Why is it so uncommon for pets to be given human names?

It’s not at my house. My two cats and dog have human names.
I’ve named pets after my dad, grandpa, brother and nephews. My SIL’s dog was Charles.
My neighbor has a schnauzer named Steve.
I think they might be more common than other types of names.

I see a real mix of human and non-human names around. my second dog was named after a Hobbit.

It’s kind of odd to hear someone talk about their Bob being splattered all over the road by some speeding idiot.

Dogs are people, and I only know dogs with human names.

Out of curiosity, what do people name their dogs in Germany?

Hertha the Hund.

List of male and female dog names in Germany.

It seems to be common. What’s more, we have taken to naming people animal names.
Spike, Kitty, Meadowlark, Raven, Dog.

@rebbel – Thanks. Isn’t that a list of human names as well?

About half of mine do…..Annie, Roxanne and Oscar, the rest were Pippin, Cricket and Pretty Kitty.

@hmmmmmm My pleasure.
Yes, indeed there are human names in these lists.

I had a tortoise once, named him Dick after the shape of his head/neck!

^^To a hammer, everything’s a nail.

If I had a hammer
I’d hammer in the morning
I’d hammer in the evening
All over this land…

I give my animals human names. Jessie, Molly, Lexi and Millie.

If I have three cats, their names will be Whiskers, Mittens, and Paul.

Most of my dogs and cats (my fish included) have had human names. I also don’t talk baby speak with them.

Is it uncommon? I’ve had pets named Fred, Ethan, Eddie, Emma, Lily, Grace & Katie.
Only my current dogs have less common names…Bub Seger (Bubs), Bunny & Bitsy.

Going back a ways, I’ve had Tommy, Jake, Taylor, Tobias, Max, Kip, Annie, Freddie, Mikey, Sammy and Tucker

I too have given my dogs human names. Of the four I’ve had, three had/have human names and one was a fictitious name from child’s imaginary friend from the movie Chocolat, “Pantoof”.

I have, recently, noticed an uptick in food names for pets. I personally know dogs named Orzo and Chutney and a cat named Mr Pickles.

Well. We had Dakota which was a human name. Also “Dutchess” which is obviously a human name. Now we have Cato, named after Bruce Lee’s character in the Green Hornet. Except I think he spelled it with K.
Growing up we were made to.name our pets after golf. So every night I would pray “God bless (insert deep breath because the ritual required me to say it in one breath….) PutterChipperChipDivitDufferDriverBogeyMulliganFairwayFourballs aaaaaaand Sad Sack and Happy Sack. And Little Cat. And Max Mole and Barry Blue Jay. (We got rebellious in our teenage years.)

I think human names for pets were uncommon in 20th-century kiddie litterature, but in my real life experience, they were common. E.g., in 1956, my mother named our first German Shepard Eric. She named her Pomeranian Misty, which can be a name for a human stripper. ;-p

My cat’s registered name is Katrina. She likes jumping up on the roof of my house, so one of her inhuman names is Roofy.

I think it would great if human parents gave their kids stereotypical pet names. Imagine the respect a name like Spot Johnson, Fido Fredericks, or Rover Reynolds would command! However, something like Roofy Trump might be a hindrance. ;-)

Here’s a thread at Nextdoor, announcing that a K9 named Soybean has been stolen.

One of the local police departments has a rare black German Shepherd named Django Unchained.

It isn’t.