Sassy has always been Sassy because they hadn't given him a name at the shelter before I adopted him..He was grey kitten #4.
Linus was Baxter which was an okay name because he sort of does look like a Baxter, however the day I brought him home he hide under the blanket in his cat carrier and refused to come out for several hours...my first conversation with him was something like, "your just like Linus with your security blanket " and from that moment on he was Linus, or Linny for short.
Our bengals have been through 2 name changes since their original owner named them, and then the foster mom called them something else because the first names didn't fit them, and then we renamed them (well, only slightly in one case. They were originally Yin and Yang, and I have no idea which was which. Then the boy became Raj, which we changed to Rajah (technically Thundering Rajah, but we've not sent those papers in yet) and the girl became Precious and we changed it to Tigerlily (Lily for short - formal name is Dancing Tigerlily, but we've not send the papers in).
Eliza has always been Eliza since I met her only a few hours after her birth to the pregnent stray that showed up at my mom's house. Her full name (not pedigreed of course, but we think cats deserve a very formal name) is Elizah Doolittle.
Our dear Penni was also always Penni, but her full name was Penelope Von Bentwhisker. Another former cat was Jeanette when I adopted her, but I changed that to Jenni-fur Marie Van Bentwhisker, or Jenni for short.
Fosters (dog)was origionally "Noah" - he was found wondering on a street called "noah lane" not too far from where we live now. Colin named him Fosters after the Australian beer because he said "well he's an australian shepherd- he should have an australian sounding name" - someone please tell him these dogs are from America
Whiskey (dog) was origionally "Digger" - uhhh i HATED that name! I changed his name to Whiskey because we kind of had an "alcohol" theme going on with Fosters name
Funny thing is we don't drink much at all.
Velvet was origionally "Topsy"
Kojak - i had him since he was a baby- i origionally named him "Kolar" but my family hated that name so Colin changed it to Kojak - like the lollipop detective
Jasmine was origionally named Jasmine -then her first owners changed it to "Mia" when they adopted her. When she was brought back to the rescue- they didn't tell us that so I started calling her Jasmine thinking i was calling her by the name she knew. So she goes by Jasmine now.
My parents sort of adopted (long story) my grandmother's cat when she moved. She named him "Mister Black" which we all hated. We wanted to change it, but we never got around to teaching him a new name. So he crossed the bridge as "Mister Black"
JoJo was Butterscotch. Now, I hate butterscotch flavoring in anything... blech. So i took her home and it took over a week before i figured out her name... still don't know why it became JoJo, but oh well!
Jack was Aaron at the rescue. It really didn't fit. My original plan was to name him Josh/Joshua... (Grobanite here, shush) but the ladies said they'd given him a nickname of JackRabbit. He leaps, from sitting, no butt-wiggle, nothing. He can get a good 6-8 feet out too, before landing. the name stuck... but i took Rabbit off... and it still works with the Grobanite reference... his father's name is Jack.