There’s little we enjoy more than curling up with our favorite furry friends while reading a great book, watching a fantastic movie or catching up on the season’s must-watch TV shows. So it’s little surprise that literature, television and film inspire some clever and unique pet names!
As we’ve done in the past with pop culture references, historical figures and more, we dug through the Vetstreet database, which includes more than 10.4 million dog names and 4.6 million cat names belonging to pets born between January 2013 and May 2016. Then we grabbed 186,258 dog and cat names that only appeared once in the database. Once we’d narrowed it down to the unique names, we picked out our favorites and divided them into categories, which leads us to the list of 10 names in the slideshow below, all of which are based on favorite titles and characters.
One note: The photos in the slideshow below are not of the actual pets with these names, although we did try to choose pictures of the same breed as the pet from our database, when applicable.
Beowuff
Whether you've read the Old English poem in its entirety or have watched the film starring Angelina Jolie and Anthony Hopkins, you're almost certainly familiar with the epic inspiration for this name. Beowulf is widely considered one of the most important pieces of literature, and something tells us that the pup sporting this name is considered among the most important dogs in his home!
Star Wars: Mewbacca, Annakitten Skywalker, Obi Wan Catnoby and Chewbarca
The Star Wars franchise has an incredibly large and devoted fan base, so it makes good sense that a few unique names would be based on Star Wars characters. The fact that not just one, but two were inspired by Chewbacca didn't escape our notice — he's our favorite, too!
Nightfurry
Any How to Train Your Dragon fans out there? We clearly weren't the only ones who fell in love with Toothless, the fearsome Night Fury.
Nosfuratu
All right, we're gonna go back — way back — for this next reference to a 1922 classic: Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror. The German Expressionist film, based on Bram Stoker's Dracula, is regarded as one of the most influential of the silent era and is well known for the distinctive look of its main character. No word on just how influential the kitty with this name is, although if he's anything like ours, he's quite influential when it comes to deciding when it's time to wake up in the morning.
Purrmetheus
Just as the characters in 2012's Prometheus follow star maps to distant parts of the galaxy, our cats will follow a laser pointer toy almost anywhere. Could interspecies human/feline cooperation be the key to the next great discovery? Probably not, but it's a great way to bond with your kitty so it's certainly worth a try.
Dumbledog
Albus Dumbledore said, "We must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy," in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. But when it comes to naming one's dog a clever play on the famed wizard's name? That's both right and easy.
Purrminator
If this cat's owners don't make an "I'll be back," joke every time Purrminator leaves the room, we'll be devastated.
Doxter
Unlike the titular character in Dexter, we'd have to say our pups are only guilty of being serial lickers.
Olivia Pup
Olivia Pope, the main character in Scandal, is definitely who you want by your side in a time of crisis. Which makes her an incredibly fitting source for a dog name, as we always want our pups by our sides during tough times.
Purrdock
H.M. Murdock was one crazy cat who was known to be "howling mad." Let's hope the cat sporting this moniker skews more to the cute and cuddly end of the spectrum!
