History Main / PetsHomageName

* ''Literature/BothCanBeTrue'' has a Pomeranian named [[Franchise/StarWars Chewbarka]]

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS4E114IDreamOfGenie I Dream of Genie]]", George P. Hanley's dog Attila is named after UsefulNotes/AttilaTheHun.

* ''Series/BJAndTheBear'' is about Billie Joe "B.J." McKay, a professional freelance itinerant trucker who travels the country's highways in a red and white Kenworth K-100 Aerodyne with his pet chimpanzee Bear (named after Bear Bryant, the famed football coach for the University of Alabama).

* ''Comicbook/AntMan'': Hank Pym sometimes named ants after musicians he liked, most notably the trio he used to explore inside Vision, who were [[Music/CrosbyStillsNashAndYoung Crosby, Stills and Nash]]. Scott Lang has also named ants after celebrities, including musicians, but his first ants were [[Series/TheAvengers Emma and Steed]] and he later followed this up with [[Series/TheNewAvengers Purdey and Gambit]].

* ''Literature/TheOnceAndFutureKing'' is the novel that ''WesternAnimation/TheSwordAndTheStone'' was adapted from. Like the Disney film, Merlin's Familiar is an owl named Archimedes.

* Eleanor from ''Film/DoRevenge'' named her emotional support dragon [[Creator/OliviaColeman Oscar Winner Olivia Coleman]].

* ''WesternAnimation/JimmyNeutron'' the boy genius designed and built his robot dog and named him Goddard in honor of rocket science physicist and inventor Robert Goddard. Especially apt when, in his first animated feature film, Jimmy is able to ride upon Goddard like a space bike.

It's a simple way to provide characterization: if you're highly educated and/or sophisticated you give a likewise name to your pet. A popular scientist to name cats after is Erwin Schrödinger, best known for his UsefulNotes/SchrodingersCat thought experiment. Popular enough to be a StockAnimalName.

It doesn't have to be a scientist naming the cat for another scientist. If you're an expert in a given field, you give an appropriate name to the pet. A musician may name the dog after a famous composer, a literature professor named the cat for an ancient king, a physicist who named the ferret "Proton", etc. You're just too damn intelligent to own a dog named Rover or a parrot named Polly.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Zits}}'', Jeremy adopts a cat he names '[[Music/EricClapton Clapton]]'.

* In ''ComicBook/LoriLovecraft'', struggling actress Lori's cat is named Keaton in honour of Buster Keaton.

* ''Literature/TheOnceAndFutureKing'' is the novel that ''the Sword and the Stone'' was adapted from. Like the Disney film, Merlin's Familiar is an owl named Archimedes.

* ''Film/CrazyRichAsians'': Peik Lin's NouveauRiche mother named her {{Mister Muffykin}} dogs Astor, Vanderbilt and Rockefeller, after rich American families.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBaronMunchausen'': [[TheMunchausen Baron Munchausen's]] [[CoolHorse horse]] is named [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucephalus Bucephalus,]] thus making this trope OlderThanRadio.

* In ''Film/ChittyChittyBangBang'', inventor Caratacus Potts has a dog named Edison.
* In ''Film/ElviraMistressOfTheDark'' this trope is used as one of many small gauges of the lead's average smarts. Elvira has an UnexpectedInheritance of a mansion, "cookbook", and a poodle. Her great aunt, a powerful, savvy witch, named him Algonquin after the American Indian tribe. Elvira is much more Earthy and neither dumb or brainy, so she shortens his name to Gonk.
* The titular dog in ''Film/{{Beethoven}}''. His family decided on the name when he seemed to react positively as the youngest girl, Emily, began playing Beethoven's 5th Symphony on the piano. In the sequel, one of his puppies is named Tchaikovsky.

