On the other hand, I love it when kids name their pets by adding a y or an ie to the end of whatever kind of animal it is. "Hedgie," for example. My sister had a toy cat named Catty, and I had a toy Dalmatian named Dalmatiany. Laura had a toy seagull named Seag-y and a toy guinea pig named Guinea-y. (Meanwhile, John had a toy frilled lizard named Mint. John always goes against the tide.) We've borrowed this trick for many of the wild animals who live with us temporarily. When we thought one of our baby snapping turtles was going to die, we renamed him Dyingy and the other one Livingy. (Dyingy didn't die; we let him go near the pond where he had been found. We changed Livingy's name to Snappingy.) And when five baby garter snakes lived in a hole at the edge of our swimming pool, David named them Snakey, Snakey, Snakey, Snakey, and Snakey.