Your hamster names

[RainbowBrite]

I thought it would be interesting to hear the story behind why you chose your hamsters name. Orko is named after an 80s cartoon character who was in He-Man. He was a little sorcerer whose magic often went wrong. The name ended up being perfect as the cartoon version never shows his face, just like his namesake. Here is a picture of him:

 

[Member ID2]

I used to watch He-Man and Skeletor in the 80's with the kids but had forgotten about Orko. I remember the character now.
Funny how your Orko doesn't like to show his face either and he's doing a fab disappearing act of now you see him and now you don't.

 

[Member ID2]

Our first hamster was Henry and i wanted an H name. It was a toss up between Horace and Henry but Henry Hamster rolled off the tongue easier.

Then i adopted a Robo already named Gordon and my OH said that we need a Percy. I didn't catch on rightaway because i'm a bit slow and he explained the Thomas the tank engine theme. I adopted Percy and then Edward turned into Edwina.

 

[Member ID2]

We went through a music theme with our Ozzy and various foster hamsters like Bob.

We take it in turn to choose names and we both go for human names and prefer old fashioned ones.

Rodney was named after the Only fools and horses character and the name really suits him.

With the rescue hamsters it was usually a name sounding similar to the original one.

 

[RainbowBrite]

It is lovely to hear how you chose your hamster names. As you have Rodney, I wonder if you would ever have a Derek.

 

[Zara]

Lovely to read how your hamsters got their names. I’m not so keen on Hammy‘s name, but at the time, my youngest was so excited to have him and just wanted to use Hammy so we rolled with it . I tend to shorten it to just Hams and he responds to both really well.

Other names thrown in the mix at the time were Oreo, Crisp, Elvis and Louie what a mix . I think Elvis or Louie would’ve suited him well.

 

[RainbowBrite]

Lovely to read how your hamsters got their names. I’m not so keen on Hammy‘s name, but at the time, my youngest was so excited to have him and just wanted to use Hammy so we rolled with it . I tend to shorten it to just Hams and he responds to both really well.

Other names thrown in the mix at the time were Oreo, Crisp, Elvis and Louie what a mix . I think Elvis or Louie would’ve suited him well.

I think it is lovely you let your child choose the name. It will give them more of a connection with Hams.

 

[Tulsi]

My first hamster, Horace was named after my childhood hero Horatio Lord Nelson.

Since then I have had sooo many.

Woodstock, named after my brothers long haired white hamster cos he looked the same.
Flower and Fairy, my first ever roborovskis. Oh the cuteness of them.
Gopal a longhaired brown hamster. Really really gentle and lovely. Named after baby Lord Krisna.
Arun a longhaired black eyed cream, one of my top hamsters for tameness. Named after the colour of the sky just before sunset.
Maple, Seren and Daffodil, a trio of roborovskis (had to be separated) given pretty names with the same initials as their old names. (Bought them off gumtree from a man who kept them in a glass tank with fairly shallow bedding).
Kashi, a short haired brown female hamster who was a real character and once escaped and camped behind the fridge for a few days!
Tarak, a long haired golden hamster who lived til he was over 2 and a half.
Raffterty, my current roborovski.

I like to use unusual names.

 

[RainbowBrite]

My first hamster, Horace was named after my childhood hero Horatio Lord Nelson.

Since then I have had sooo many.

Woodstock, named after my brothers long haired white hamster cos he looked the same.
Flower and Fairy, my first ever roborovskis. Oh the cuteness of them.
Gopal a longhaired brown hamster. Really really gentle and lovely. Named after baby Lord Krisna.
Arun a longhaired black eyed cream, one of my top hamsters for tameness. Named after the colour of the sky just before sunset.
Maple, Seren and Daffodil, a trio of roborovskis (had to be separated) given pretty names with the same initials as their old names. (Bought them off gumtree from a man who kept them in a glass tank with fairly shallow bedding).
Kashi, a short haired brown female hamster who was a real character and once escaped and camped behind the fridge for a few days!
Tarak, a long haired golden hamster who lived til he was over 2 and a half.
Raffterty, my current roborovski.

I like to use unusual names.

All lovely and unique names. Thank you for sharing.

 

[Maz]

Zara my first hamster was called Hammy too He was actually a boyfriend's hamster before we moved in together, so already had a name. I really fell in love with that hamster and was heartbroken when he died in surgery. (The boyfriend is long forgotten!)

