I’ve been wondering how popular animal names are in other countries. I myself can only think of a handful of people I’ve met over the years with an animal name and can only think of a couple animal names in my native language.
So out of curiosity,
what animal names can you think of? (could be in your native language or any other language you are familiar with!) I would also love to know how these names are looked at (if you know that of course )
I can think of the following [name_m]Dutch[/name_m] ones:
[name_m]Robin[/name_m] (m/f) - [name_m]Robin[/name_m] (common, although mostly used on girls)
[name_f]Merel[/name_f] (f) - a blackbird (common)
Leeuwin (f) - lioness (rare)
Beer (m) - [name_m]Bear[/name_m] (semi-common)
[name_m]Wolf[/name_m] (m) - [name_m]Wolf[/name_m] (leaning towards rare)
[name_m]Arend[/name_m] (m) - [name_m]Eagle[/name_m] (common)
Animal names aren’t really used in Greek – with some exceptions:
Paschalitsa (f) - ‘ladybug’ - Very rare
Alkyoni (f) - ‘kingfisher’ - This one is a little more common, but still fairly rare. Probably a bit more common in children aged 0-10
[name_m]Leon[/name_m] (m) - ‘lion’ - Rare, I’ve not met one
Arachni (f) - ‘spider’ - Not used in modern day Greece, but there’s a well-known mythological character with the name
Gerakina (f) - ‘common buzzard’ - Rare, I’ve also not known anyone with the name
[name_f]English[/name_f] ones I’ve encountered in the UK, so possibly a little boring:
[name_f]Kitty[/name_f] (fairly common)
[name_m]Robin[/name_m] (fairly common)
[name_m]Tiger[/name_m] (I’ve encountered three, but statistically rare)
[name_f]Wren[/name_f] (fairly common among little, little kids)
[name_f]Fawn[/name_f] (rare)
[name_f]Raven[/name_f] (in the Top 500, but still fairly rare - I’ve met two, a boy and a girl)
[name_f]Cat[/name_f] (a nickname, it’s pretty common)
[name_f]Tabby[/name_f] (does this count, as in [name_f]Tabby[/name_f] cat? I’ve met a few)
[name_m]Jay[/name_m] (met multiple - fairly familiar)
Unfortunately English is my native language so I don’t have much fresh info to add. I do feel like most of the English animal names mentioned on Nameberry are really rare in real life, though, at least in the US. [name_m]Robin[/name_m] and [name_m]Jay[/name_m] would be the main exceptions, and maybe [name_f]Raven[/name_f] and [name_f]Wren[/name_f] – I know a few Ravens but it still feels unexpected (unlike [name_m]Robin[/name_m] and [name_m]Jay[/name_m]) and [name_f]Wren[/name_f] I’d say is just starting to become well-known for current babies. I’ve also met a [name_f]Birdie[/name_f], [name_f]Dove[/name_f], and a few girls called [name_f]Rhea[/name_f] though I don’t think the latter are named after the bird at all. I’ve never actually met a [name_m]Fox[/name_m], [name_m]Wolf[/name_m], [name_m]Lynx[/name_m], [name_f]Lark[/name_f], [name_m]Bear[/name_m], etc.
I do speak Spanish as well and know a number of people named [name_f]Paloma[/name_f] (dove/pigeon) and [name_f]Alondra[/name_f] (lark), mostly young women/girls.
I think it’s interesting that bird names specifically seem to be most common in all of the languages mentioned so far!
A while ago I tried to collect all Dutch bird names! I wrote about them in this topic:
These are the most common ones:
Arend, Mees and Merel, which were already mentioned by you and @Stabyhoun. And I can add to those:
Raaf (m) - raven
Lori (f) - lory. As a given name it’s a variation of Laura but it also happens to be a bird name.
Margrietje (f) - parrot of the Pionus genus. Margrietje is a flower name, meaning marguerite but it’s the name of a few parrot species as well!
In the linked topic the rarer bird names are also listed.
