How Did You Name Your Rats?
Sunday November 23, 2008
This week, let's talk about rat names. The advantage of waiting for a bit to name pets based on their personalities became evident when we named out rats. Ventura was the first to get a name, due to the inverted "v" marking on his face. Ace was the logical next name choice, according to my kids, and was given to the fellow with grey markings. For the last of the three, I consulted my list of names for pet rats, and Loki jumped out at me, and this name was assigned to the guy with the brownish markings. However, within a day, we had decided we ought to switch names because the name "Loki" (after the Norse God of Mischief) was much more suited to the one we had initially named Ace. There are quite a few great rat names in the rat names list I started before, but I'm always interested in how everyone else chose their names. Did you have names picked out before you got your rats? Or did you wait to see what your rats were like before settling on a name? Please share your rats' names by adding them to the comments section below. Feel free to note how you chose names too! I hope to compile all these names to update the master list of rat names, as well.
Want to learn more about Ventura, Ace, and Loki? You can read about them in "A Tale of Three Shelter Rats"
Image © Lianne McLeod
Comments
My first rattie was found by kids in the neighborhood so I named him Arthur Estree Wandrian (”The stray wanderer”) and then I got another one as a housemate for him and I named him Henry Zoet Frond (”Sweet Friend”).
we ended up with our rat by pet sitting him while the owners moved. when we had him for about a month and they still had not even called to make sure he was ok, we said we were not giving him back.
oops i guess i should have added his name. that is what i get for typing and eating. his name was already thug when we got him and he answered to it so we left it the same
I have just gotten 3 rats. Two of them dumbo’s and one fancy. I named the two Ren and Stimpy and the fancy Chuckles because before we even got them he bruxed in my husbands ear.
I have just gotten 3 rats. Two of them dumbo’s and one fancy. I named the two Ren and Stimpy and the fancy Chuckles because before we even got them he bruxed in my husbands ear.
My Remy was sitting alone in a cage for weeks after all the others in his litter had sold at the pet store. After weeks of that I finally talked my husband into letting another rat into our lives. This was at the time that the movie Ratatoullie was in theatres. I was calling him Remy after the famous chef rat in the movie weeks before he came home. To this day his favourite time of day is suppertime when he smells the meal cooking and always gets a little dish of whatever we are having, always healthy.
I got my first rats in about February when the All-Star basketball games were going on and Siegfried and Roy were the hosts so there goes the first two! Months later I got two more rats and I was in no way trying to stay with the magician theme but one became known as Houdini because he escaped through the door (somehow) and I answered the door to scratching after a five minute search for him. The second of that introduction became Captain Hook because of his angry demeanor. Now hang in there, my third group introduced was a group of three white with black hoods and this time the movie Alvin and the Chipmunks was a big hit and surprisingly the personalities of the characters fit in quite well with that of the rats’. And finally, I acquired three rats from a “rescue mission” from an irresponsible breeder and I gave the two white with black hoods to a trusted friend and kept the PEW rat. Now, of course, the PEW rat was all white and so a long strain happened where: white reminded me of snow which reminded me of December, then Christmas, then Christmas trees, then spruce trees, and spruce rhymes with Bruce. I know, very random and at the time I had to thought to the relation to the hit movie at that point- Batman!
Our two adopted rats are sisters, and we wanted to name them after a famous pair of women, i.e. Thelma and Louise or Betty and Veronica. It’s much easier to do that with boy names! Then we decided that since they are sisters, they should be named after famous sisters. Charlotte and Emily beat out Mary-Kate and Ashley as well as Ann and Nancy, even though we have never read any of the Bronte sisters’ books. We just thought Charlotte and Emily made nice names. They are both brown with white bellies, and we tell them apart by the shape of the white markings. Emily’s white spot comes to a point, like the y at the end of her name. Charlotte’s is more rounded.
I took in my daughter’s rat when she felt that she wasn’t giving him the attention that he needed, since he was an only rat. She had initially called him Gilbert but since I did not like that name at all I started to call him Gilby, which stick like glue. Sometimes I call him Gil. He loves that too.
Snippet and Smidgen are good names for a pair.
I’m in love with a rat named Marvin, and I love his name too. Also Gavin, Mervin, Elvin, etc, and of course Alvin, are good rat names.
Stella is a popular, and flattering, name for lady rats.