Our first hamster in recent years was named by OH little boy who liked Charlie and Lola - hence Charlie. Initially he wanted to call the hamster the same as his but I said that could be a bit confusing so he chose Charlie.

After that we had a family name choosing session each time with shortlists. And usually managed to find something we all felt was right. The next one was Newt (after Newt Scamander). OH and I weren't sure about it so he was actually Newton, shortened to Newt - but ended up being called Newtie Pootie!

We then had a robo and unanimously chose Nugget after looking up names. He really was a little nugget and it suited him.

Then I adopted Moo (Syrian) a black and white hamster who was already called Moo and we liked it so kept the name.

Then came Pickle - again we all unanimously liked that (hard to find things OH liked).

Raffy was chosen by me alone. I found that quite scary! Choosing the name myself. Nobody else was that interested in the naming game any more. He was called Sprite when he arrived (which described his nature well) but I wanted to choose a name for him that felt right for us and suited him. Took me a while to come up with Raffy (short for Raphael) but he answered to it

 

[RainbowBrite]

Zara my first hamster was called Hammy too He was actually a boyfriend's hamster before we moved in together, so already had a name. I really fell in love with that hamster and was heartbroken when he died in surgery. (The boyfriend is long forgotten!)

Our first hamster in recent years was named by OH little boy who liked Charlie and Lola - hence Charlie. Initially he wanted to call the hamster the same as his but I said that could be a bit confusing so he chose Charlie.

After that we had a family name choosing session each time with shortlists. And usually managed to find something we all felt was right. The next one was Newt (after Newt Scamander). OH and I weren't sure about it so he was actually Newton, shortened to Newt - but ended up being called Newtie Pootie!

We then had a robo and unanimously chose Nugget after looking up names. He really was a little nugget and it suited him.

Then I adopted Moo (Syrian) a black and white hamster who was already called Moo and we liked it so kept the name.

Then came Pickle - again we all unanimously liked that (hard to find things OH liked).

Raffy was chosen by me alone. I found that quite scary! Choosing the name myself. Nobody else was that interested in the naming game any more. He was called Sprite when he arrived (which described his nature well) but I wanted to choose a name for him that felt right for us and suited him. Took me a while to come up with Raffy (short for Raphael) but he answered to it

Aw that was lovely to read. It is a big responsibility choosing a name alone. You chose the perfect name for Raffy. How did you choose Pip's name?

 

[Eriathwen]

When I got Orsa and Pasha they were called Astro and Pheobe which I wasn't very keen on, it didn't suit them

I wanted names with a bit of meaning so being "Russian hamsters" I figured Russian names would be a good choice, that decision didn't age well given the current world events but even so, I like their names.

Orsa means "Little female bear" which suited her well, she's a fierce little thing that started out quite nippy, obsessively chewed the bars of her old tiny cage from her old home and has retained some cage aggression. But she's also adorable and very sweet when she wants to be, and just like a bear, even though you probably shouldn't, you can't help but want to stroke her and give her a cuddle

Pasha means "Small", she has always been the smaller of the 2, she was thinner and covered in grease which made her look even smaller! So I figured it suited her quite well too, although she was back to looking like a puffball after the first night with me as she found and made good use of her sand bath!

 

[RainbowBrite]

When I got Orsa and Pasha they were called Astro and Pheobe which I wasn't very keen on, it didn't suit them

I wanted names with a bit of meaning so being "Russian hamsters" I figured Russian names would be a good choice, that decision didn't age well given the current world events but even so, I like their names.

Orsa means "Little female bear" which suited her well, she's a fierce little thing that started out quite nippy, obsessively chewed the bars of her old tiny cage from her old home and has retained some cage aggression. But she's also adorable and very sweet when she wants to be, and just like a bear, even though you probably shouldn't, you can't help but want to stroke her and give her a cuddle

Pasha means "Small", she has always been the smaller of the 2, she was thinner and covered in grease which made her look even smaller! So I figured it suited her quite well too, although she was back to looking like a puffball after the first night with me as she found and made good use of her sand bath!

I noticed they had Russian names and guessed it was because they were Russian dwarfs.

 

[Riven]

My first roborovski, Nikolai, got his name because of the species having a russian name (Roborovski's are named after a Russian explorer although they're found in Mongolia). It was a toss up between Nikolai and Yuri.

Ghost was originally called Henry but that didn't suit him. He was a almost pure white syrian with ruby eyes. He was a cantankerous little guy as well so thought Ghost would be much more apt.