I’ve also collected Dutch mammal names used as given names:
Common names:
Beer -bear
Lori - loris
Mara - mara
Rob - seal
Vos - fox
Wolf - wolf
(Lori, Mara and Rob are just coincidentally both mammal names and given names. It’s funny that Lori is a given name, a bird name and a mammal name,)
Rare names:
Anoa
Eland
Hermelijn
Nyala
Panda
Tana
Tayra
Tijger
Titi
Unique names:
Das
Desman
Dolfijn
Ever
Ezel
Fennek
Guiara
Haas
Hert
Indri
Jak
Kat
Leeuw
Maki
Manoel
Mens
Muis
Otter
Panter
Poema
Ree
Saki
Takin
Animal names are only used as surnames in my language (Portuguese). Some examples include [name_m]Leão[/name_m] (lion), Coelho (rabbit), Barata (cockroach), [name_m]Pinto[/name_m] (chick), Carneiro (ram), Cordeiro (lamb), Rato (mouse), Falcão (falcon) and Lobo (wolf).
The only name I can think of that reminds me of an animal is [name_f]Joana[/name_f], because one of its popular nicknames is Joaninha - “little Joana” - (the same word for ladybug).
Curiously, [name_m]Castor[/name_m] and [name_m]Asa[/name_m], used in [name_f]English[/name_f], mean “beaver” and “wing” in my language.
I think [name_m]Urso[/name_m] and [name_f]Ursa[/name_f] (male and female bear) could be fun. I also like the idea of [name_f]Borboleta[/name_f] (butterfly).
Abeille (f) - [name_f]Bee[/name_f] (Only heard of one)
[name_f]Lou[/name_f] (u) - [name_m]Wolf[/name_m] (The right spelling to be wolf would be [name_m]Loup[/name_m] but it’s the same pronunciation and it’s quite a popular name)
[name_m]Colombe[/name_m] (f) - [name_f]Dove[/name_f] (Pretty uncommon but not unheard of with elderly people)
I think that’s it. There aren’t really many sadly…
The only [name_m]German[/name_m] animal that’s really used as a name (that I can think of) is [name_m]Wolf[/name_m], and I’ve only heard of one. [name_m]Wolfgang[/name_m] is way more common.
We’ve got lots of animal names in Icelandic. Some of my favourites:
Hjörtur - deer (my oldest son’s name)
Húni - bear cub (my second son’s middle name)
Lundi - puffin
Krummi - raven
Úlfur - wolf
Bassi - wild boar or big animal
Súla - norther gannet
Melrakki - white fox, arctic fox
Karfi - redfish
Hrafn - raven
Haukur - hawk
Hjörtur, Hrafn and Haukur are relatively common. Úlfur is a little less popular, but still well known and used regularly. The other ones are definitely uncommon names.
@vida [name_f]Love[/name_f] [name_f]Paloma[/name_f] and León!
I’ve also met an [name_f]Alondra[/name_f]!
Others in Spanish: [name_f]Colibrí[/name_f] (hummingbird, pretty rare but I know of a couple) [name_f]Mariposa[/name_f] (Butterfly, again, pretty rare)
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I do feel like most of the English animal names mentioned on Nameberry are really rare in real life, though, at least in the US. [name_m]Robin[/name_m] and [name_m]Jay[/name_m] would be the main exceptions, and maybe [name_f]Raven[/name_f] and [name_f]Wren[/name_f] – I know a few Ravens but it still feels unexpected (unlike [name_m]Robin[/name_m] and [name_m]Jay[/name_m]) and [name_f]Wren[/name_f] I’d say is just starting to become well-known for current babies. I’ve also met a [name_f]Birdie[/name_f], [name_f]Dove[/name_f], and a few girls called [name_f]Rhea[/name_f] though I don’t think the latter are named after the bird at all. I’ve never actually met a [name_m]Fox[/name_m], [name_m]Wolf[/name_m], [name_m]Lynx[/name_m], [name_f]Lark[/name_f], [name_m]Bear[/name_m], etc.