I think all animals should be allowed to name themselves.  All mine have.
From fish to ferrets, my animals have always whispered their names into
my ear at night.  My girl Tasha went for two weeks without telling me her
name.  She was just 'Baby-girl' till then.  Robin was threatening not to
tell me at all until I told him he would be "Eugene" if he didn't fess up.
Cael's name isn't even a real word.  He made it up.  Mira means "wild
laughter" in celtic, so that seemed really appropriate.  Samurai has to
remind me not to call him Sammy, and Nietzsche and O'dell came to me
already named.
 
My fish seem to choose more eccentric names.  But that's Bettas for you.
I mean, if you were a man who constantly wore colorful ruffles, wouldn't
YOU be a little eccentric?  Lets see... Grant, Brutus, Phillipe, Xavier,
and Reginauld.
 
There are names I would LOVE to use.  I love the name Oliver, and also
really like Maeve.  None of my animals have chosen those.  (I came really
close to naming Mira "Maeve" instead, but she crinkled her nose and
quickly corrected me.) While I really do like those names, they just
haven't "gone with" any of my animals.
 
Trying to think of a name within a theme can be fun, but in the end, your
animal should have a choice.
 
Melissa
Mira, Tasha, Robin, Nietzsche, O'Dell and Samurai
Missing Cael and Booboo always.
[Posted in FML issue 3687]