Pet Names
Rodent Names
Across 7 pages
of 7
Guinevere
Welsh
"white shadow, white wave"
Guinevere was the name of the beautiful but ill-fated queen of Camelot, for so many years eclipsed by its modern Cornish form Jennifer. Today, Guinevere could be a cool possibility for adventurous…
Jerry
Diminutive of Gerald or Jerome, German or Greek
"ruler with the spear or sacred name"
Jerry is one of those short forms that, like Mike and Debbie, rose to popularity on the coattails of their formal versions. The equivalents today are nickname names like Ellie and Theo. Though Jerry…
Beanie
Invented nickname
Up-and-coming actress Beanie Feldstein is attracting attention toward her unusual — but rather cute — nickname. She was born Elizabeth Greer Feldstein but nicknamed "Elizabeanie" by her childhood…
Chester
Latin
"fortress, walled town,"
Chester is a comfortable, little-used teddy-bear of a name that suddenly sounds both quirky and cuddly. Chester was a Top 100 name in the US from the 1880s to 1929, gradually fading till it finally…
Bean
English word name
"an immature bean pod used as a vegetable"
The unisex word name Bean, distant cousin of the infamous Apple, was used for the name of a child in Louise Penny's novel "A Rule Against Murder." A cute choice, it's likely best reserved for a…
Chauncey
Latin
"chancellor"
A name halfway between its old milquetoast image and a more jovial Irish-sounding contemporary one.
Chas
Diminutive of Charles, French from German
"free man"
Retro nickname for Charles that has the potential for revival, a la Hal, Ike, and Gus. Ben Stiller played the high-strung but devoted Chas Tenenbaum in Wes Anderson’s 2001 film The Royal Tenenbaums .
Chico
Spanish
"boy"
Friendly but flimsy.
Chisholm
Scottish surname
"dairy farmland near the water"
Chisholm is a habitational surname — if it's on your family tree, you have ancestors from Chisholme, Scotland, although they were originally of Norman and Saxon descent. Chisholm derived from the…
Chuck
Diminutive of Charles
So far out it's almost ready to be let back in.
Basil
Greek
"royal"
Although Greek in origin--in the fourth century, a bishop by that name established the principles of the Greek Orthodox Church--Basil for years took on the aura of aquiline-nosed upper-class…
Buster
Modern nickname
An old-fashioned nickname in the Bud/Buzz/Biff mold; this one's kind of belligerent. Michelle Hicks and Jonny Lee Miller moved outside the box when they used it for their son--given the safer middle…
Buddy
English, nickname name
Until recently it was rarely used as a proper name; Buddy Holly, for example, was christened Charles, and Salinger's Buddy Glass was born Webb. Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver did name his fourth child…
Bambalina
Italian
"little girl"
Better saved for a doll.
Antoinette
French feminine diminutive form of Antoine
"priceless one"
This feminization of Anthony, like other early French forms, such as Babette and Nanette, is not heard as often as it once was, but it could be time for a reappraisal of this delicate Gallic choice.…
Alpha
Greek, first letter of the alphabet
The first letter of the Greek alphabet ande the brightest star in every constellation, this would make an interesting choice for a first daughter, though it does give off some spectral sci-fi…
Brie
French, place-name of cheese-producing region, short form of Briana
Place-name and homonym of Bree, less popular than its enlargement, Brielle or Brianna. Brie Larson is a notable bearer.
Bitsy
Diminutive of Elizabeth, Hebrew
"pledged to God"
The archetypal diminutive, in every sense of the word. Bitsy enjoyed some use as a nickname in the era when children were named after family members and then called by a cute pet name: Chip, Skip,…
Baby
English word name, diminutive of Barbara, Latin
"foreign woman"
Baby is rarely seen as a given name — or even nickname — these days, although it did rank in the Top 1000 from 1989 to 2003. These instances can be accounted for in two ways. Firstly, infants whose…
Eglantine
French and English botanical name
"sweetbriar"
This name for the sweetbriar shrub is a bit too reminiscent of eggplant, but it does have literary creds, having appeared in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales . The French form Églantine appeared in the…