Ballet-inspired pets' names

[toursenlair]

I'm sitting here with Minkus purring on my lap and wondering how many of us have inflicted our ballet obsession on our pets, um I mean, have ballet-inspired names for our pets.

[Fiz]

Mine have had history inspired names instead - Blanchette, Minette, Cesare and Lucretia.

[toursenlair]

17 minutes ago, Fiz said:

Mine have had history inspired names instead - Blanchette, Minette, Cesare and Lucretia.

 

hmmm, not sure I'd want two Borgias cuddled up in bed with me! But I'm sure they were/are

darlings.

[Fiz]

They were. Their names were reduced to Chepuss and Lulu. 

[Lizbie1]

Again, not ballet, but a friend's fish were named after characters in Strauss's Elektra: Orest, Klytemnestra, Chrysothemis, etc. I think Chrysothemis actually killed Orest in the end.

[Loulabelle]

My daughter had two hamsters, one called Darcey Rustle and the other Carlos Ahamster🤣

[toursenlair]

I forgot to say, my goldfish (in my outside pond) were called Ondine and Golfo. But they met an unkind fate at the hands of my local raccoons.

[Pas de Quatre]

When we went to view a litter of Sprollies, the one we chose was wearing a red collar.  So we thought a name based on the colour would be appropriate.  DH was very keen on Rudi - but for me there will only ever be one Rudi, I saw him dance live several times.  So I vetoed that, and just then Queen's "Killer Queen" started to play on the radio, so the puppy became Freddie instead!

[Ian Macmillan]

Until he died some 5 years ago, we had a Rudi - a large, ginger tabby - and so named by a lady who had worked with the original and who had known him well.

[Jan McNulty]

My dogs have had names that seemed appropriate to them but sadly not ballet related as far as I am aware.

 

My first dog was Shelley (name chosen by my Dad but he couldn't say why).  Then we had Pepper, name chosen by us all, because she was a brindle.  She had a dark strip down the centre of her back and was a pale brindle on one side and a much darker brindle on the other.  Then we had Chunk (not named by us - she had been the runt of the litter).  My current dog is called Chip.  He is a rescue and the Dogs' Home I got him from give the dogs names that are plays on sayings so he was "Chip off the old bark".  I thought Chip suited him so I kept the name rather than renaming him. He's absolutely keeping me sane during this awful pandemic.

 

 

[Ellie]

At around the time the Cats movie opened, two very pretty white kittens appeared in our neighbourhood. We nicknamed them Francesca and Hayward. Francesca has been keeping a low profile recently. Hayward, not so much. He has been re-named Hayward - 19 since I witnessed his, rather aggressive encounter with (our) Mummykat.

[LinMM]

Well I'm not sure I should be sharing this for what it reveals.

 

But back in 1984 I acquired a gorgeous little grey kitten who was half Burmese and half Siamese.....he wasn't a true Tonkinese because parents weren't Tonks but mixing these two breeds eventually lead to Tonkinese ....incredibly difficult to stabilise apparently as keep reverting back to original breeds.

Anyway a digression. 

So I decided I wanted a theatrical name and had always liked the sound of Tosca. I knew it was a tragic opera but that's about it I'd never seen it just heard the odd aria from it. 

So I named my cat Tosca. Until a friend pointed out that my cat was a male so why did I give him a female name? 

Blush blush! I had assumed that Tosca was the name of a male character in the opera had absolutely no idea she was a lady! 

So anyway decided to keep the name but put an R on the end so suppose made it seem more like Oscar so Tosca became Toscar.

I still haven't seen that opera. 

[Shade]

Sounds like a lovely cat Lin. 

[Aruna S]

Two of mine have ballet related names. There's Estella Esmeralda Rojo-Osipova, who is a tabby who has become plump, as ex-ballerinas sometimes do (cough). The other is  a beautiful black cat named Georgette (after Georgette Tsingurides) Narcissa Kitri, the last name because of the way she holds her tail which is very long with a little curl at the end. 

 

[LinMM]

Toscar was such an unusual cat! 

Because he was really pre digital age virtually I will see if I can find a photo which is not up in back of the loft somewhere and take a picture of that with my phone and post it here! Probably not tonight though! 

I still dream about him from time to time they are usually very tactile type dreams.

