The Best Pet Names from Mythology, History, and Literature (And How to Pick One That Fits)
By Scout -- PetNameHQ.com
Some animals walk in the door and it's immediately obvious that their name needs to be bigger than "Biscuit." They carry themselves with a gravitas that demands something earned -- a name with history, with meaning, with weight behind it. For those animals, the richest naming traditions in human culture are waiting to be borrowed.
Here's Scout's guided tour of the best sources, with thoughts on which animals suit each tradition best.
The deepest well in the naming tradition, and still one of the best. Greek and Roman mythological names carry immediate cultural recognition -- most people know Athena, Apollo, Artemis, and Hermes without any explanation needed -- combined with genuine beauty and strong sounds.
The key is matching the deity's domain to the animal's personality. A fast, energetic dog named Hermes makes sense. A regal, imperious cat named Athena makes sense. A dog who seems to exist in his own chaotic world named Dionysus makes excellent sense.
Standouts: Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Orion, Daphne, Clio, Phoebe, Cassidy (from Cassandra), Ceres, Theron.
Norse names are having a cultural moment and for good reason -- they sound striking, they carry genuine power, and they're just uncommon enough to feel distinctive without being incomprehensible. They work particularly well for large dogs, huskies, and any animal with obvious dramatic energy.
The hard consonants and strong vowel sounds that characterize Norse names also happen to be exactly what dogs respond to best phonetically. Fenrir, Odin, Freya, Skadi, Loki -- these are names that carry across a field.
Standouts: Odin, Freya, Loki, Thor, Skadi, Sigrid, Fenrir, Rune, Saga, Astrid, Bjorn, Sif.
Cats and Egypt have a famously close historical relationship -- cats were sacred in ancient Egyptian culture, which makes Egyptian mythological names feel particularly appropriate for felines. The names tend to be short, liquid, and elegant, which suits cats well phonetically.
For dogs, Egyptian names work particularly well for breeds with an ancient lineage -- Salukis, Basenjis, Pharaoh Hounds -- where the historical resonance adds something genuine.
Standouts: Bastet, Nefertiti, Osiris, Anubis, Isis, Thoth, Ra, Kha, Nile, Amun, Sekhmet, Sobek.
Literary names have the advantage of being recognizable to people who share your taste without requiring any explanation to those who don't -- the name works on both audiences simultaneously. The challenge is choosing a character whose qualities match the animal's rather than just the character's name-sounds.
A cat named Heathcliff works because the character is brooding, intense, and difficult. A cat named Atticus works because the character is dignified and principled. Naming a chaotic puppy after a particularly serene character just because you like the name creates a small dissonance that lives in the household forever.
Standouts: Heathcliff, Atticus, Isadora, Pemberley, Darcy, Austen, Dorian, Gatsby, Holden, Scout (naturally), Pip, Estella, Beckett, Woolf.
Historical names work particularly well for animals with a distinct energy that maps to a real person's reputation. A dog who charges into every situation without apparent concern for consequences named Wellington is doing something more interesting than just being named after a boot. A cat who conducts herself with obvious strategic intelligence named Cleopatra earns the comparison.
The humor and the affection in this approach are both real -- it's a way of saying "this animal has a recognizable quality that I want to honor."
Standouts: Bonaparte, Churchill, Cleopatra, Darwin, Edison, Galileo, Harriet, Lincoln, Rosalind, Ptolemy, Vesper, Copernicus.
Scout's matching principle: "Borrow the name, but earn the reference. The name Odysseus on a dog who regularly escapes the yard and takes three times longer than expected to get home is perfect. On a dog who sleeps eighteen hours a day, it's just a name."
How to Choose
The best mythological, historical, or literary names are ones where the reference adds a layer of meaning that makes the name funnier, more apt, or more touching every time someone asks about it. The question isn't just "do I like this name" -- it's "does this name say something true about this animal." When the answer to both is yes, you've found something special.