* In the ''Literature/RepairmanJack'' series, Abe is a gun-dealer and technical expert on firearms; gun design, mechanical specifications, upkeep, customization, and repair. He'd probably have found a great job in the industry if he wasn't so determined to remain independent. He calls his pet parakeet Parabellum, the name of a specific type of cartridge.
* ''Literature/TheOnceAndFutureKing'' is the novel that ''the Sword and the Stone'' was adapted from. Like the Disney film, Merlin's Familiar is an owl named Archimedes.

* PlayedWith in ''Literature/HarryPotter''. [[ConvenientlyAnOrphan Harry]] names his owl Hedwig, ''"a name he had found in A History of Magic."'' The author took the name from Saint Hedwig, patron saint of orphans.
** As per the movie props, Hermione ''might'' have named her cat Crookshanks after the in-universe figure from the 16th century, [[https://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Poderick_Crookshank Poderick Crookshank]].
* In ''Literature/TheGoldenHamsterSaga'', Mr. John named his whistling guinea pigs [[Music/EnricoCaruso Enrico and Caruso]].
* In ''Literature/MrPoppersPenguins'' the first penguin the Poppers receive ends up being named Captain Cook after British explorer, James Cook.

* In ''Literature/CallMeSunflower'', the Applebaums' cats are named Aristotle, Copernicus, and Einstein.

* ''Series/TheWestWing'': Mathematics professor Talmidge Cregg has a cat named Nicodemus.

* In ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', after a breakup with not-his-girlfriend Amy Farrah Fowler, theoretical physicist Sheldon Cooper gets a cat that he names Dr. Robert Oppenheimer and takes him everywhere. Soon Sheldon becomes a [[CrazyCatLady Crazy Cat Gentleman]] and gets an entire Manhattan Project of cats -- Fermi, Feynman, Teller, Frisch, and OddNameOut Zazzles, because that cat is so zazzy.
* ''Series/{{Sliders}}'': In the first episode, Quinn- the inventor/discoverer of Sliding- mentions his cat named Schrödinger.
* ''Series/TheXFiles'' had Scully, whose background is in hard science like medicine and physics, owning a dog named Queequeg, a reference to one of the Characters in ''Literature/MobyDick''. (Her family has Navy connections, and she and her father shared a fondness for that novel.)
* ''Series/StargateSG1'' had Samantha Carter, the team TheSmartGuy, owning a cat named Schrödinger, which she gave to Narim early on.

* When Liz Lemon of ''Series/ThirtyRock'' is threatening to [[OldMaid give up looking for love]] and succumb to being a CrazyCatLady:
-->'''Liz:''' I have adopted this cat, named her Creator/EmilyDickinson-- \\
'''Writers:''' ''[CollectiveGroan]'' \\
'''Liz:''' --NAMED HER [[ReclusiveArtist EMILY DICKINSON!]]
* On ''Series/{{Blackish}}'', Dre's sister Rhonda and her wife Sharon have a cat called 'Kitty Lang'.

* ''Series/JonathanCreek'': A minor character whose fascination with Classical Greek mythology plays a minor role in solving the mystery of the week owns a goldfish called Tiresias.

* ''Series/DueSouth'': Canadian Mountie Benton Fraser named his wolf Deifenbecker, after former Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbecker.

* In ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', TheMedic owns a pet dove named Archimedes, but he runs more in the MadScientist direction, gleefully describing how he once stole a live patient's skeleton.

* ''Webcomic/DrFrost'': Befitting a psychologist, when Frost adopts a puppy, he ends up naming him Pavlov.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Fillmore}}'': Fillmore has a goldfish named Thelonius (after jazz musician Thelonius Monk). After Thelonious dies, he is replaced by a goldfish named Miles (after Miles Davis).
* ''WesternAnimation/ButchCassidyAndTheSundanceKids'' are a pop band. Their TeamPet is a dog named Elvis.

* ''Series/StargateSG1'' had Samantha Carter, the team SmartGuy, owning a cat named Schrödinger, which she gave to Narim early on.