# typical/stereotypical animal names



## rusita preciosa

What are the typical names for animals in your language? (for example, in English a typical dog name would be *Rover*)? Sometimes there names are not even the most common, they just sound typical. 

Russian:
Dog: *Шарик */sharik/ for smaller dogs (means “small ball / small round thing”); *Барбос* /barbos/ for bigger dogs
Cat: *Мурка* /murka/ (onomatopoeia for purring: “murrr”)
Cow:* Милка */milka/ (from “milaya” – darling/nice/sweet),* Зорька */zorka/ (little sunrise)
Pig: *Борька* /borka/ (nickname for Boris and also because the term for male pig is *bor*ov)
Bear: *Миша */misha/ (nickname for Mikhail)
Horse: there must be one, but I can’t think of it…
Any others animals I missed?

Can you please explain the name (if there is an explanation).


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## osemnais

Dog: Шаро from шарен meaning colourful


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## tFighterPilot

In Hebrew:
Cat - Mitsi
Cow - Edna


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## apmoy70

In Greek:

Dog: «Φλοξ» [floks]; in Ancient Greek «φλόξ» (pʰlŏks) meant _flame_ and it was a feminine noun. In Modern Greek it's a stereotypical dog's name irrelevant of the animal's size, breed, sex or behaviour. Ancient Greeks named their hounds «Ἄργος» ('ārgŏs) after the name of Odysseus' faithful dog in Homer's Odyssey. 
Cat: «Χιονία» [ço'nia]; a feminine name which translates into English as _snow-white_. Obviously for female white cats.
Horse: «Ντορής» [do'ris] and «Ψαρρής» [psa'ris]; «Ντορής» for the bay horse (it's a Turkish loanword, from _doru_--> chestnut red), «Ψαρρής» for the gray horse (from the Classical Greek adj. _«ψαῤῥός», psār'rhŏs_, the gray haired).
Donkey: «κυρ-Μέντιος» [cir 'mendios]; a generic donkey's name which translates into English as _mr. Mendean_. It's a Hellenistic stereotypical name derived from the eponymous coin of the Macedonian city of «Μένδη» ('Μĕndē) which depicted a donkey's head (_«Μένδειος ὄνος», 'Μ_ĕ_ndeiŏs 'ŏnŏs_ --> Mendean donkey).
Fox: «κυρα-Μαριώ» [ci'ra ma'rjo]; lit. _dame Mary_ (sorry, I couldn't establish the connection between fox and the name Mary; probably some weird folk etymology is responsible for it). 
Lion: «Ασλάνι» [a'slani]; a Turkish loanword (_aslan_ --> lion).
Tiger: «Καπλάνι» [ka'plani]; a Turkish loanword (_kaplan_ --> tiger).


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## catlady60

In English:

Dog: Fido, Rover
Cat: Fluffy, Mittens
Pig: Porky
Rabbit: Bugs, Hoppy
Lion: Elsa (female), Leo (male)

more to come later


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## AutumnOwl

Swedish:
Cat (_katt_) - _Misse, Mirre_ (_kisse_ can be used for cats in general)
Bear (_björn_) -_ Nalle_ (both for the animal bear and for humans whose name is Björn, a quite common given name in Sweden)


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## rusita preciosa

catlady60 said:


> Lion: Elsa (female)


 I've never heard of that. Is it from a cartoon or a movie?


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## catlady60

rusita preciosa said:


> I've never heard of that. Is it from a cartoon or a movie?



That's from the movie, "Born Free."


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## ThomasK

Dutch : in books you will find 
- dogs: *Max*
- cats: *Minoe*

But there are more, I am sure, even more common, but I don't remember them now.


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## Anja.Ann

Hello  

In Italian:

*Dogs 
*- male: Rex, Leo
- female: Laica, Luna


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## catlady60

ThomasK said:


> Dutch : in books you will find
> - dogs: *Max*
> - cats: *Minoe*
> 
> But there are more, I am sure, even more common, but I don't remember them now.



Some more stereotypical animal names in English:
dogs: Rex, Sparky, Spike (for aggressive dogs), Max
Cats: Sassy, Patches (calico cats), Max (which so happens to be _my_ cat's name), Whiskers, Boots, Mittens
Parrots: Polly (as in, "Polly want a cracker")
Cows: Bessie, Elsie
Skunks: Stinky (for obvious reasons), Pepe (from Pepe Le Pew from _Looney Tunes_)


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## mataripis

Tagalog:1.) dog= Batik(dotted)/ Bantay(guard)  2.) Cat= Myaw/muning    3.) Horse= Siwal(fast moving) or Tulin      4.)Carabao=  raro  5.) Duck= kwek


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## osemnais

catlady60 said:


> Cat: Fluffy


Isnt this used for rabbits?


