 What's In A Name?
by leafyshadow
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When you decide to create a new pet, you probably take lots of time choosing the species and picking out their future color. But when it comes to naming your new friend, many of us are at a loss! Have you ever found yourself staring at the Create A Pet screen wondering how to find the perfect name for your pet? Did you end up naming them something like i_luv_neo230, then regretting it later? I'm sure that each and every one of us loves our pets, no matter how their name looks. But how many times have you wished that you could change their name? Perhaps you changed your mind, and your beautiful Acara is now Woodland instead of Royal. You might want more of a nature-sounding name, such as Naviesa.Instead of wishing you could change your pet's name, why not choose a nice-sounding name in the first place? I've written this article to help you think of a beautiful name for any pet that you create. To start off, many users like to name their pets to sound like names of real people. So maybe you'd like to name your new Eyrie Kristen, but that name is taken. You could try a few different strategies.
- Change the vowels around. For example, you could add an a and an e, and come up with the name Kristeane.
- Substitute in consonants that sound the same. You could try changing the K to a Ch, and adding an extra t to make Christten.
- Pronounce the name differently. Instead of saying, Krihs-tehn, you could pronounce it as Krees-tahn. Then, change the vowels and consonants using the tips above!
One thing that you do not want to do when naming your new pet is use underscores or numbers. They break up the name and aren't very pronounceable. I hope those tips helped you with naming your pet like you would in real life. However, sometimes you might want an original name for your precious Cybunny that no one has ever thought of. This situation requires a little more thought.
- Try unusual-sounding vowel combinations, such as iua. Maybe take a letter combination like Cla, and add interesting-sounding vowels on the end to make Claiua.
- Look around! Maybe you love peonies, so try using the letter combination Peo to make Peolanie.
- Find a name you like, then switch around the letters until you find a version you like and is untaken. You might think the name Felae is the most perfect name ever, so you could try adding an r to make Frelie!
Well, now that you've come up with the perfect name, I hope you have lots of fun with your new pet! But what if you already have your pet? And maybe their name isn't the best. What can you do? It's impossible to change it! But, you can give them a nickname!
- Use part of their actual name. For example, maybe your darling Faerie Xweetok is named fluffy_bunny_2003. You could try naming her (or him!) Fluff, Bunny, or even Three. But that wouldn't be very original...
- Create a nickname that describes their personality. Maybe your Uni named Deedee1000 has a bit of a dark side. Try calling him Shadow instead!
- Call them by the first two or three letters of their name. This works especially well for pets with long names, like pianosarecool. Pia sounds much sweeter, don't you think?
So now that you've named your new pet, you might be wondering why you went through all of this trouble! Well, there are a few benefits that you can get from a nicely-named pet. If you ever decide to trade your new pet, it is a HUGE advantage for your pet to have a nice name. Especially when advertising on the Neopian Pound board, a pet's name is essential. When trading, a name is usually classified into one of four categories. VWN (very well named) pets are those with short, capitalized, easily pronounceable names. WN, or well named, pets have the same characteristics, but their names may be a little longer. Decently named (DN) pets have underscores or aren't capitalized. BN, or badly named, pets include all other types of names. If you are trying to trade your pet, it's best for him or her to be VWN or WN, as any other type of name can be hard to trade. Of course, we all love our pets no matter what, but it is sort of disappointing if you can't trade your beautiful Faerie Moehog because she is named faeriemoehog_idk. All in all, for most people, a perfect name is one that they love. When I asked other people on the Neoboards, they said this about their ideal perfect name. "I like names that I can tie personal meaning to." - kaylaj2355 "Just something that matches the theme of the pet. All of my pets were created with species/color/character in mind." - fujitaflora "Short, character-fitting names." - 068646421scorchio "Well, it has to be capitalized. usually ends in a vowel but not really. Not too overly long." - sparkgal "Ones that really fit their characters. The favorite name that I have is Hermeus, she's a pirate and I think it really fits." - lidbid833 In general, most people seem to like names that actually mean something to them, and that fit their pet well. Short names are also popular, so maybe instead of Tululiannia, try shortening it to Tululina. Who knows, you might like it better! Perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind is to choose a name that you love. No matter what other people say, you will always love your pet along with their name if you chose one that meant something to you. Finally, whether this article helped you create a name for your new pet, or choose a nickname for your oldest pet, I hope the next time you visit the create-a-pet page or see a petlookup, you think about all the effort that goes into choosing the perfect name.
Author's Note: All of the untaken names in this article were available at the time it was written, but they may not neccesarily be untaken now.
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