Finding name ideas for your pet rats can feel like it takes a lot of time because you don’t want to rush into something that isn’t endearing and doesn’t fit your rat’s personality. You might also want to make sure your rat isn’t as intimidating or frightful to other people who may have a certain stigma to pet rats.
Rats have so many preformed prejudices in many people’s minds because of their predecessors, wild rats, and their portrayals in much of fiction and media. But with a cute appearance and name, you could help mitigate that problem.
But how do you choose the best pet rat name? Start by choosing a theme you may favor, and try to identify some ideas for names there. Whether that theme is movies, books, family, and friends, the choices are endless.
Either way, you’ve come to the right place to help you figure this out. Here are some ideas for pet rat names that you could give to your newest rat addition or a list of future names for pet rats.
Famous or fictional rat names
Looking for pet rats names that fit your fictional tastes or the best famous names for pet rats for your little buddy? Here are some of the best famous and fictional names for pet rats that you can choose from and a little about where the names came from for inspiration.
- Scabbers. What better fictional rat name to start with than Scabbers from Harry Potter? Perfect for any Harry Potter or fiction lover, especially fans of Ron Weasley.
- Nicodemus. This name originates from the movie The Secrets of NIMH, also a book; he was a sage rat that many readers and viewers loved.
- Professor Ratigan. If you ever were a lover of The Great Mouse Detective, Professor Ratigan could be a nice pet rats’ names choice.
- Splinter. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fans will love the idea of Splinter for pet rats names since he was the rat that trained the turtles.
- Remy. Possibly one of the most loved famous and fictional rats comes from the movie Ratatouille. You could also consider other names from this movie too such as Django or Emile.
- Rizzo. The famous rat from the Muppets. Rizzo would make an excellent part of names for pet rats, especially if you loved or love the Muppets.
Behavior-based names for pet rats
If you already met or knew about your pet rat that you’re looking for the best name for, or you have them for a little before you name them, you can use pet rat names that are based on behaviors or quirks of pet rats.
These names for pet rats could include:
- Squeak or Squeakers
- Scamper
- Scritch
- Sneaky
- Chaser
- Wiggles
- Tiny
- Frisky
- Stretch
- Rascal
- Digger
Dynamic duo names for pet rats
Since pet rats are social animals and live better in at least pairs, if not more, you could choose your rats’ names that play on the duo aspect or work well in combination with one another. These dynamic duo names for pet rats could come from famous shows and books, or be combinations of other items.
- Mac and Cheese. Macaroni and cheese is a favorite food or comfort food for millions of people; why not choose pet rats’ names that are cutely themed around it?
- Thor and Loki. If your pair is particularly mischievous or you like Norse mythology (or Marvel comics and movies), Thor and Loki are perfect names for pet rats.
- Salt and Pepper. This one works especially well if you have two pet rats that are different colors or mainly two different colors, such as a mostly white and mostly brown rat.
- Calvin and Hobbes. If you grew up on Calvin and Hobbes comics like a great handful of people did, these adorable names for pet rats will hit home.
- Scooby and Shaggy. Particularly helpful if you have silly rats. Scooby and Shaggy from Scooby-Doo would be perfect pair names for your little friends.
- Fire and Ice. We often think of fire and ice in combination when thinking of opposite natural elements, and this idea could be expandable by naming other rats the other elements too!
Appearance names for pet rats
Haven’t quite found the perfect name yet? That’s okay! You could think of some names for pet rats that focus mainly on their appearance in many ways, which can still be just as endearing or cute for the right rat.
Some of the appearance-based pet rats names you could choose from include
- Fuzzball
- Longtail
- Whiskers
- Claws
- Dumpling (for chubby rats)
You could also focus on color with name ideas based on their color scheme like:
- Patches
- Champagne
- Frost
- Copper
- Sooty
- Fox
- Raven
Notable mention names for pet rats
For some other names for pet rats that don’t quite fit into any category, you find this section. Here are some honorable mentions for pet rats’ names that couldn’t fit into these categories or were particularly worthy of being added to the list regardless of category.
Some of these are Disney names, others are just cute ideas, and so on.
- Chip
- Kit and Kat
- Alpha
- Buttercup
- Cayenne
- Frangipane
- Saturn and Jupiter (or other solar names)
- Snickers
- Cha Cha
- Scrabble
- Twinkle Toes
Finding name ideas for your pet rats
The ideas you could have on a list of pet rat names are truly endless because you can use just about any idea from a book, movie, show, human name, place, and so on for the right rat. Hopefully, these names for pet rats can give you something just right for the next rat you welcome home or for if you’re considering getting a pet rat but feel hung up on finding pet rat names that work for your household or preferences.
Naming a new pet can be such a great experience because you have the opportunity to create the perfect addition to your pet’s personality or your household. Many people theme their pet rats’ names, so this list has some separation for the types of names you could choose to make that a little easier. If all else fails, check out the fantasy name generator.