Athena was originally called Chloe, but after I saw one of the adoption photos of her stood on her hind legs posed like a warrior ready of battle I just knew that would be her new forever name.

Old lady Lilith got her name simply because the name means 'belonging to the night' or 'night monster' which did fit well for her as she was only seen at night, had a squinty eye so always looked angry and would make a deep hiss/scream in her sleep or if I had moved something in her cage.

Mania got her name because she was a maniac. She had the strongest personality of all the hamsters I've had and was very obsessive. In ancient Greek mythology, Mania was the goddess of madness and insanity and she was certainly crazy and I often called her my little lunatic.

Ares was the ancient Greek God of courage and violent side of war. My Ares only got his name because of the courageous aspect though.

 

[RainbowBrite]

My first roborovski, Nikolai, got his name because of the species having a russian name (Roborovski's are named after a Russian explorer although they're found in Mongolia). It was a toss up between Nikolai and Yuri.

Ghost was originally called Henry but that didn't suit him. He was a almost pure white syrian with ruby eyes. He was a cantankerous little guy as well so thought Ghost would be much more apt.

Athena was originally called Chloe, but after I saw one of the adoption photos of her stood on her hind legs posed like a warrior ready of battle I just knew that would be her new forever name.

Old lady Lilith got her name simply because the name means 'belonging to the night' or 'night monster' which did fit well for her as she was only seen at night, had a squinty eye so always looked angry and would make a deep hiss/scream in her sleep or if I had moved something in her cage.

Mania got her name because she was a maniac. She had the strongest personality of all the hamsters I've had and was very obsessive. In ancient Greek mythology, Mania was the goddess of madness and insanity and she was certainly crazy and I often called her my little lunatic.

Ares was the ancient Greek God of courage and violent side of war. My Ares only got his name because of the courageous aspect though.

I loved reading this. Thank you for sharing.

 

[RainbowBrite]

Bump for new members.

 

[elusive]

This might be quite a long post!

My first ham a little Russian was black & I love all the crow family (corvids) so I kept saying to him you’re my little crow! after a while with different ideas going through my head trying to find something suited him I came up with tiny corvid & abbreviated it to T’ycor.
Ziggy’s name just popped into my head fairly quickly as they sometimes do, he was such a lovely boy from day one he took me to a happy place that reminded me of that era so Ziggy he was in life & Ziggy Stardust when he went to the rainbow bridge.
Flynt was really named for his colour, he has such a beautiful coat & quite subtle colouring that reminded me of the layers of colour in a piece of flint so he became Flynt.
Zephyr was my first Chinesey & I couldn’t believe how fast she was, made my Russians seem like real slow coaches! She ran like the wind & so was called Zephyr, in the P@H adoption centre they had called her Snitch so she did need a new name pronto!
With Mickle I seemed to have gone from having just one ham at a time to having three at once in a fairly short space of time & that saying “Many a mickle makes a muckle” kept going through my head & she became Mickle or Ickle Mickle as she was so tiny.
Little whisp was my second Chinesey, a beautiful gentle little girl & so very quite as she moved around like a whisper so whisper or Little Whisp she was.
Zen, I’m not sure she just seemed to name herself, she made me really happy & I kept thinking about the Bush song, “everything zen, I don’t think so” & things had been a bit like that but suddenly with her arrival it was everything zen so that was that.
Zeki I just made up, playing around with sounds that suited him & that’s what I came up with, I later found out it’s Turkish for intelligent so probably quite apt.
Tinwë as I mentioned elsewhere is elvish for little star or bright spark, I often have a good dig around the elvish dictionary to find words that both suit & sound nice too.
Zylvan was made up too, for some reason he made me think about a little wood sprite quietly doing his thing (no idea why really!) the latin for woodland plants is sylvaticum & from that I came up with Zylvan.
Míriel was another delve into the elvish dictionary, when she first arrived I kept saying you are so precious or just calling her precious until I felt I was sounding rather like Golum! Literally translated her name means jewel daughter which pretty much summed up what she was to me.
Calyanwë was a bit more complicated or a longer story & elvish once again.
When I first saw him & looked into his eyes I just felt a connection to Zeki, no idea why, no resemblance or anything but it was just there so there was a connection to the rainbow bridge from the first moment. It had been raining non stop for weeks but as we arrived home it changed to brilliant sunshine, soon after the rain returned bringing with it a beautiful rainbow, his name literally means golden sky bridge, sky bridge being the elvish for rainbow.
Gusto’s name is probably self explanatory! He just did things with great gusto, simple but it really suited him.
Merilin (aka Meri) was quite simple too, she just made my heart sing from day one & her name is elvish for nightingale.
Zak must be the simplest of them all, I don’t go for human names but it just popped in my head & stuck, it seemed to suit him so he broke the mould so to speak!
I don’t think I missed anyone & if you made it to the end of this post well done!

