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Changing a rescue/rehome parrot's name..

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Whats in a name...

Postby Kim S » Sun Jun 13, 2010 8:43 am

Well, like the subject: what's in a name. How attached is a parot to his name?

We got Peewee now for over a week and we are thinking of changing her name. It's not a name that rolls easily off our Dutch tongues and it doesnt really fit her personality. I find myself using phrases like 'girl', 'sweety' and 'birdy' more often then her name.

I don't see her reacting to the name Peewee like my dog reacts to his name. I don't kow if that's because the name wasn't used frequently enough, or if parrots aren't that attached to their names.
Peewee is not yet a year old, so I think it won't be too much of a problem if we change her name. But I would like your input first.
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Re: Whats in a name...

Postby Rue » Sun Jun 13, 2010 9:36 am

That's a good question. I wonder about that myself.

From my experience, animals do know their names. But I don't think they're as 'attached' to a name or identify with a name as much as a person does - for the most part.

Our pionus clearly identifies with his name. And he did it immediately. It's one of the few words he'll say and he uses it all the time.

Our AG didn't come with her name...so we renamed her. She now identifies with her new name...but I still hear her use her old name (I assume it's her old name...but I didn't hear her say it until several weeks after we had gotten and renamed her...and I didn't like it more than the one I gave her, so we kept her 'new' name).

Our Amazon also identifies with the name we gave her. But she's not a talker (she can talk, but would rather not). I have no idea of what her old name was.

My point is that unless that particular animal closely identifies with its name (like our pionus does) I don't think it's a huge deal to change. I'd say the same goes for dogs and horses, and cats too.
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Re: Whats in a name...

Postby lzver » Sun Jun 13, 2010 11:28 am

When we first got our 3-month old Senegal his name was Tucker. For personal reasons the name had to go. It took about a week to change his name. Everytime we said the name he got a treat and within no time he was responding it Jessie.

With Jessie and Lucy being 4 and 5 years old they most definitely know their names. They do respond to them, so it's definitely possible for them to get to know a name.
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Re: Changing a rescue/rehome parrot's name..

Postby Michael » Sun Jun 13, 2010 3:39 pm

I moved these posts over to here because they really didn't belong in Taming/Training but this topic was going on about these things already.
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Re: Changing a rescue/rehome parrot's name..

Postby Kim S » Sun Jun 13, 2010 3:47 pm

Thanks Michael. I didnt know about this topic.

We have decided to rename her Kika.
Kika: Senegal Parrot.
Guus: Cockatiel, Yellowcheek, cinnamon, pearl, pied.
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Re: Changing a rescue/rehome parrot's name..

Postby LiaraTivona » Sun Jun 13, 2010 7:12 pm

My bird wasn't rescued (I didn't know better back then), but like I said before, I renamed her from Halal to Tika with no problem; she really began to respond to her name after I changed it. Just keep the bird's best interests in mind. If its something confusing to the bird or something you really can't stand to say, then that is in the bird's best interests.
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Re: Changing a rescue/rehome parrot's name..

Postby LiaraTivona » Wed Jun 16, 2010 8:13 am

Is Pixie a sun conure?
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Re: Changing a rescue/rehome parrot's name..

Postby Natacha » Wed Jun 16, 2010 9:00 am

LiaraTivona wrote:Is Pixie a sun conure?


No, she's a Red-bellied parrot
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Re: Changing a rescue/rehome parrot's name..

Postby LiaraTivona » Thu Jun 17, 2010 9:38 am

Oh, okay, good. I was talking to someone else from Canada who used to have a sun conure named Stewie after family guy, wanted to make sure it wasn't the same bird, re-homed already!
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