I went with a “z” theme after getting my first kiddo who was already named Zorro: he had two boys that needed to go with him, so I named them Zanzibar and Zaidan’s RainDazzle (Dazzle). The next two I named Kasper LaZarro and Zani Taye’s Question.
The college rat was named Zaid’s RainDrizzle (Drizzle), as he was a black hooded just like Dazzle and I met him at college the month Dazzle died of a tumor.
Then for the next five (my current boys)I went with random names: Aaron for my masked boy (the character in the Little Drummer Boy), Ice Dancer, Teardrop (a tear-shaped black spot over one eye), Starry Sky’s Twinkle (for several songs and Van Gogh’s painting), and Mirage (who looks 3/4 like Zorro–with a 3/4 mask).
my rat was a very sweet rat her 2 1/2 years i had her she had just past away last night and how i found to name her was from the movie flushed away. Rita which was my rats name she had characteristics such as Rita in the movie. i am now planing to get another rat and raise and train it as well as i had my first rat (Rita) and have it be as loyal and true to me as Rita. I LOVE YOU RITA!
Panda, Koala
My firsts rats were two albinos that I got for my “science project.” so after a bi fit my mother finally lets me keep them. These two were named Kita and Teak. I went everywhere with them and gained the name “rat lady.” The next rat I got was a curly brown rat and her name was Fuzz. She was a charity case. My favorite rat was named Akasha or just Kasha she was white with a black hood and I miss her terribly. She died six years ago of old age, after living for four years. My last rat was white with a grey hood and I called her Velvet. She received this name because the tip of her nose felt like velvet. That was five years ago and now that my daughter is getting old enough its about time that I get another rat. They are such fun pets and can be rather loving.
My first rat was a champagne hooded girl named Bree. I changed around Brie, the cheese, and then later realized that Bree was a town in one of the Lord of the Rings books. She died on 7-708, most likely from old age. Bree was about six and a half, and it didn’t help that she had a huge mammary tumor either…. We were going to get it removed but would have cost us hundreds of dollars even when it was small. Now I have an albino boy named Crispin, after Crispin Glover. At first I was going to name him Willard or Ben, but neither one suited him. I like Crispin a lot more.
After many years of being asked if we could add a rat to our furry friends family, I finally gave in and said yes. I am so happy I did. He is the most intelligent, sweet, loving pet, and he learns so fast(our voices, his name, coming to you when you call him, etc.). I wish I had listened earlier. We decided to name him Ratsputin after the Russian mystic.
I adopted my very first rat when the movie ratatouille was out in 07, and he was a sick rat that we were taking care of at my job, so we would call him ratatouille or I would call him touille, so I named him Rad a Touille. His partner that my boyfriend bought for me is named Rod, because since I was 14 (I’m 24 now) my fave baseball player has been Alex Rodriguez. Chjimichanga Style, my boyfriend’s rat (rip), I think he was named because we were looking at a mexican food menu.. the J is silent for Hendrix. My girls.. Blaize Maryjane, self explanatory.. Coco Puff is named after Chjimi (yanno chimmy chimmy coco puff) and Stormye Cloud is named that because she has a gray mask on her face and her body is white. Our smooth haired african rat is named Rupert Walker.. because my Sun Conure is named Stewie(after the baby on Family Guy and his teddy bear is named Rupert). We have a crazy theme and the Walker part is because of Walker Texas Ranger.. I don’t know, it was my boyfriend’s idea
We just got a new brown hooded and are looking for names. She is to keep our older girl company (Diamond do to her mask or Demon when she digs at my lips wanting to stick her head in.) Her old cagemates were Midnight (very nocternal and a veriberk with some white specks.) Midnight passed after ovarian tumor surgery last Aug. Butterscotch was named for her color, but renamed Da Bug ’cause she was a squirm bug. We had her put to sleep last month – inoperable mammery tumor:(
I just got two rats. One is a blue rat and the other is ablack and white fancy rat. I named them Black and Blue.
I LOVE rats! I have had over 60 different ones! I currently have two named Randy and WAtsy!
My rats are two boys called snowy mcflurry and tomtit. Snowy mcflurry because he is a himilayan dumbo and tomtit is a brown hooded dumbo who is really cheeky. I got them from the pet shop, they gave me one free as they had been take from the mother too soon and I had to give them medicine each day. They thought they wouldn’t pull through but they did and are the friendliest rats I have ever had. I love them soooooo much and would be lost without them!!
