OK, let's try to help people name their tortoises. I'll take all submissions and we'll make a sticky or an article or something out of it.
To help with creative thinking, here some 'starter names' (New names in green):
HISTORICAL/FICTIONAL/CULTURAL
- Leonardo, Raphael, and the others
- Oogway, from Kung-Fu Panda
- A'Tuin, the giant turtle that holds Discworld on its back
- Om, the tortoise hero of the Discworld book 'Small Gods'
- George, the 'Lonesome' Galap
- Tom, ****, and Harry, the first Galops Darwin collected
- Moby and ****, from Rocky
- Tu'i Malila, Adwaitya, Jonathon, or Harriet, very old tortoises
- Timothy, from "Timothy, or Notes of an Abject Reptile" by Verlyn Klinkenborg
- Aford, webcomic of the same name
- Cecil, the turtle who always raced Bugs Bunny
- Touche' Turtle- had his own 70's cartoon
- Tooter Turtle- another TV cartoon
- Yertle and Mack, Dr. Seuss
- Churchy LaFemme, Pogo comic strip
- Verne, from the Over The Hedge comic strip
- Maturin, Stephen King's Dark Tower books
- Franklin, from his own books
- Koopa and Bowser, Mario Brothers
- Crush and Squirt from Finding Nemo
- Gamara (Gamera?) from Godzilla
- Squirtle and Blastoise, Pokemon
- Mr. Turtle, from old Tootsie Pop commercials (oldsters here just chuckled)
- Flor and Eddie, from the band The Turtles
- Mr. Sydney Turtle, from My Name is Earl
'TYPICAL', FUNNY, IRONIC
- Tank
- Shelly or Sheldon
- Zippy, Turbo, Speedy, Indy, Nitro, Scooter, Speedo
- Any traditional cat or dog name
- Keanu Reeves for a Reeves turtle, Woodrow Wilson for a Wood Turtle
- Tortolini
SOURCES OF INSPIRATION FOR NAMES
- Movies or books, like Lord of the Rings (Frodo, Elrond, Shadowfax...), Star Wars (Solo, Leia, Darth...), Land Before Time (Littlefoot, Cera...), any Disney or Pixar movie (Wall-E, Buzz, Woody...), Watership Down (Blackberry...), Gremlins, Star Trek, Sesame Street (Sccoter, Bert, Oscar, Elmo...), Bugs Bunny...
- Place names from the animal's range. Ie- Red-footed from Venezuela area might go with Coro, Orinoco, Tovar, or Maturin.
- Common or scientific name based. 'Cherry-headed' Red-footeds might be named for cherry varieties- Chelan, Atticus, Balthon, or Black Tartarian. Homes Hingeback might go with 'Sherlock' (Holmes) or 'Watson', maybe even 'House MD'; a Hermanns might go with 'Fred Gwynne' [I'll send a quarter to the first person who figures that one out.)
- Gods or beings from many traditions (Thor, Coyote, Behemoth, Zuni...)
- Someone famous from the region, or in science, or reptile studies, like Linnaeus, Darwin, Steve Irwin...
- Shell patterns or colors- Spot, Stripe, Pinky. You can often see vague shapes or letters in the shell as well that can inspire a name.
OK, that will get us started- GO!
To help with creative thinking, here some 'starter names' (New names in green):
HISTORICAL/FICTIONAL/CULTURAL
- Leonardo, Raphael, and the others
- Oogway, from Kung-Fu Panda
- A'Tuin, the giant turtle that holds Discworld on its back
- Om, the tortoise hero of the Discworld book 'Small Gods'
- George, the 'Lonesome' Galap
- Tom, ****, and Harry, the first Galops Darwin collected
- Moby and ****, from Rocky
- Tu'i Malila, Adwaitya, Jonathon, or Harriet, very old tortoises
- Timothy, from "Timothy, or Notes of an Abject Reptile" by Verlyn Klinkenborg
- Aford, webcomic of the same name
- Cecil, the turtle who always raced Bugs Bunny
- Touche' Turtle- had his own 70's cartoon
- Tooter Turtle- another TV cartoon
- Yertle and Mack, Dr. Seuss
- Churchy LaFemme, Pogo comic strip
- Verne, from the Over The Hedge comic strip
- Maturin, Stephen King's Dark Tower books
- Franklin, from his own books
- Koopa and Bowser, Mario Brothers
- Crush and Squirt from Finding Nemo
- Gamara (Gamera?) from Godzilla
- Squirtle and Blastoise, Pokemon
- Mr. Turtle, from old Tootsie Pop commercials (oldsters here just chuckled)
- Flor and Eddie, from the band The Turtles
- Mr. Sydney Turtle, from My Name is Earl
'TYPICAL', FUNNY, IRONIC
- Tank
- Shelly or Sheldon
- Zippy, Turbo, Speedy, Indy, Nitro, Scooter, Speedo
- Any traditional cat or dog name
- Keanu Reeves for a Reeves turtle, Woodrow Wilson for a Wood Turtle
- Tortolini
SOURCES OF INSPIRATION FOR NAMES
- Movies or books, like Lord of the Rings (Frodo, Elrond, Shadowfax...), Star Wars (Solo, Leia, Darth...), Land Before Time (Littlefoot, Cera...), any Disney or Pixar movie (Wall-E, Buzz, Woody...), Watership Down (Blackberry...), Gremlins, Star Trek, Sesame Street (Sccoter, Bert, Oscar, Elmo...), Bugs Bunny...
- Place names from the animal's range. Ie- Red-footed from Venezuela area might go with Coro, Orinoco, Tovar, or Maturin.
- Common or scientific name based. 'Cherry-headed' Red-footeds might be named for cherry varieties- Chelan, Atticus, Balthon, or Black Tartarian. Homes Hingeback might go with 'Sherlock' (Holmes) or 'Watson', maybe even 'House MD'; a Hermanns might go with 'Fred Gwynne' [I'll send a quarter to the first person who figures that one out.)
- Gods or beings from many traditions (Thor, Coyote, Behemoth, Zuni...)
- Someone famous from the region, or in science, or reptile studies, like Linnaeus, Darwin, Steve Irwin...
- Shell patterns or colors- Spot, Stripe, Pinky. You can often see vague shapes or letters in the shell as well that can inspire a name.
OK, that will get us started- GO!