# Hedgehog Names?



## Chihirolee3

I am currently on a waiting list to get my first Hedgehog. I am hoping to get a chocolate colored one, or least a darker one. And I am waiting on a male. My husband and I have been thinking of names but just cannot find one we like. We are pretty strange in that we do not want to use "simple" names, such as calling a hedgehog Spike. We currently have a male year old cat named Treben. It is a play on the Nowegian words for "three legs" and there are supposed to be accents above the the "r" and first "e". Yes, he has three legs. I took him off my husband's parents' farm when I noticed him as a very malnourished kitten. They have a lot of farm cats, and he was about 2 months old when I took him in because he just did not act the other kittens (they all ran and played while he never moved, and he was malnourished because they other cats ate all the food before he could get any). The vet believes his leg was cut off by a lawn-mower because it is an extremely clean cut (it was proven he was not born with it and his mother did not gnaw it off). I jokingly tell my friends he is the unluckiest cat in the world because not only is he missing a limb, but is all black (however he is the luckiest because I spoil him to death, and my husband loves him too and he really does not like cats). Thought I would share a bit about him since someone may ask how he lost a leg. I also happen to have a very old, cherished, deer stuffed animal that I names Rannoch. On top of that, I have stuffed animals named Anyon, Tanio, Yanuey, Beorn, Talvi, etc. I hope you understand what I mean. Now back to the hedgehog. I have tried multiple languages and have used a great deal of creativity to try to find a good name for my up and comming addition. I am wondering if any of you would have suggestions or tell about strange names you have encountered, that may or may not work for a male hedgehog (I like strange names in general).


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## Avarris

I'd love to see some of the responses you get. I think one of the ones I came up with while agonizing over naming Pippin was Spyro. I know there was a hedgie here named Spyro, but it got changed to Gatsby I think. Spyro for me has a special meaning.. He was my greyhounds boyfriend. Unfortunately last summer, his momma sent him over the rainbow bridge due to bone cancer.  Another one we thought of was Groucho (as in Groucho Marx LOL)


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## Chihirolee3

I have been thinking about naming it "hedgehog" in a different language. Treben's potential names were Gual (a deriviative from the word Shadow in Gaelic I believe), Faylin (another language's word for Shadow, i can't remember off hand but I think it's scottish), and of course, my hubby wanted to name him Stool, stumpy, or tripod.....but when I found the name he is, I just fell in love with it...and he has definitely lived up to that name (I love how he talks to me, i don't know how to explain it). 

but with the hedgie, I have Pinsvin on my list so far, which is derived from the Norwegian word for hedgehog.


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## JJStefaniec

I love naming my pets after book characters. I named my girl Abbess Tansy (Tansy for short) because she was a wonderful and kind character in the Redwall book The Pearls of Lutra.
http://redwall.wikia.com/wiki/Abbess_Tansy

I like using names that have a character of good strenghs and temperment. Tansy was kind in the book so I was hoping that would pass onto My beautiful girl

(although she's a very high snowflake instead of brown like in the picture.)


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## Chihirolee3

A lot of my stuffed animal name come from books...Rannoch for instance, is my most prized deer stuffed animal (a 1974 Dankin one) and his name came from Fire Bringer by Clement David-Davis. A lot of amazing names are in that book, and speaking of which, I have been thinking of names from J.R.R. Tolkien's books too...


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## Sam_n_Hedgie

Yay someone else who enjoys naming pets in different languages! I named my baby boy Aculeo (which is italian for quill). You could try words like quill or spike or whatever other adjective that fits his personality in other languages and see what turns up. I love Pinsvin, that's pretty awesome


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## AlexONeil

I like to name my animals after their personality.

Jesse James -- He was a troublesome pup, fine now though.
Xena -- Total princess, but won't tolerate any crap from anyone.
Houdini -- Escape artist of a hedgehog


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## Draenog

I usually name my pets after mythology/history, but I never think of names before I get them. I always wait until I see them in person, so I can name them for their character (or sometimes other traits). Like with my hedgie, I didn't think of any names and when I first saw him his name just popped up in my head, it fitted his character (he was really busy and mischievous)


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## Alex

I'm with the others in naming my pets after character names that I really like...Hannibal Lector is one of my all-time favorite movie characters, and I was going to name my hedgie Hannibal the Hedgehog, but when I got to the breeder's home, all they had were females, so it became Hannibell :] I like the sort of play on words you did with your cat, can't wait to see what you come up with!


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## Sugargliderlove

If I get another hedgie again I want to him Nirvana


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## SpiritWolves1

SAY the alphabet ! That's how I named Dallas, he wasn't an A,B, or C then D, I knew it had to start with D, same with Rhea, it had to be an R. Jasper was named because I'm thinking he's a snowflake, so Jasper National park I'd on of my fav places, so I had to name him Jasper, plus i love thay name. And Ky is named after a character in a book I have, don't remember the title, but it's a green book with a girl trapped in a bubble on the fro.t Shade came with her name, but she's a pinto so it's like the light patches in the shade, and Oliver also came wiyh his name, but my sister is keeping hhim.

My dog was named after my first dog Misty, and she's a black lab shepherd cross 50/50 and has a white line on her chest and on her tail, and that black spot on her tounge.

y cat storm was named because she has a lightning shipped patch on her face and shes a dilute calico so it looks like a bad storm put her colours on.


