How do you pick your Hamster Names?

[Snowe Hamster]

Just for fun, wondered how people choose their hamster's names.

Snowe's name comes from an Albino Netherland Dwarf rabbit my mum owned when I was very young, called Snowball.

Syrup's name was literally just plucked from nowhere :D

Charlie was named by my mum, she thought he just looked like a Charlie :)

[Fluffagrams]

The ones I've named have all been musicians.

As a teenager my first was Zac (Zac Hanson)
Meat (Meat Loaf)
Garfunkel (Art Garfunkel)
May (Brian May and Imelda May)

I'm likely to stick to the theming with future hamsters but it will depend on how I feel when I meet them.

The ones my sister named had less of a theme.
Lucie
Stitch
Sooty

[Scarlett Empress]

Charlie - my first hamster when I was, um, 6 or 7? Wanted to call him Hammy but Mum vetoed that - anyway when the lady in the pet shop got him out of his cage, my Mum said something like 'Out you come, Charlie" so that stuck!

Oliver - must have been about 20 years ago - I can't remember! I think he just looked like an Oliver!

Rum and Black - two little dwarves, again this was years ago - I wanted a pair of names that went together and one of the little guys was black, so...

Smokey - my current girl, the name just came into my head as soon as I saw her cos I thought she looked a sort of smokey brown. Her previous owners called her Midnight but I didn't think it suited her.

[PrehistoricGirl]

Peanut - I knew that I wanted to name him after a food item since he loves food and looked a bit chubby when I got him - so I had picked Peanut if he was a male, and muffin if he had been female.
He is my first hamster, but I am thinking that if I get another I will name it after a nut again, I think it fits hamsters - but it would have to fit the personality of the hamster as well :D

[barley]

Rupert got his name as I thought a butch old mans name for a tiny little ham was quite cute! :D

Joey is after Joey Tribbiani. I am a huge Friends fan and Joey just seemed to suit a hamster better than Chandler or Ross! ;)

[lonelygoldfish]

My hamster names have all come from scientists:

Oswald - Oswald Avery (he found that DNA was genetic material)
Franklin - Rosalind Franklin (used x-ray crystallography to help understand the structures of DNA and RNA)
Luke Dawkins - Luke because the pet shop named him that, and because one of my best friends is called Luke, and it was funny, and Dawkins because of Richard Dawkins

:)

[rivertamster]

Mine is called River, after River Tam from Firefly. I didn't realise until after I named her it was a pun as well! (see my username...)

I nearly called her ninja, as she had a habit of suddenly jumping and moved with as much grace as I've ever seen a hamster move :D she is losing that a bit in her old age, but she's very feisty, like her namesake ;)

I think if I got another one, I'd name it after a philosopher or theologian since I'm studying theology. I like the names Spinoza, Derrida and Luria... but if I got one today, it would be named Nux, Max or Furiosa, because I'm obsessed with Mad Max: Fury Road :D

[JenAndPikachu]

I called my little cutie Pikachu because I loved Pokemon when I was younger and it suited him so well when I first saw him :)

[DrKMcK]

I tend to wait a bit for a hammies personality to pop out. When I got Toffee & Almond their names just popped into my head as I was driving them home. Patches was named for her beautiful patchy coat. Nutmeg was named by another members brother. Ted E. Bear was named for a stuffed bear of the same name who was in an Anne McCaffrey book I loved. I had a crew of gerbils named Cinnamon and the 3 Mousekateers, Soot, Ash & Ghost. I guess I don't have just one way to name my furries. :-D

[Nancy's Hamsters]

Mine all get Hebrew names which often translate to Gift of God or Beloved I have in Girls:
Ahuva which means Loved One
Betia which means Devoted to God
Chavonne which means The Lord is Gracious
Daveen which means Loved One
Frieda which means Peace
Gloria which means Magnify
Hania which means Grace or Favor
Iverem which means Blessings
Jafita which means Beauty
Ksena which means Praise be to God
Lizina which means Consecrated to God
Naavah which means Beautiful or Lovely
Orli which means The light is Mine
Pili which means Miraculous
Qalila which means Beloved

The Males are
Abraham which means Father of many
Bela which means White (he's my FEW)
Dewi which means Beloved or friend
Elkan which means He belongs to God
Habib which means Friend
Kiley which means Beautiful
and lastly the only name not of Hebrew names is
T-Rex Which is short for Tyrannosaurus Rex since as a pup he would lunge at my hand front feet raised and launch at me on his hind legs like a T-Rex. He has since tamed and is now a cuddle bug and very tame and calm.

