Or literature, or named after real life famous people etc. 30 years ago we had a dog called Wookiee and later we had a cat called Onslow (named after the character from Keeping Up Appearances)
My best cat was a black cat named Boris, after Boris Karloff. He was the sweetest animal that ever lived.
I wanted to name my family cat T'Pring (she had the coldness and the deviousness), but my parents could not pronounce it or remember it. So we called her Micia ("Pussy").
I used to have a cat named after film actress ZaSu Pitts. But a teenager in the apartment house called her ZigZag, after the cigarette papers.
Years ago, I went to the Humane Society to get a cat and I wanted to name him Max, and I wanted him to be similar to my old family cat, which was tailless. So, when I went in, there was a big male cat, named Max, who had no tail. I figured it was fate and took him home. Even though he was already named, in my head, his name was short for Maximilian Arturo.
A couple summers ago, I took care of someone's fish for a couple months. It was a mini-koi. Since I didn't know its real name, I called it James Tiberius Koik.
I forgot to mention my son's goldfish who are named Lister and Rimmer because my son loved Red Dwarf. I tend to call the fish Dave and Arnold.
We had a cat called Edwin Meise after the scandalized US Attorney General in the 80s. I was a little kid, heard the name on the news all the time, and liked it. We also had a fish called Wanda.
My daughter has a Diamond Dove named Sir Gawaine. My Budgerigar Parakeet is named Calypso. Warmest Wishes, Whoa Nellie
Originally thought we were getting a male cat and we're going to name him DiNozzo, but instead got a female so I changed the name to Ducky to keep it NCIS. My brother got a black and white cat that and accepted my suggestion we name her Jess after Postman Pat's cat.
Let's see... A small black cat named Isis (from both Gary Seven's assistant in "Assignment: Earth" and Catwoman's cat from Batman:The Animated Series). Two dogs names Shippo and Sango (two characters from the anime "Inuyasha"). A pair of hamsters name Bilbo and Frodo. A pair of betas (fish) named Starbuck and Apollo.