Jack is my Jack Russell terrier. He was originally supposed to be temporary - I called him Jack because he is a JRT, for the weekend, until I could get him to the vet to be checked for a microchip. Then he kept coming back, and by the time I decided that he needed to stay, the name had stuck. It suits him.
Jilly is Gillyflower when she's being formal. I chose the name to go with "Jack", since they are my little guys.
Gracie, Sylvester, Santos, Sara, Lola, Caruso, Kitter, and Socrates came with their names. I do generally call Sylvester "Cow Cat" because he reminds me so strongly of a Holstein. Rosebud came as Rosie - Rosie is much too common for someone with her presence. Bertie came as Burt, and I tried to feminize it when I started concluding that she was female.
Captain Snuggles came to me as "Snuggles" - the "Captain was added because of the change in his demeanor when he met his harem.
Serenity is so named because she is so not serene, and for the ship on Firefly.
Sebastian is named for J.S. Bach because he has a musical meow.
Doc is named for Doc Halliday because he bit all the way through the palm of my hand, twice, the first time we met. A good guy, but a bit dangerous.
Ziggy is named for Ziggy Marley because he loves reggae.
Amelia is named in honor of the woman who asked me whether I would take her in - she lives on Amelia Island - and for Amelia Earhart, because she came to me by airplane.
Y.A.C. stands for Yet Another Cat - he was the umpteenth cat who showed up here that year.
Y.A.M. showed up a couple of years later, and when my ex suggested that we name him "Yam" because it was Thanksgiving, I said, "Since Y.A.C. stands for Yet Another Cat, I guess Y.A.M. stands for Yet Another M************ingcat." The name stuck.
Double is so named because once, while I was away visiting my sister, my ex called in a panic, thinking that Kitter had gotten out, but wouldn't let him approach her. He spent hours trying to catch her. When he finally came inside, Kitter was sleeping in her usual spot.
Elf is so named because she's a little elf of a cat.
Sita stands for "Mamacita" - she was fiercely protective of her litter.
Squirt was such a tiny little squirt for so long - I was going to name him Oliver, because he was orphaned twice over, but his baby nickname stuck.
Paco is an Amazon, so it was suitable for him to have a South American name.
Moonshadow is named for the Cat Stevens song.
I took Destiny in last summer, after having decided that there was no way I could take in another cat and then making an exception because it seemed to be destiny. I named her kittens names also starting with "D": Desiree, Dulcinea and Desperado.
Last year's orphaned mallards that I thought were girls, I named Jade and Jasmine. When their mature feathering came in, they were renamed Jude and Jazz, and then when I had to get more girls because of the havoc they were causing, I named two of the girls Jade and Jasmine. Betty and Dorothy are Golden 300s, and are therefore named for Betty White and the Dorothy character on The Golden Girls.
Tuesday showed up on a Tuesday.
The hens are all include "Anna" in their names, except for Ramblin' Rose, who manages to get out repeatedly.
Tascha, Toby, Frisco, Finnegan, Luna, Leon, Shiloh, Babu, Jenny, Matilda, Binky, Tao, Zen, Alfie, Tofu, Ayla, Dominic, Simon, Prudence, and Dagwood have names that either my ex or I liked and which seemed to suit them.
