How did you name your Bettas?

[abm]

I am currently the proud mom of 7 male bettas Two of these I bought yesterday, and now my dilemma is something all of you have faced: What to name these new little friends???

Names are so personal for some, simply descriptive for others...I am curious, what methods did you use in choosing names for your fish?

[spiff]

My fish are named after favorite things of mine.
Marlin is named for the Florida Marlins, who are one of my fave basebal teams.
Clay is named after my fave singer, Clay Aiken.
Chandler, Monica, & Joey are all named after the characters on Friends, because that's my fave show. Chandler and Rachel are my fave characters, but I though it would be better to have a Chandler & Monica instead of a Rachel

[mickey85]

Jake and Elwood were named after the lead characters in my favorite movie - The Blues Brothers.

George is named that because I like Gershwin. Same with Rhapsody. Well, and Rhapsody has blue fins with red pectorals, so I thought Rhapsody in Blue fit.

Christine is my little white one, and she's named after a friend I have on an Oldsmobile forum because her screen name is Olds_angel79 (the white, get it?) and she asked me to.

Lucy has red fins, and I thought of I love Lucy because the fish is a bit dizzy.

And Wolfgang because I love Mozart's music.

[Leigh]

I am doing Hawaiian names for mine. Kaluha was my Mother's attempt at modifying Kahala. I liked it and went with it. I already have my next name picked out, going with Hawaiian names starting with "K" theme (not too hard in Hawaiian to find names with a K ;D).

My next Betta will be Kahili. A very regal name for a very regal fish! (Kahili is the feathered pole that is displayed next to an ali'i)

[abm]

spiff,
They are your fish..and the series is ending, if you want to have Chandler and Rachel, I say go for it
Mickey85,
What great ideas! Of course, you just used them all... Actually, I was contemplating naming my first two blue boys after the Blues Brothers - but then I found this site, ran across your posts and realized they had been "taken" I like to be original ;D

Leigh...an "ali'i" is a ... what??? But I like your name selection method. I hope you find Kahili very soon!

So many ideas! So little time! Aaahhh!

[citybettas]

I have lots of bettas, but I'll tell you how I named some of my special ones. Not that I don't love every single one of my 19 bettas, it's just that some of them have just needed extra care and have completely stolen my heart I named my little yellow and white female Sweet Clover because she is such a sweety and I wanted to be able to call her Sweety. I named my other females Snowy and Midge because Snowy is snowy white and Midge, well Midge just suits Midge Aspen got his name because I have taken to naming my males after types of trees/woods/nature. I know its weird but some of them are pretty. I also have another male named Birch.

[Emerson]

Oh this is a fun one!

Well, Horatio was named for Horatio Hornblower. Napoleon was so named because he is our little fighter; so proud and courageous in the face of great adversity when we got him. Josephine...well, you have to have a Josephine with a Napoleon. And Bernadotte was the name of one of Napoleon's generals, and it just seemed to fit.

But their names have morphed into Nappy, Bernie and Josie for short.

sef

[palepinkvase]

My guys (and all my pets typically don't seem to get names quickly, as I like to watch and get to know them. I usually don't follow a theme unless they are litter mates and that is only sometimes, but I like seeing the themes that others come up with.
Giovanni was our first fish, a rescue from WalMart. I was so amazed at how he literally unfurled his fins and flowed about his new bowl when we got him home, I heard Mozart in my head - a bit dramatic, I know.
So, I suggested Giovanni and my husband agreed with the fit.
Scraggle Fin got his name simply because of his appearance...poor guy. I have recently started calling him Piggy Fin refering to his appetite. Somehow, many of our pets get nicknames - does anyone else do puet nicknames?
Lambert (RIP) was named because he was so shy and sweet and well, sheepish. He would flee from his own reflection! I never saw him flare.
Kang Pei is a Korean word my husband suggested. This fish was such a fighter from the moment we brought him home. He flares at everything!
Huron got his name because I wanted to name him after a Native American Tribe. The first name was Chippewa, but it didn't seem to fit. Then I decided on Huron because his fins remind me of a mohawk.

[palepinkvase]

ps - we also have a new fish who is going to have to be named soon.

[abm]

ppv and everyone,
Thanks for sharing your ideas! ppv, I am like you in that I choose the names to fit the pet, not the other way around, so my guys continue to sit here on my desk, nameless but nonetheless very much loved and appreciated
Some ideas are beginning to percolate, however so hopefully I will be able to tell the world their names soon.
ppv, when did you get another new guy??? Snuck in under the radar there... Post pics!!!

[palepinkvase]

ABM- the new guy is the Betta I saw at Walmart with the bent body (see post in NonUrgent.) I just had to go back and get him. I am such a softie (and I hate that I am just the sort of person that WalMart counts on to buy their abused, neglected fish
Anyway, he has straightened out! he was a very light spring-green color but seems to be darkening. I had not seen hi color before (probably because he was sick

[abm]

He sounds gorgeous!!! Can't wait to see a pic... hint, hint And his name is.... TBD, I assume ;D
I'm going to wait til these guys are out of Bettamax to take pics - they look uniformly bluish and they're not

[abm]

Yes, BR, I know, I know One of the newest guys isn't eating today - the one I'm supposed to give away, of course I am trying to follow my own advice and not panic, he ate fine yesterday and has been through a lot. Tomorrow is another day.

[JulietV]

Well, for a while I went with a Sesame Street system. I had Bert, Ernie, Cookie, and Grover. Ernie has unfortunately died, but I still have the other three.

Navarre, my late crowntail, was named after a character in the movie Ladyhawke.

Paprika, my late red veil-tail, came with his name from healthybetta adoptions.

Haku, my new red veil-tail, was named after a character in the movie "Spirited Away."

Mercury, my silver-blue veil-tail, was named both for his color and for the Mercury Program.

Gypsy, my first female, was named after the 'bot Gypsy on Mystery Science Theater. (She had tankmakes named Mike, Tom, Crow, Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank.)

Gemini, my second female, was named for the Gemini program.

Titania, my third female, was named for one of Uranus's moons. (Or was it Neptune? Mom named her.)

J. Augustus Rodin Untermeyer IV, or "Gus", was named by my dad when I suggested Dad name him. Dad of course suggested something ridiculous, and to be obnoxious I went along with it.

I have two new males, 'rescued' from the Case of the Over-Ordered Bettas (see my post on central Michigan in the NonUrgent forum). They're in quarantine and I haven't named them yet. I'm debating. One is a greenish veil-tail, the other is an opaque who's probably a veil-tail.

[spiff]

ABM said:

spiff,
They are your fish..and the series is ending, if you want to have Chandler and Rachel, I say go for it

Well, I am getting another tank next week (a smaller one to bring to school since my mom doesn't want to drag one of my 10 gallons up there!), so I might get a male and female and name them Ross & Rachel...then all I will need is a Phoebe and I have the whole Friends cast!