Edited April 24, 2020 by LinMM

[loveclassics]

Funny how cats stick in your memory and dreams.  When I was growing up we had a black & white moggie prosaically called Smudge because of the black patch on his otherwise white face.  I still dream of him sometimes, heaven knows why - he was the most aggresive animal on four legs since the days of the velociraptor.  Although a 'retired gentleman cat' and supposed to be placid, at night he would roam over nearby Coulsdon Common looking for a fight.  I suspect the foxes were scared stiff of him but one night he went too far and got on the nerves of a badger.  In the morning he limped home with half his ear hanging off, bloodied but unbowed.  His whole  attitude said ' you should see the other guy'.  He lived a long time but we had to let him go when he was 18 years old and had succumbed to kidney disease. I still miss him.

 

Linda

[zxDaveM]

don't know about pets - but there have been plenty of racehorses - classic winners no less.

Such as Nijinsky (the last colts triple crown winner), Alexandrova, Nureyev, Balanchine (a filly!). And many horses named Dancing/something-or-other/Dancer, such as Dancing Brave

[bridiem]

6 hours ago, zxDaveM said:

don't know about pets - but there have been plenty of racehorses - classic winners no less.

Such as Nijinsky (the last colts triple crown winner), Alexandrova, Nureyev, Balanchine (a filly!). And many horses named Dancing/something-or-other/Dancer, such as Dancing Brave

 

And one named Bryony Brind.

[Jan McNulty]

7 hours ago, zxDaveM said:

don't know about pets - but there have been plenty of racehorses - classic winners no less.

Such as Nijinsky (the last colts triple crown winner), Alexandrova, Nureyev, Balanchine (a filly!). And many horses named Dancing/something-or-other/Dancer, such as Dancing Brave

 

In my "horsey" phase as a teenager my favourite two horses were Sir Ivor and Nijinsky.  It was because of Nijinsky that I eventually discovered ballet ... and the rest, as they say, is history!

[jm365]

There was also Mukhamedov - who won one race.  He was in some way descended from Northern Dancer - who was the sire (or ancestor) of a lot of the horses with dance related names.

[toursenlair]

7 hours ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

In my "horsey" phase as a teenager my favourite two horses were Sir Ivor and Nijinsky.  It was because of Nijinsky that I eventually discovered ballet ... and the rest, as they say, is history!

 

I would just like to point out that Nijinsky and his sire Northern Dancer were Canadian (born about 40 miles from where I sit typing) so this is another clear example of how Canadians are taking over the world. ;-)

Edited April 25, 2020 by toursenlair

[Fiona]

All I had was a budgerigar named Mischa, after Baryshnikov................!

Edited April 25, 2020 by Fiona

[ArucariaBallerina]

The closest I've got is a cuddly penguin called Coppelia and I adopted a chicken for people in Africa called Kochetkova!

Wish I could get some more pets just so I could name them after ballet or music ❤️

 

My family have Rue my black cat (off the Hunger Games), Cersei my sister's Siamese cat (off Game of Thrones), my tortoise Nagini - but I call him/her (still not sure) Nicki (Harry Potter) and lastly our big family Labradoodle - Maggie ❤️

 

 

[Dizzyballetmum]

We have a dog named Nunez 😂 when I took him to puppy training the teacher said “ Noo who “ ???

[Dizzyballetmum]

When I was a child I also had a mouse named Eschappe as he escaped a few times.  

[Stevie]

On ‎16‎/‎04‎/‎2020 at 02:13, LinMM said:

Well I'm not sure I should be sharing this for what it reveals.

 

But back in 1984 I acquired a gorgeous little grey kitten who was half Burmese and half Siamese.....he wasn't a true Tonkinese because parents weren't Tonks but mixing these two breeds eventually lead to Tonkinese ....incredibly difficult to stabilise apparently as keep reverting back to original breeds.

Anyway a digression. 

So I decided I wanted a theatrical name and had always liked the sound of Tosca. I knew it was a tragic opera but that's about it I'd never seen it just heard the odd aria from it. 

So I named my cat Tosca. Until a friend pointed out that my cat was a male so why did I give him a female name? 

Blush blush! I had assumed that Tosca was the name of a male character in the opera had absolutely no idea she was a lady! 

So anyway decided to keep the name but put an R on the end so suppose made it seem more like Oscar so Tosca became Toscar.

I still haven't seen that opera. 

Mario Cavaradossi is the male lead in Tosca, but rather long for a pet, so just Mario. If you ever have an evil scary pet, you could call him Scarpia, also from Tosca.

Edited June 9, 2020 by Stevie
typo

[Irmgard]

On 16/04/2020 at 02:13, LinMM said:

 

 

 

So I named my cat Tosca. Until a friend pointed out that my cat was a male so why did I give him a female name? 

Blush blush! I had assumed that Tosca was the name of a male character in the opera had absolutely no idea she was a lady! 

