on getting this pet to respond to any basic commands, you should not name your pet anything that sounds like the commands you will be using. For example; if you are getting a dog and you want to train it to sit, you probably should not name it Mitt or Kit. It is also good to limit the name to one or two syllables for the ease of calling its name. However, you can give your pet a long name with many syllables as long as that name provides a good nickname that is shorter. Speaking of nicknames, make sure you don't give your pet a name that could end up being shortened to a nickname you don't care for.

At any rate, I think the sports world offers one of the greatest collections of potential names to choose from that will fit the many different personalities of not only the pet, but you as the owner too. There are many different sports that each tend to be associated with different personality types, so you can start by picking a sport you participate in or just enjoy watching. For example, if you are a golfer you could name your pet Bunker or Auggie (for Augusta National). If you are a skier there is Mogul. If you like hockey, how about Stanley (the Stanley Cup). There are so many different sports and items associated with the sports that can supply names. Also, remember to think of all the non-televised, less common sports too when you are brainstorming: ping pong, swimming, biathalon, rugby, horseshoes, badminton and so forth. There are also the names of famous athletes from these different sports. If you are a baseball fan, you could consider Maglio with the nickname of Mags. For basketball, maybe Wallace after Ben or Rasheed. These are just the beginings of some ideas to get you inspired. If you want to know more about some athletes, there are some articles at http://www.walkinthewords.blogspot.com. Good luck sports fans and have fun with your new pet.

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