 

[RainbowBrite]

This might be quite a long post!

My first ham a little Russian was black & I love all the crow family (corvids) so I kept saying to him you’re my little crow! after a while with different ideas going through my head trying to find something suited him I came up with tiny corvid & abbreviated it to T’ycor.
Ziggy’s name just popped into my head fairly quickly as they sometimes do, he was such a lovely boy from day one he took me to a happy place that reminded me of that era so Ziggy he was in life & Ziggy Stardust when he went to the rainbow bridge.
Flynt was really named for his colour, he has such a beautiful coat & quite subtle colouring that reminded me of the layers of colour in a piece of flint so he became Flynt.
Zephyr was my first Chinesey & I couldn’t believe how fast she was, made my Russians seem like real slow coaches! She ran like the wind & so was called Zephyr, in the P@H adoption centre they had called her Snitch so she did need a new name pronto!
With Mickle I seemed to have gone from having just one ham at a time to having three at once in a fairly short space of time & that saying “Many a mickle makes a muckle” kept going through my head & she became Mickle or Ickle Mickle as she was so tiny.
Little whisp was my second Chinesey, a beautiful gentle little girl & so very quite as she moved around like a whisper so whisper or Little Whisp she was.
Zen, I’m not sure she just seemed to name herself, she made me really happy & I kept thinking about the Bush song, “everything zen, I don’t think so” & things had been a bit like that but suddenly with her arrival it was everything zen so that was that.
Zeki I just made up, playing around with sounds that suited him & that’s what I came up with, I later found out it’s Turkish for intelligent so probably quite apt.
Tinwë as I mentioned elsewhere is elvish for little star or bright spark, I often have a good dig around the elvish dictionary to find words that both suit & sound nice too.
Zylvan was made up too, for some reason he made me think about a little wood sprite quietly doing his thing (no idea why really!) the latin for woodland plants is sylvaticum & from that I came up with Zylvan.
Míriel was another delve into the elvish dictionary, when she first arrived I kept saying you are so precious or just calling her precious until I felt I was sounding rather like Golum! Literally translated her name means jewel daughter which pretty much summed up what she was to me.
Calyanwë was a bit more complicated or a longer story & elvish once again.
When I first saw him & looked into his eyes I just felt a connection to Zeki, no idea why, no resemblance or anything but it was just there so there was a connection to the rainbow bridge from the first moment. It had been raining non stop for weeks but as we arrived home it changed to brilliant sunshine, soon after the rain returned bringing with it a beautiful rainbow, his name literally means golden sky bridge, sky bridge being the elvish for rainbow.
Gusto’s name is probably self explanatory! He just did things with great gusto, simple but it really suited him.
Merilin (aka Meri) was quite simple too, she just made my heart sing from day one & her name is elvish for nightingale.
Zak must be the simplest of them all, I don’t go for human names but it just popped in my head & stuck, it seemed to suit him so he broke the mould so to speak!
I don’t think I missed anyone & if you made it to the end of this post well done!

I loved reading this. You put so much thought and love into each name for your hamsters.

I loved 'Everything Zen' when it was realised and still listen to Bush sometimes.

 

[Maz]

It's nice to hear how people find their names. To answer your earlier question Rainbow Pip was just something I thought of as he was so very tiny and a name that OH liked too. It is actually Pipkin but Pip for short. Pipkin made me think of vaguely a possible character from a childrens book about a small creature although I couldn't think of one specifically. Apparently there was a Pipkin in Watership down. Pipkin just seemed to suit him but I call him Pip.

 

[RainbowBrite]

It's nice to hear how people find their names. To answer your earlier question Rainbow Pip was just something I thought of as he was so very tiny and a name that OH liked too. It is actually Pipkin but Pip for short. Pipkin made me think of vaguely a possible character from a childrens book about a small creature although I couldn't think of one specifically. Apparently there was a Pipkin in Watership down. Pipkin just seemed to suit him but I call him Pip.

Aw he really is a little Pipkin or Pip.