[Snowz]

Snow- I called Snow (Rip) because she was white and when I got her on my birthday she reminded me of Snow because of the color of her fur.

Oreo- I was going to call Oreo Cleo but she reminded me of a Oreo biscuit. Brown/black on the sides and white in the middle.
Here is a photo:
http://i.imgur.com/jHUnvmG.jpg

[peasypea]

Pixie, my first, chewed out of the box that they put her in about 2 minutes after we got in the car and I said something along the lines of 'you are such a little pixie' and there it was!
Nelly, my current ham, my boyfriend said I could have on the condition he named her. I knew this would be a bad idea so I said he could give me a shortlist and I would choose! He just said random names at me for a good day before I finally accepted Nelly. It was almost Tonks, which I think is really cute for a hamster, but I thought Nelly suited her more.

[WinnieTheHam]

Winston (Winston McCall, Singer from a band) He was a 2 year anniversary present from my boyfriend. We both like the name, and the band. :)

Myrcella (Character from game of thrones) I chose the name because Myrcella is beautiful just like the girl who plays her in the tv programme. Also i really like the name and i think it suits her :)

Jonah (From the story where a man named Jonah goes on an adventure and goes through a rough time and gets swallowed by a while, and gets rescued) I rescued my ham Jonah from my cat - My cat just brought him home and like i always do i run out to try save the little rodent - it was a hamster! so this name really suits him :) a lot of people on the forum suggested the name!

[Shannonmcn]

Whiskers - I was about 9 and got handed a pet box on my birthday when mum picked me up but she wouldn't tell me what kind of animal was in it until we got home, she told me it was furry and definitely had whiskers so there we go, she was named before I knew what species she was :D (she was a syrian!)
Kizzy- I don't even remember, I think I just pulled that one out of the air
*10 year gap about here*
Butts- her previous name was Buttercup and I'm a child who liked telling people her name was Butts
Cc - a friend showed a video of her to her toddler and he just said "look mum, circle cat!" And that was that! I couldn't leave her name as Nibbles when the lady in the pet shop told me she was a biter, it seemed like it was a bad omen!
As for cats, Callie was a calico, Smudge had smudgey patterns, Binx is named after Thackeray Binx from Hocus Pocus! Maybe if I had a naming-theme my pets would have better names.

[fluffydd]

Fluffy was already named when we got her and it made us smile so we kept the name.

Our others hamster have names of characters from fiction: Carmilla was my choice (from a Sheridan le Fanu story, and we'd just watched a film adaptation a few days before). Ligeia was my partners choice (from Edgar Allan Poe). He also chose Souvarine for our newest arrival after a Russian revolutionary in a novel by Emile Zola which he just read for his OU course.

I have a name already picked out for another dwarf hamster if we get one, and he will be named after a character from a film.

We do have a list of potential pet names but more often than not we think up a new name and it usually involves hours of calling out names until we find one that sticks. We don't always change the names of pets that we adopt though. Carmilla didn't have a name, Ligeia was called Pat which wasn't fancy enough, and Souvarine was called Roux.
We renamed our gerbils Edgar, Allan and Poe (from Paddy, Piper and Paul) but out other gerbils Sunshine and Moonbeam kept the names they already had. Our budgie didn't have a name when he was given to us and it took an hour or two to pick a name for him. He was almost called Mumford but we settled on Criswell in the end, named after a fortune teller that featured in Ed Wood films, and also in Tim Burton's film Ed Wood. So far Criswell hasn't predicted anything yet :)

My first 4 gerbils were called Sparky, Sprocket, Sprogley and Squeaky. Whenever I talked about having a pet it was always called Sparky but when we decided on gerbils we needed more sp names. Squeaky joined us a little little so she got to be sq instead of sp :)

[Chezzu]

I've had a bunch of hamsters in my life and I'd love to share my names with you! Most were syrians - but i'll state otherwise!