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## apmoy70

A few more stereotypical animal names in Greek:

Μale Dogs--> «Αζόρ/αζώρ» (both spellings are common) /a'zor/, «Ρόκι» /roci/
Female Dogs--> «Φίλη» /'fili/ (i.e female friend), «Λίζα» /'liza/
Male Cats--> «Άρης» /aris/, «Ριρής» /ri'ris/, «Πασάς» /pa'sas/ (i.e. Pasha)
Female Cats--> «Ζουζού» /zu'zu/, «Πέρσα» /'persa/ (especially for Persian cats)
And some quasiclassical pet names (as a bonus)---> «Υπναλέων» /ipna'leon/ (i.e. prone to sleep), «Φαγαλέων» /faɣa'leon/ (i.e. prone to food), «Πειναλέων» /pina'leon/ (prone to hunger)


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## francisgranada

Anja.Ann said:


> ...
> *Dogs
> *- male: Rex, Leo
> - female: Laica, Luna



Ciao, Anna .  I know two Italian dogs "personally", they are _Lilo _and _Leo , _and I knew a female dog in Bologna, she was _Zita_.


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## Anja.Ann

Ciao, Francis!  

You are perfectly right! I forgot "Lila" which, indeed, is a very common name for female dogs too!


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## OneStroke

In Hong Kong, 'typical' animal names are always in English. I don't think there are typical Chinese names (we'd just call them names like 'Mr Dog'. )


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## rusita preciosa

My favories so far: Edna the cow, Nalle the bear, Zuzu the cat, Raro the water buffalo and of course Mr.Dog the dog.


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## francisgranada

Hungarian dog names.


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## rusita preciosa

francisgranada said:


> Hungarian dog names.


Thank you, but what is the "generic" name for any dog (like Rover in English?). And what about other animals?


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## football_

Anja.Ann said:


> Hello
> 
> In Italian:
> 
> *Dogs
> *- male: Rex, Leo
> - female: Laica, Luna


Amusing! Now see, how Laica and Luna are connected!  Laica is a common Russian female dog name; it means "one who barks" (surely not "the secular one", contrary to what maybe many Italians think  ). And — how amusing! — it was the name of the first Soviet dog in space!  Closer to Luna, than all of us... (or, maybe, than most of us — are there any spacemen around here?   ).


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## Encolpius

Fantastic thread, Rusita,  you cannot find the answer in any dictionary. But I doubt we will have many answers....it's a very sophisticated topic.... you can usually find those names in jokes....very interesting answers, too

*Hungarian*

dog -- Bundás ["furry"], Buksi, Morzsi [no idea how to translate it]...
cow -- Riska [maybe from "Mariska" Mary]
cat -- Cirmi, Cirmos [tabby cat]
pig -- ???
bear -- no bears in Hungary 
horse -- ???
parrot -- Lóri, Lórika

Czech --- I think the stereotypical dog name is "Bobík"...


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## bibax

Czech:

little dog --  Punťa  (from puntík = blotch < Lat. punctus, canis punctatus);
mongrel dog -- Vořech (ořech = nut), Voříšek (dim. of ořech);
cat -- Micka, Micinka;
pig -- Pašík (dim. of paša = pasha);
bear - Míša (like in Russian, hypocor. of Michael), Brumla (< bručeti = to rumble);


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## Encolpius

I am happy to have a Czech comment here, what do you think about my suggestion "Bobík", bibax? 
Holger?


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## bibax

Bobík as a stereotypical name for a little dog is rather recent, originated from a funny TV commercial. A lady is coming in a Chinese restaurant and is asking: "Can you mind my Bobík?" You can easily imagine, what happened with the unhappy dog.


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## Encolpius

Yes, I know Bobík exactly form that TV spot...


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## 810senior

Japanese:
Dog: Pochi (I'm not sure its etymology. maybe it's come from an English word _pooch_)
Cat: Tama (meaning ball)


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## Gavril

Another generic-sounding dog name is "Ruff" (< the sound dogs make in English)


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## ilocas2

apmoy70 said:


> «Λίζα» /'liza/



I had a dog whose name was Líza


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## ilocas2

catlady60 said:


> That's from the movie, "Born Free."



The writer who wrote the novel "Born Free" was born in Czech town Opava

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy_Adamson


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## bibax

And some animals not living in Bohemia:

elephant -- Bimbo (always);
parrot -- Lora;
lion -- Simba (less often);


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## ilocas2

Anja.Ann said:


> Hello
> 
> In Italian:
> 
> *Dogs
> *- male: Rex, Leo
> - female: Laica, Luna





catlady60 said:


> Some more stereotypical animal names in English:
> dogs: Rex, Sparky, Spike (for aggressive dogs), Max
> Cats: Sassy, Patches (calico cats), Max (which so happens to be _my_ cat's name), Whiskers, Boots, Mittens
> Parrots: Polly (as in, "Polly want a cracker")
> Cows: Bessie, Elsie
> Skunks: Stinky (for obvious reasons), Pepe (from Pepe Le Pew from _Looney Tunes_)



In Czech *Rex* is also a sterotypical name for dog.


