How to name your pet hamster

As we all know, once we have been named (by our parent/guardian(s)) and by no choice of our own, we are stuck with the name he/she/they provides us forever!

The same rule holds true for hamsters.

Great thought should be put into deciding what to name your new pet hamster(s). After all, the name is a name that you have to refer to the little furry animal for the rest of his life so it works best when you love the name too!

Unless you are certain what you want to name your little furry friend, the best advice is to bring home the new pet and allow him to be ‘nameless’ for a few days while you observe his/her general demeanor throughout each day. It is pretty much a guarantee that something he/she does during those first few days in his new home will trigger a fantastic name. For instance, let us assume that on day two of having your new hamster you notice he hops a lot. A resulting, cute and easy to remember name could be Hoppity, Hoppy or Hops because all of those names remind you and others that your hamster must like to hop like a bunny!

Another rather simple tactic to take on when naming a hamster is to just be plain and have the name resemble the hamster’s color. This happened to be my tactic growing up. It is not entirely creative but it works. For instance, if your hamster is gold in color, a perfect name is Goldie. Or maybe the hamster is peach, in which case Peaches is super!

Many people even refer to their hamsters with names of real people.  It seems ironic but it also works fabulously. Glenn makes a very good hamster name, as does Bob or Greg (assuming the hamster is a boy!)!

A lot of people also take cartoon names or names of animals/characters from movies that the owner really likes and name their hamster(s) after that. Tigger, Obi-Wan-Kenobi, Pluto, and Dora are excellent names for new hamsters! In situations where you have multiple hamsters some popular choices could be Bill and Holly or Tom and Jerry.

A final key piece to remember when naming your hamster is to be mindful of the gender of the hamster. If you do not know the gender then the name can be anything but if you do know the gender, then sticking with gender specific names is way more fun. All of the names previously mentioned are mostly boy names but some could work for female too. A good female name could be Gracie, Gem or Ruby.

Just remember that no matter what you name your hamster, as long as you love and care for him (pet often), he or she will be so thankful to have come home with you.