My first ever hamster was called Snowy - She was pure white in colour and very gentle!
My second was Fluffy - Named after his thick fluffy fur!
My third was Sparkle - She was energetic and friendly she brightened everybody's day!
My fourth was Sparky - He was named this because I kept calling him Sparkle!
My fifth was Misty - She was ginger like Misty from Pokémon!
I adopted a trio (which were separated) of winter whites - Edward, Jacob and Jasper
My ninth was Pip - She was really peppy and "pip" just seemed perfect!
My tenth was Sweep - my sister got her hamster "Sooty" on the same day!
My eleventh was Pixel - My first Chinese hamster - she was so small like a pixel!
My thirteenth and fourteenth a pair - Alois and Ciel they were names after anime boys!
My fourteenth was my first robo Cheddar - Named after the cheese!
My fifteenth is Cinnabun! (current) - she looks like a cinnamon roll!
My sixteenth and seventeenth also robos (also current) - Mozzarella and Ravioli! After cheese and pasta!

[kelza]

Buddy was given to me by a friend. His name had been Cyclops but I started calling him Buddy while hand taming him, and it stuck. He was a golden Syrian.

Fizz-Gig was a cream long-hair Syrian who looked like Fizz-Gig from The Dark Crystal.

Darth Fluffy was a small black Russian Dwarf who had aggression issues. He would eat from my hand but never let me hold or pet him. He was still very spoiled. One of the Star Wars remakes was coming out about the time I got him.

Hime (current) is my daughter's white Syrian girl who she thought looked like a princess. Hime is a nickname we used for my daughter when she was little and means princess in Japanese.

Ptolemy (current) is my winter white dwarf. As I as collecting items for hi cage I was buying space themed stuff, so I decided I wanted to name him after an astronomer. I ended up naming him after Claudius Ptolemy.

[RubyDG]

When I brought Spike home and showed him to my husband for the first time he commented that even though he was a cute fluffy hamster it didn't mean he didn't deserve a proper boy's name. Since my husband had been so good about letting me bring home a hamster on a whim I decided that we should both agree on a name for him. We tried to think of a 'butch' male pet name and Spike sprang to mind. I think it suits him because he's such a naughty little fluff monster and totally fearless :)

[BluerayDarkes]

Lunar was so named because when we got him he was white and grey, then he changed colour on us so his name fits.

Cindy and Sandy(RIP) were given those names to help my other half remember their names, easy names are easier for him to remember.

Yummy was named by my other half, said its like Yumi only with another m and an y instead of i

Tank - Because it sounds so wrong to name a cute little thing Tank, which amuses both of us really.

[Pebbles82]

Hammy (urgh I know!) was my first shared hammy with a boyfriend who had already named him - many years ago.

Charlie - our current Syrian, is actually our little boy's hamster last year when he was 6 and had just come out of hospital - his first choice of name was his own name! I said that might be a bit confusing, so he then chose Patrick but he already had two teddies called Patrick (bit Patrick and little Patrick) so I suggested that might also be confusing (I have no idea where Patrick came from but I think it was from Spongebob Squarepants), then he chose Charlie. And Charlie suits him. I still end up calling Charlie by little boy's name sometimes and little boy gets called Charlie sometimes lol!

We had dogs when I was growing up. They were always female and we always had a family discussion about what to call them. We'd all come up with names to choose then my Dad would make the decision and call it something he chose lol! So they all ended up with girls names ending in y sound - which was nice and easy to call out - Sally, Penny etc. But I used to say I'd like one to have a dog's name like Rover! When I did have a dog of my own I still didn't call her Rover - she was Bonny - because she was so Bonny and it's such a lovely name.

[Piebald]

Ah to which name do you refer? Is not a Hamster the equal in name to a cat?
I surmise they likewise have at least three names:

The Naming Of Cats by T. S. Eliot

The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
It isn't just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
First of all, there's the name that the family use daily,
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey--
All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter--
But all of them sensible everyday names.
But I tell you, a cat needs a name that's particular,
A name that's peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?
Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum-
Names that never belong to more than one cat.
But above and beyond there's still one name left over,
And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover--
But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular Name.