 

Just to let you know that Tosca is actually the lead character's surname!  Her name is Floria Tosca but, of course, being a famous opera singer, she is referred to simply by her surname, even by her lover Cavaradossi!  So, you were quite entitled to call your male cat by that name! ☺️   My current cats are Mimi (from La boheme) and Rudi (after Nureyev because he had such amazing cheekbones as a kitten!).

[LinMM]

Thankyou Irmgard! 
Im such an ignoremus where Opera is concerned.  It’s not even that I dislike it that much I’ve just been a bit of a ballet freak 😳. 
Perhaps to celebrate the reopening of the ROH   ( whenever that is) I should go and see at least one performance of each Opera production.

The last Opera I went to see was the touring company at Glyndebourne performing the Magic Flute and I loved that! 

 

[Stevie]

On ‎23‎/‎06‎/‎2020 at 01:12, LinMM said:

Thankyou Irmgard! 
Im such an ignoremus where Opera is concerned.  It’s not even that I dislike it that much I’ve just been a bit of a ballet freak 😳. 
Perhaps to celebrate the reopening of the ROH   ( whenever that is) I should go and see at least one performance of each Opera production.

The last Opera I went to see was the touring company at Glyndebourne performing the Magic Flute and I loved that! 

 

My wife's favourite Opera is Tosca, I think its because of all the torture in it. Be careful what Opera you chose, there are those that will cure you for life and those that will inspire.

[LinMM]

Some of my friends are ballet AND opera goers. 

and another friend is more Opera only and I’ve heard a few opera complaints and that they are definitely not going to see such and such a production or will definitely be giving certain operas a miss 😳....so I’d better check out with them first if there’s anything I should avoid ...well for a newby anyway. 
I suppose it’s similar to ballet.... die hard ballet fans like myself will attend almost any ballet....well at least once ....though may sigh at certain choreographers but will give new works  a go in the hope of a miracle this time 🙄.... but some ballet goers will only go to the big well known classics as they know what they’re getting especially as these days tickets are not exactly cheap.

[Scheherezade]

2 hours ago, LinMM said:

Some of my friends are ballet AND opera goers. 

and another friend is more Opera only and I’ve heard a few opera complaints and that they are definitely not going to see such and such a production or will definitely be giving certain operas a miss 😳....so I’d better check out with them first if there’s anything I should avoid ...well for a newby anyway. 
I suppose it’s similar to ballet.... die hard ballet fans like myself will attend almost any ballet....well at least once ....though may sigh at certain choreographers but will give new works  a go in the hope of a miracle this time 🙄.... but some ballet goers will only go to the big well known classics as they know what they’re getting especially as these days tickets are not exactly cheap.

 

I'd say with opera it's more often the production rather than the actual opera that is likely to turn people off.

 

To the horror of those who actually like to enjoy what they are seeing as well as hearing, there has been a noticeable shift towards the German model of Regietheater, which allows the director the freedom to  put his own interpretation  on the opera, even if it is totally at odds with the music and the libretto. More often than not, this is characterised by profanity, pornography, perversity and a uniform cloud of greyness and ugliness.

 

The emperor's new clothes syndrome looms large as many fear to admit that they might just prefer what the composer intended for fear of sounding old fashioned.  During Kasper Holten's brief tenure, there was that heavily flagged aside in which he was reported to have said that if the audience didn't like what they were watching, they would have to be re-educated. Well, not now they won't, not so long as the government insists that if and when theatres reopen, singing is to be banned from the stage.

[LinMM]

Oh I think I remember seeing something come on my Facebook feed about why can't there be Musicals with out the singing 🙄 

Not a hopeful sign as it seems perhaps members of this Gov don't go to the theatre that much anyway and possibly never to musicals.

 

 

 

[Stevie]

On ‎15‎/‎04‎/‎2020 at 13:23, Jan McNulty said:

My dogs have had names that seemed appropriate to them but sadly not ballet related as far as I am aware.

 

My first dog was Shelley (name chosen by my Dad but he couldn't say why).  Then we had Pepper, name chosen by us all, because she was a brindle.  She had a dark strip down the centre of her back and was a pale brindle on one side and a much darker brindle on the other.  Then we had Chunk (not named by us - she had been the runt of the litter).  My current dog is called Chip.  He is a rescue and the Dogs' Home I got him from give the dogs names that are plays on sayings so he was "Chip off the old bark".  I thought Chip suited him so I kept the name rather than renaming him. He's absolutely keeping me sane during this awful pandemic.

 

 

You can tell straight away, behind the boots lay the feet of a ballerina