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## Walshie79

Fido is another stereotypical English dog name. My dog is called Oscar which also seems quite common, more so than for humans.

Cats, stereotypical are Kitty, Ginger (for a red one), Paws, Tabby (often lengthened to Tabitha, even though that's not actually the same word), Puss, Bagpuss etc.

Cows are Daisy, Gertrude (don't ask), Ermintrude (from the Magic Roundabout); horses Dobbin, elephants Nellie (from the song).


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## Encolpius

*Hungarian *--- horse Pejkó (stereotypical), Deres, Fakó, Kese (according to colours)


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## AutumnOwl

The most common names for cows in Sweden:
Rosa (rose), Stjärna (star), Krona (crown), Sara, Maja, Lilja (lily), Majros (may rose), Linda, Blomma (flower), Lisa, Stina, Saga (fairy tale, also a given name for girls) the other names are female names. There is a British study that shows that cows with names gives more milk.


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## Nawaq

in French i can think of :

dog (stereotypical but certainly not most common): _Médor_ (male), _Rex_ (male), _Milou_ (male, the dog in *Tintin*), _Chipie_ (female, means something like vixen, i mostly visualize a dog but i'm sure there are female cats named this), _Belle_ (from *Belle et Sébastien*, female), _Lassie, Snoopy, Pluto, Milo_ etc. 

cats: _Félix _(male), _Minette_ (the name of one of my childhood (female) cat, probably from _minou_ "cat"), _Blanche(tte)_, female (if white), _Caramel_ (both sexes, maybe more for male), _Pacha_ (a big, lazy, pampered male), _Princesse_ (i imagine more of a cat here but there must be a lot of dog named that too), _Gribouille_ (for a multi-coloured one, both sexes) _Grisette_ (female if grey), _Mistigri_ (female), _Câline_ (hugger, female), _Tigrou_ (male), _Fripouille_ etc. here also, stereotypical but not the most common (some maybe yes though)...

elephant: _Babar_ (from children litterature), _Dumbo_

hamsters: _Hamtaro_ (i may be the only one to think so lol)...

rabbit: _Panpan_ (the French name for Thumper in Bambi), _Poupoune_ (the name of a rabbit i had), _Jeannot_, _Jojo_ etc ...


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## franknagy

Encolpius said:


> Fantastic thread, Rusita,  you cannot find the answer in any dictionary. But I doubt we will have many answers....it's a very sophisticated topic.... you can usually find those names in jokes....very interesting answers, too
> 
> *Hungarian*
> 
> dog -- Bundás ["furry"], Buksi, Morzsi [no idea how to translate it]...
> cow -- Riska [maybe from "Mariska" Mary]
> cat -- Cirmi, Cirmos [tabby cat]
> pig -- ???
> bear -- no bears in Hungary
> horse -- ???
> parrot -- Lóri, Lórika



Bear: Brumi
horse: Csillag = Star
goat: Bandi = Andy


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## Messquito

In Chinese, whenever I hear the name 來福(Lucky), I think of a dog, but I'm not sure if it applies to most people.
Another instance which is, I believe, more common, is 小強(John, or strong) for cockroaches. It was a name given to a roach in Steven Chow's movie Flirting Scholar. After that, people just link the name with the bug.


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## franknagy

Alliterating names in Hungarian:
_Bear: Mackó_ Muki, _Mackó_ Misi [Mike]
_Hedgehog: Sün_ Sámuel, _Sün _Simi [Simeon]
_Fox: Róka _Rudi [Rudolph].
----------------------------------
The chief _hyppo_ bull of the Budapester Zoo is tradiotionally Jónás [Jonah].
_Elephants: _female is Ele Fáni, kids or male are named Jumbó.


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## Red Arrow

ThomasK said:


> Dutch : in books you will find
> - dogs: *Max*
> - cats: *Minoe*
> 
> But there are more, I am sure, even more common, but I don't remember them now.


Max? Never heard of. I'd say *Rex* and *Lassie* are typical names for a dog.

My cat is called Minoe. I wanted to call him Milkshake, but no, it _had_ to be Minoe


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## trananhtuanqb

Dog: Chó
Cat: Mèo


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## Haroldetmaud

in French i can think of :
goat : _Blanchette (female)_
cow : _Marguerite_ (female)


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