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Q:"Do you know of any [Native American] names for the ferret? or any
   really cool names?"
 
A: Cool, like Ice, Snowball, Frosty, Cool Hand Dook, or Mr. Freeze?
 
Since ferrets were domesticated in the Old World, it is unlikely that
Native Americans were aware of them, at least until after contact.  I have
a few Native American dictionaries, and one or two have words for ferrets,
but they are essentially the same as for the various weasels.  I serously
doubt if many Native American groups were even aware of ferrets during the
contact period, so ANY name for them would be something of a fairly
contemporary nature rather than something from prehistory (I asked a
friend, who speaks her native Navajo fluently, and she said "ferret, same
as in English").  Also, there were quite literally thousands of Native
American languages, each slightly different from the other, so, if you
included names for weasels, you could have perhaps thousands of very
similar names to pick from.  That is, IF the language was preserved, and IF
the linguist recorded the word for weasel.  Big ifs for sure, but the point
is made that a lot exist.  The problem is in finding the varous recorded
lexicons, but most of them are available from larger libraries and library
search engines should point them out for you (you can run "language,"
"Native American," and "lexicon" for a start).  Mind you, many are very old
texts written by old white anglo-saxon protestant professors of
anthropology, so they subsitute quite well for sleeping pills.
 
Still, here are a few words for the various weasels that can be used to
fill-in for ferret if you consider them both to be cool, slender mustelids
with sharp teeth.  Hey, its the best I can do!  (NOTE: these are
transliterated words which provide an approximate pronounced equivelent.
You may find other sources with different spellings).
 
Short-tailed weasel or Ermine:
Cree: Shing-gwus'
Chipewyan: Tel-ky'lay
Sioux: He-tong-ka-ska, He-tu-kab'-san
 
Long-tailed weasel:
Cree: Shing-gwus'
Sioux: He-tong-ka-shah, He-tu-kah'-san
 
Least weasel:
Cree: Shing-gwus-ance
Chipewyan: Tel-ky'lay-az-zy
Sioux: Ke-tong-ka-ska
 
Mink:
Cree: Sang-gwiss', Shak-waesh-ew, At-jack-ash-ew
Ojibway: Shang-gwes'-se
Chipewyan: Tel-chu'-say
Sioux: Lo-chin'-cha, Doke-sesch
 
As for other types of names, I plan on naming my next male albino "Al." I
also favor "Bob." Nice name.  If you like non-weasel Native American names,
I suggest you look at a Native American mythology reference book or
dictionary.  I have a half dozen; just do a library search under "Native
American" and "Mythology" to see that there is locally.
 
Bob C and 20 Mo' Sofa Shang-gwiss'-ances
 
[Moderator's note: And let's not forget Bob Church's list of nicknames and
translations, still available from the FML server as FERRET NICKNAME.  BIG]
[Posted in FML issue 2527]