Wondering what name to give your new family member, or even, if you should change their name (or at least make liberal use of a nickname)? Not surprisingly, some animals really don't like their given names and may live up (or down!) to them in not-so-positive ways.

To find out more about this interesting facet of naming our beloveds, here's an article by animal communicator and healer, Nedda Wittels, from her website: Rays of Healing Light - What's In A Name?

Also enlightening are her other many stories, on the same website: True Stories, covering these areas:

• Animal Communication
• Animal Afterlife
• Living With Cats
• The Power of Energy Healing
• Spiritual Empowerment

Enjoy opening up your mind and spirit!

Very interesting, very true. I never thought of it much, but thinking back, my cat Daisy Jane seem to have liked Jane better than Daisy. You can just tell by the body language. Arthur was good with his name, but call him a good boy and you could just see how proud of himself he was. And when I called him Poops it seemed it was just he and I, and when Dave called him Buddy it was just them 2. Pretty neat though.. Thanks for sharing.. Ann

Glad you enjoyed it, and even gladder that you'd already noticed how this works!

I have two interesting stories to share about my kidlets' names. Each of them ended up with a gazillion nicknames, with Nissa having more simply because she lived longer and I just kept adding to them through the years, as inspiration struck me.

Firstly, similarly to you, while Sabin didn't seem to dislike his given name, I just felt/sensed that he preferred two of his nicknames, as did WE. I was more prone to call him "Boo-Boo" more often than not, and his Daddy usually called him "Bud". There was just something about the "B" names that suited him so well, for whatever reason.

However, in 2 different sessions with my first communicator (the best one of all), I asked the same question for each of my kids - "What is your favorite nickname of all your nicknames?"

For Sabin, she told me there was one nickname that she couldn't quite get, but it was the one where, when I used it, my eyes crinkled all up and I emitted a totally excited, exuberant feeling, and I immediately knew which one she was talking about. It was "UUUUUUUUUberCAT!" (said with a roll of the tongue), which I'd burst out with while we were playing Sabin's all-time favorite game of Hide & Seek in the tall grasses across from our home. It never failed to really 'rev' him up to even greater heights of kookiness! So yes, talk about body language, and then some!

With Nissa, this same question yielded a most amazing answer. My communicator was sounding a bit tentative, struggling to hear the name correctly. WELL! She needn't have worried she'd get it wrong! She said, still tentatively, "Ummmm......something like.....Peepsi????" I couldn't have BEEN more thrilled! She was only ONE letter off. I used to often call Nissa "Peepski", one of a number of variants on "Pee-Pop"!!! And don't ask me how I ever came up with "Pee-Pop" in the first place - it was just something that SUITED her and her ways...how I got any of their nicknames.

So it was in that moment that I knew for SURE that they do, indeed, favour certain names, whether that be their given name or a nickname! Unfortunately, Sabin was 'gone' by then, so he didn't reap the full benefit of this lesson, but at least I had used his favorite quite often, seeing as it was obvious he liked it so. But from then on I felt confident in using my own 6th sense to call Nissa whichever name came to mind, depending on the energy of the moment, whilst also making sure to also liberally use her favorite nickname more often.

But the whole idea makes complete sense anyhoo, seeing as they're just as sentient as we (or any other Being) are, and don't WE either like or dislike our own name(s), too? Or favor one variant of our given name? Or even use our middle name instead cuz we don't like our first name?

And yet, some people name their kidlets the absolute WORST, MOST INSULTING names in the book! Former friends of ours named their cat such an awful nickname, I refused to call him by that, and would use his original name instead (which also didn't seem right, either, mind you). I called him "Blue", while his people called him.....ugh...."S**thead"!! I tried to explain this whole concept to them, but they wouldn't take it seriously. And yet, the REASON they gave for calling him that (even though they seemed to say the name with some affection), was "...because he IS such a little s**thead!" Meanwhile, I knew he was just living DOWN to his name. Poor guy. And frankly, he was just being a CAT, and not doing anything 'on purpose' to tick them off. They just had NO understanding.

Hope you also can read Nedda's other stories, too, as they're all worth it.

Too Cute.. Funny thing you mentioned s***head, a coworker lost her cat last April and she called it the same thing. Yeah I don't get that either. I have read a few of Nedda's article. Curious, is that the "comuniacator you were refering too? Did she comunicate with Peepski?(love that name)What was that like?? .. Ann

No, it wasn't Nedda's services I used. It was my very first ACer, who is no longer working in that realm. You can read about who I've used through the years, in the Websites, News, etc. forum here, where we had a thread called "Animal Communicators LS Members Have Used", here. I also gave my impressions of each one's skills there, and other people have listed their own as well.

I've just had another experience of name-choosing that I can share. A friend and client of mine has just adopted a cat whom I met the other night. I happened to ask her later this week how she spelled her cat's new name and wrote down 3 different ways I thought her name might be spelled (in an email to her), not knowing which one she was using. She came back saying while she'd chosen a name, she hadn't actually decided on exactly HOW it would be spelled, but that she particularly liked one version I had spelled, so decided to use THAT one. Turns out it was the same version I'D thought/sensed/felt was the best, also getting the impression that this particular name itself was an innately good match for this cat. I directed her to this same article, suggesting that perhaps her cat had whispered in BOTH our ears as to which one she'd like. She read the article, then told me that in fact, when she'd picked her new girl up at the H.S., she already had a name, a name she not only didn't feel was right for her (it sounded all-wrong to me, too), but one that her furgirl would not even 'come' to. And so, this new name popped into her head and she decided to try it out....and her furgirl seemed to like it just fine and came to it! Now we're both suspecting that her furgirl did, indeed, choose her own name, PLUS its exact spelling.....all because we were both tuned in and listening with our 6th senses! How sweet it that?!!

Super Sweet! Pets are so much more than companions. They teach us things we never knew existed or at least never sensed before.. Thanks for sharing another great story..I'll check out that site too. There's a part of me that would love to communicate with my lost ones, and there's a part of me that wants them to rest in peace and there's a part of me that thinks it's a bunch of silly nonsense. But I'll read it anyways..Thanks.. Ann