I had a rat given to me in 7th grade by my science teacher named Bree. I loved the little girl, but sadly she died about a year later due to cancer.
Recently, my friend and i decided to look into getting rats again, and this past weekend we bought them! My two girlies are Armageddon (Army), a hairless dumbo, and Vladamir (Vlad), a Fancy Blue.
Army is quite the little adventurer, always roaming around my room. Her favorite place to roost is in my upraised hood!
Vlad is still a bit shy, but very affectionate. It takes a bit to get her out of the cage, but once she’s out she has a blast!
One strange thing about the two is their nonchalance around my cat, Crook. He’s very curious about them but won’t hurt them. He even let Army walk across him stomach!
My friend bought a Fancy we named Lenore, from Edgar Allen Poe’s poem. She’s a pretty beige color; white with creamy-brown markings.
We love our new family members and so far everything is going great!
We have had LuLu, Scout, Tazi YaYa, Peebody(for obvious reasons), and now live with Bandit and Chewy, our first boys. My favorite was Ms. Murphy Tan (an independent girl). She would cozy up to the cat looking for a mutual groom (the cat thought she was nuts), and tried daily to clean our German Shorthairs ears and toenails. He was not amused. Even though we have always had our ratty kids spayed and neutered Ms. Murphy had to be put to sleep at 2 with a very large fatty tumor. We love our ratty kids, but when the boys go, I get a new sofa.
I nearly forgot to add a lovely little girl rat by the name of Miss Mini Minnie Mouse, or 4em. She died early of an unknown problem. Why can’t the darlings live longer than 3 years, on average? I miss them so much when they go.
I have bucks:
Muffin, Swazi and Zulu
Previously owned: Sherbet, Marshmallow, Lakritz and Chocolate
We adopted a baby rat from a friend whose female rat gave birth. Her original name was Patriot. We were not too keen on the name, but could not come up with a suitable replacement. One night we were sitting at the dinner table and trying to come up with a cute name. I jokingly said Meatball, and the name stuck. She was a wonderful pet and playful with our family. My 16 year old son called her Meat for short, and spent lots of time running around the family room with both of my children. Sadly, Meatball passed away from cancer, we miss her terribly. She has been gone for almost 2 years now, but we still think of her and her antics.
we have had an Indiana Jones (very adventurous rattie), Phoenix, and Bow and Arrow (brothers with markings that matched their names).
I’ve got three:
Foothy, Stawberry & Icecream.
They’re my third Bunch, Third bunch because I sold my others to my cousins.
LOVED THEM!
I’ve Got Three:
Foothy,Strawbarry & Icecream.
I had 2 bunches of four but I HAD TO GIVE THEM AWAY!
Poor things had gotten so attachted to me!
I named my first rat Kitty. It was just so funny to see my RAT answer to the name of her most commonly known enemy!
I’ve just got 3 10 week old female dumbo rats. My daughter had a rat several years ago – we rehoused it when her friends mum said it was noisy and smelly – it wasn’t!!!
The new rats are the result of my stepdaughter asking for a hamster -(I hate them – nasty creatures that love to bite fingers HARD!) – I convinced her a rat would be more lovable and loving. Females were only sold in pairs but there were three left so I couldn’t leave one behind could I??
My stepdaughter called hers Princess and I called the other two Inanna and Karni.
Our pet rat names:
Gumshoe: Tan and white littlest one now: She likes to sneak out of the cage when you’re not looking. I looked up sneaky and a detective is sneaky, and another word for detective is gumshoe.
Kit: She is gray and white. Bryce thought her and her sister are kitty cats so we called them Kit and Kat.
Kat: She is black and white. Bryce(our two year old son) thought her and her sister are kitty cats so we called them Kit and Kat.
Piper: She is brown like a sewer rat and I looked it up and it means a pipe or drain. Add an “r” to pipe and we have Piper.
We have two more without names. Females one is more black with some white and the other is a lot of white with some peach color to her.
I named my rat based on my first impression. Her name is “Precious”. It the perfect name for her and she lives up to it everyday by showing her family love and affection.
My boyfriend and I welcomed a beautiful little rat into our life about four months ago and named her Abbey…from Young Frankenstein…Abbey Normal
She’s an angel who enjoys belly rubs and prefers the occassional ritz cracker when she watches tv with us. We love her!!
