I adopted Gertrude on Easter Day. She is named after a much less lucky Gertrude, the duck in Journey to the Center of the Earth, who ended up as a meal for the awful Count Saknussen (he got his "just dessert" a few minutes later when he is buried in a rock slide).
But I call her "Trudy" after Adrian Monk's wife.
(Hmn. Another dead character. Could I want her to be a...::groan::...dead duck? Never!)
As for this fellow, also adopted on Easter, what else would you name a chocolate-colored dog?
"N-E-S-T-L-E-S...Nestlè's makes the very best...chocccccc-late!"
For you non-baby boomers who have no idea what I'm waffling about: here's the original pushing a Nestlè premium and a 1990s version of Farfel (and family!) doing a Christmas commercial and singing the famous jingle.
Here are a couple from the beginning of this month: Abigail is named after Abigail Adams, because I noticed after I bought her that she was pigeon-toed. This comes from a scene in 1776, taken from John and Abigail Adams' real-life letters, where they are discussing her faults as John had listed them in a previous letter. To each fault, John protests, "That was an endearment!" or "A compliment!" or something similar, until Abigail says, "That I am pigeon-toed." He responds, "Well, you have me there, Abigail. You are pigeon-toed."
Jack is named after Jack the bulldog in the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. (No, TV series watchers, Jack was not a shaggy mutt, nor was he whatever breed of dog that portrayed him in the Disney Channel miniseries. Of course, the real Jack was what they called a bulldog back then, which is closer to Pete the Pup in the Our Gang shorts or Chance in Homeward Bound.)
Jack was a Valentines Day gift, along with Skippy the (bush) kangaroo.
The New Guys on the Block
