Amy Lu's View

Just a few weeks ago, I had no idea Top the Tater was a real thing.

It was only on my radar because it was the “jail name” (name assigned by Animal Control) of the little dog we wanted to adopt.

When a friend suggested that “Top the Tater” sounded like an “adult” party game, it sounded plausible to me. So I was relieved and bemused and a little disappointed when I finally learned that it was, obviously, a topping for potatoes. Maybe it’s more a Minnesota thing?

Regardless, we had committed ourselves to adopting “Top.” We hoped he wasn’t actually attached to the name “Top the Tater” and that we could change it (as another friend said it would be the worst pet name ever), but we were prepared to adapt.

We didn’t have to adapt, though, at least not when it came to our new little dog’s name. He didn’t know his jail name, and his foster mom had been calling him “Eddie” which he hadn’t learned yet, so he was open to whatever.

Which meant we had to decide on a name! Choosing a pet name is fun and exciting, but hard. You want something cool, and unique, and fun, but yet something that will actually work. Something you can imagine yelling at your pet when you want him to come in or stop doing something annoying.

So, drumroll (which I can really do) please…we settled on the name “StanLee Booker.” “‘StanLee” in tribute to Marvel comics god Stan Lee who died just 10 days before we adopted our new little guy, and “Booker” as an homage to one of Chad’s favorite bourbons. We actually thought about just calling him “Booker”, or after one of our other favorite bourbons (including “Michter” or “Russell.” We contented ourselves with calling his first, and very short-lived, toy “Russell.”).

We had many good options, but “StanLee Booker” felt the best. No, we didn’t expect to use his middle name for everyday use, but we definitely wanted to get bourbon in there somewhere. We also like how “StanLee Booker” sounds like an old blues singer. (We do have aspirations we’ll eventually be inspired to write and perform “The Blues of StanLee Booker.”)

With StanLee, we’re returning to our Marvel comics roots of pet-naming. Our very first Chamy pets were our cats Rogue and Jubilee, named after X-Men. Our first dog, Oscar, came to us from the resuce organization pre-named, but we stayed literary with our next dog. We got Olive at Christmas time so named her after the book “Olive the Other Reindeer” (ditching her jail name “Nutmeg” as fast as possible. I think that’s way worse that “Top the Tater”).

When Rogue and Jubilee left this mortal coil, we really agonzied over what to name our next cats. A mother-daughter duo, we wanted names for them that went together. We were stumped, until we were both hit by inspiration in the middle of singing “Jackson” for our student Johnny Cash tribute band. As we sang “we got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout,” we thought, hey, let’s call our new cats “Pepper” and “Sprout.”

Not sure how successful we were with their names, though, as they usually get called by their nicknames more than their real names. It’s not terribly creative, but as Pepper is Sprout’s mother, she usually gets called “Mama.” And it’s probably rather offensive, but I started call Sprout “Kitty Boo Boo” which has been shortened to just “Boo.” Yes, I was “inspired” by watching Honey Boo Boo with my brother’s family so for some reason thought that was a good name for my cat. And lately, I have unintentionally started calling Sprout “Jube,” the nickname for our long deceased cat. I may have just officially lost my mind.

We haven’t started using a nickname for StanLee yet, and maybe we won’t. Rogue was always Rogue. We’ll actually, Rogue Kitty, but I think that was because we realized she needed a longer, more formal and serious name. As I mentioned, Jubilee usually got shortened to “Jube” because she needed a shorter, less formal name. (Chad just reminded me that’s NOT entirely accurate. We often called Jubilee “Jube-a-loo-who” or “Jubester-whoo.” So not a shorter name, but definitely more goofy).

Oscar quickly became “the Dude” which had absolutely nothing to do with “The Big Lebowski” (I’ve never even seen that move although people often assume that was our source material). And Olive was frequently referred to as “Wife,” because she was Oscar’s wife (of course). I wonder if that got a little confusing and weird if anyone heard me yell “Wife” or “Wife, shut up!” out our backdoor. And for some inexplicable, and adorable, reason, Chad started calling Olive “Olive Magoo” or “Olive McinsertadjectiveherePants.” This may be the only time Chad has ever celebrated his Irish heritage.

Hmmm, I think I’m realizing that we’ve often found our pets have needed longer names, so we may me on the right track by starting off with a two-name moniker for StanLee Booker. We are trying REALLY hard NOT to call him “Dude” out of respect for Oscar and to save our remaining sanity and tend to go with “Little Man” when we need to.

Okay, okay, okay, but how IS StanLee? He’s just about so-cute-we-can’t-stand-it adorable, and also a little shithead. He’s hyper, he chews EVERYTHING (including  a freaking BOOKCASE), and the cats are traumatized and living in the basement. And we already can’t imagine life without him.

And maybe someday I’ll actually have some Top the Tater. I will definitely have some Bookers.