It was a pleasant summer afternoon; I was 10, my brother was 7. In a cardboard box before us were two young rabbits, both jet-black except for a spot of white on their respective foreheads. We were instantly enamored by their baby bunny charm and were elated when our mother assured us that the rabbits could stay.
I immediately decided to name my rabbit Diamond, due to the diamond-shaped white spot on her head. I opened my mouth to make the announcement, when my brother piped up with his own selection:
“I’m gonna name my rabbit ‘Diamond.’”
Like a good big sister, I reluctantly conceded his “first come” claim to the name, and I hastily settled upon the second name to pop into my head: Cuddles.
There was only one problem with naming my rabbit Cuddles. She wasn’t cuddly. In fact, she was about as far from cuddly as you could get.
Now, if I hadn’t been 10 years old, I might have understood the wisdom of carefully considering a wider range of rabbit name possibilities. I might have understood that if you get to know your rabbit before settling on a name, you can learn about his or her personality and choose a name that is perfectly tailored to your bunny’s individuality. Instead, I ended up with an uncuddly rabbit named Cuddles.
For the full article, pick up the 2012 issue of Rabbits USA or click here to buy the issue.