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## Chihirolee3

It doesn't help with Google Translate trying to figure out how to even to pronounce some of the words I've found. Short, simple, hedgehog...that's all I want. I know hedgehogs probably don't reconize their own name, but I'm sure for all I know (for I have yet to find out), they are smarter than all my research has said. Maybe they do come to reconize their own name. Most animals (besides cats and dogs), can reconize their owner by voice, regardless if they understand or not. I also think they can reconize the languages of their owners, since some languages are very...gutteral (I'm thinking Germanic languages). I have some Brazilian friends who speak Portuguese at home more than English, and their dogs seem to understand that better than English. Animals sure are amazing. 
I never could understand naming an animal something, but calling them something else (a nickname). My thoughts with that is that if you are going to call an animal a different name than you've given it, then you should have just named it that name (same with children). I had that problem myself. As a kid, I was Terry (everyone called me that since as far back as I can remember). But it wasn't until 5th grade when I encountered a teacher who insisted on my legal name to be used. I actually never knew I had a different name. I was Terry, not Theresa. I had an identity crisis with that (because Terry fits me a lot better) but eventually got over it. 
Sorry I am rambling about a side topic of this. 

Well, I have also found Vozni (Armenian), Siili (Finnish), Draenog (Welsh)....they all mean hedgehog....

As far as words like quill and pin, I haven't found one to my liking yet...I wish there was a giant word list out there that has ALL the different languages names for animals...that would be tons more helpful than Google translate. 

Houdini's picture looks like he wants to give a fist bump


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## Draenog

I might be of some help when it comes to pronunciation since a couple of the languages you named are closely related to my first language or other languages I speak. If you need some. Not sure about all of them though. 
There's also this website http://www.forvo.com/ which has lots of words (their pronunciation). Could well be you'll find some translations of 'hedgehog' on there!

I definitely think my hedgehog recognizes my voice. They don't use their eyes that much but rely more on their nose and ears.


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## Sugargliderlove

I think that sonic knows my voice or his name. I can call his name and tap my finger saying come here sonic and he would come over to me. and during play time out of his cage I would asking him were you going sonic he would stop and look at me. they are smart little creatures for sure.


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## Chihirolee3

You know, after lots of thinking, and mulling over, I think I will name him Pinsvin afterall...
My husband thinks that's the best name I've found so far. And I've had loads of trouble finding words that are similar to a hedgehog in personaility/demenor/what they are and look like that I think I've flat out given up on this :| though I ain't sure....

I think Pinsvin would be the best name I think...My husband is Norwegian...and Pinsvin is a play on the actual word (but without 2 n's and an emphasis on the v) 
But I actually may spell it the Dutch way...since how it's spelled looks like how it sound, Pindsvin, in terms of how we will pronounce it...Treben is an exact spelling for "three legs" in dutch so why not Pindsvin?

Of course, neither of us are dutch...so there's another dilema.... :?


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## LarryT

Madmartigan if it's a boy!


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## Chihirolee3

Why that? Sorry, I have to ask, because getting to the names themselves are quirky little journeys of their own


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## Draenog

Chihirolee3 said:


> You know, after lots of thinking, and mulling over, I think I will name him Pinsvin afterall...
> My husband thinks that's the best name I've found so far. And I've had loads of trouble finding words that are similar to a hedgehog in personaility/demenor/what they are and look like that I think I've flat out given up on this :| though I ain't sure....
> 
> I think Pinsvin would be the best name I think...My husband is Norwegian...and Pinsvin is a play on the actual word (but without 2 n's and an emphasis on the v)
> But I actually may spell it the Dutch way...since how it's spelled looks like how it sound, Pindsvin, in terms of how we will pronounce it...Treben is an exact spelling for "three legs" in dutch so why not Pindsvin?
> 
> Of course, neither of us are dutch...so there's another dilema.... :?


I am Dutch and "Treben" is not a Dutch word (or do you mean something else?). "Three legs" would translate to "driebeen". If you want to I could tell you how I would pronounce the word Pindsvin


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## Chihirolee3

Treben is the english-ed-ed way to spell it. I pronounce it the way you spelled it (the phonetic spelling), but I didn't like the literal spelling for it. 
how would you spell Pindsvin phoineticallyy?


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## Draenog

Chihirolee3 said:


> Treben is the english-ed-ed way to spell it. I pronounce it the way you spelled it (the phonetic spelling), but I didn't like the literal spelling for it.
> how would you spell Pindsvin phoineticallyy?


Ahh I get it.  For English pronunciation, you would say "driebeen" like... "dreben" with the first "e" as the "ee" in "tree" and the last part, "ben", sounds like "bane". If this makes any sense :lol: For Pindsvin, the "i" would sound like the "i" in the word "in". You won't really hear the "d" that much if you say the word out loud especially when you say it fast. 

I hope this makes any sense.. I can always just videotape myself saying the words if that's easier :lol:


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## Chihirolee3

That sounds more phonetically spelled than Treben. That makes things a bit easier this time around  It actually sounds like it's spelled. With the way I talk (midwestern american accent) the d than the sv make the d very feint sounding, but at least it's a d, not a t


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## Draenog

Yes it's not a very hard word. Although I could say it in like 4 different ways, because it is not a real Dutch word, and we have different sounds for the "i". 

If I have time to film my hedgehog today (I take a lot of videos and pictures anyway) I can see if I can say the words for you, makes it easier. At least it's not as hard as our word for hedgehog, which sounds very guttural and I think English/American people would have a hard time pronouncing it  Pindsvin sounds way better!


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