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Ladd Russo and his shotgun: OTP!

"Six men came to kill me one time, and the best of them carried this. It's a Callahan fullbore autolock, customized trigger and double cartridge thorough-gage. It's my very favorite gun. I call it Vera."

Some people just like weapons. A lot.

One way to show they have a favorite weapon is to give it an affectionate girly name. Expect them to act slightly too keen about the weapon, like knowing even its most obscure facts and statistics, with possibilities of stroking and licking. Frequently they speak to the weapon directly, often apparently expecting or thinking they hear a response. Expect them to be armed with it at a moment's notice, even if they were asleep a moment ago.

Anyone who does this either has a sentimental attachment to said weapon (pure or otherwise), is a veteran from some war, is generally insane (though you wouldn't say it to their face), or is some combination of the three. In any case, someone who gives a name to their gun or knife is usually someone to watch out for and generally not one to mess with.

In Real Life though, another reason could be that the owner is just very, very, lonely. Or, you know, a member of one of the several real world militaries that encourage this in trainees so they might actually bother to maintain the weapon.

Note that this only really applies to common weapons, especially guns. Empathic Weapons and Evil Weapons are a different issue, and vehicles like ships and planes nearly always have a name. Also, back when all weapons were handmade works of art, nearly all of them had names, so this trope is Older Than Dirt. Indeed, the word gun is derived from the name of a crossbow, Lady Gunilda. Therefore, every gun in existence is already named after a woman.

Related to this is I Call Him Mister Happy, where men name... another weapon of theirs. Seriously speaking, Companion Cube is what you get when you evoke this trope to the point where it might as well be an actual character, and Spaceship Girl is what you get when you invoke this trope literally.

Compare Named Weapons and Stock Weapon Names.
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