Names from real animals who made history
Ask your vet about your own pet. This page is general information from the sources below.
Real animals have done remarkable things. In 1925 sled dogs, including Togo and Balto, carried medicine across Alaska to Nome. In 1966 a dog called Pickles found the stolen football World Cup trophy in a London garden. And Owney, a scruffy terrier, rode the mail trains across America in the 1880s and 1890s.
17 names, good for any pet.
| Shortlist | Name | Boy or girl | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Balto | Boy | Led the last team of the 1925 medicine run to Nome, Alaska; he has a statue in Central Park. Great for a dog. | |
| Togo | Boy | Led the longest stretch of the same 1925 run. Great for a dog. | |
| Hachiko | Boy | The Akita who waited at a Tokyo station for his owner every day for years. Great for a dog. | |
| Pickles | Boy | The dog who found the stolen World Cup trophy in London in 1966. Great for a dog. | |
| Owney | Boy | The terrier who rode the US mail trains in the 1880s and 1890s. Great for a dog. | |
| Chaser | Girl | A border collie who learned the names of more than 1,000 toys. Great for a dog. | |
| Smokey | Boy | The bear cub rescued from a forest fire in New Mexico in 1950. | |
| Trim | Boy | Explorer Matthew Flinders's ship's cat, who sailed around Australia. Great for a cat. | |
| Tama | Girl | The calico cat who was stationmaster at Kishi Station in Japan. Great for a cat. | |
| Hodge | Boy | Samuel Johnson's cat, who has his own statue in London. Great for a cat. | |
| Alex | Boy | An African grey parrot who learned words, colors and shapes for a scientist. Great for a bird. | |
| Jonathan | Boy | A giant tortoise on the island of St Helena, thought to have hatched around 1832. Great for a reptile or turtle. | |
| Winnie | Girl | The black bear at London Zoo who gave Winnie-the-Pooh his name. | |
| Dolly | Girl | The sheep born in 1996, the first mammal cloned from an adult cell. | |
| Koko | Girl | A gorilla who learned to use many signs. | |
| Ham | Boy | The chimpanzee who flew into space in 1961 and came back safely. | |
| Seabiscuit | Boy | A small racehorse who became a champion in the 1930s. |
Tick the names you like, then take them to a family vote.