My first rat I picked out I named ‘Milo’ after a character from a cartoon I would watch called ‘Pepperann’ I am a fan of Sonic the Hedgehog games for his sidekick fox buddy Miles ‘Tails’ I had decided to call him ‘Miles Milo Rat’ (first middle and last name) but I started calling him Milo more than Miles and it seemed to fit him better so I switched the names around.
He was the best rat I ever had, he loved to run up my arms and sit and sleep on my shoulder when i was about in the house,…but it was scary when one day I was washing dishes in the kitchen and Milo was asleep on my shoulder, the phone ran, scared me so I jumped…he woke up and jumped off my shoulder and run under the oven that had just been turned off!
I found him INSIDE THE OVEN 30 minutes later…thankfully unharmed..
My second rat I got 2-3 years later I named ‘Miko Hughes’ after an actor and a japanese cartoon character. He looked like a Miko to me, …so I went along with it.
He was a messy little guy and loved to climb the wired cage and ‘talk’ to people (he would suck air through his teeth and sounded like a ‘chattering’ noise.)
i have had my newest family member for 3 weeks. he is loved by all. I named him Terripan. Im planning on buying a second and namimg him Savant. I also agree that rats remind me of dogs/puppies
I have 33 ratties at present:
Males:
Rufus, Sneezy, Cue Ball, Uno, Dos, Tippy, Herbie, Furby, Motley, Snowball, Diablo, Patina, Gandalf, Rags, Comet, Squirrel, Bert, and Ernie.
Female:
Snow White, Squeaky, Crue, Rata-one-y, Rata-two-y, Pixie, Yin, Patch, Blondie, Ratalya, Hansel, Gretel, Oreo, Templeton, and Blackie.
My grandkids named most of them.
I have a total of 13 rat right now. 3 of them are adults, and the rest are babies. My first rat I named Toui, like Ratatoui. Then my boyfriend named his girl, Tifa. And then my friend named her little boy Dimetri. And then I don’t know what the babies names are, yet!
I only have one female rat right now I am hoping to get her a female buddy soon but I named my Rat Fancy because soon after we got her home she started grooming herself and she just seems so prim and proper she’s a real priss. She’s my little baby
My two pet rats are named Emmett and Jasper after my favorite characters in twilight. they know and live up to their names too! Jasper knows if im upset and sits at the top of his cage and waits for me to cuddle with him. Emmett is the bigger one and is always trying to be little mister tough guy. its really cute when he is trying to be brave and goes right up to my kitten. you can tell hes proud of himself after! the next on i get i want to name kirby.
My little homie’s name is Vegas, because he likes to play the odds with the two cats in the house… He hasn’t lost yet!
I have 4 rats; the first two I got from someone who was unable to tell me their sex(es), so I picked two names I thought could go either way; Harley (had a friend with a female cat named Harley, but also think of the name as masculine because of the bikes) and Rizzo (the character from Grease/the rat of The Muppets.) The next I got from a friend’s sister; her name was Munchkin, but I wasn’t feeling it and wanted something that sounded good with the other two. A co-worker’s daughter suggested Isolde and that decided it! My fourth I just got last Thursday and again wanted a name that would flow with the others. I was sitting that night, watching Wall-e with the kids, and fell in love with the name Eva (Wall-e’s pronunciation of Eve, if you haven’t seen it!)
Years ago I got my 1st little ratty girl! She had a little grey hood that made her look like Egyptian royalty, so I named her CleoRatra. Sadly she eventually developed a nasty tumor & I had to have her put to sleep. Another fav was Blossom. My daughter had her and Bubbles (from the PowerPuff Girls)and Bubbles didn’t seem to like Blossom, she’d bite Blossoms little hands and ears, not let her eat or drink, wouldn’t let her in the little house to sleep! It was so sad! So we inherited Blossom! Yay! THEN, if her young life wasn’t rough enough… she got injured & stripped the skin off 1/2 her tail! Of course I took her & had the vet amputate! She healed fine & was ALWAYS a sweet, kind lil girl! We’ve had our share of rattys and now have a tiny new lil girl we rescued yesterday, she was for sale as snake food! UG! She’s all black with a white tummy with a black tail that has a pink tip! Right now she is nameless… she won’t be for long!
I have two rats their names are Crystal and sapphire please these on your names list.