Bats aren’t exactly the most conventional of pets, which makes them perfect for unconventional pet people. Sure, other people might choose to go with a cat or dog, conventional pets, but you’ve chosen to take a true creature of darkness under your wing!
If you are still thinking about a pet bat, why not read our other article talking about whether bats make good pets or not before you decide 🙂
Well, let’s be fair, bats have their cute and cuddly side, once you get past the whole “blind blood-sucking creatures of the night” thing. These little fuzz balls can be a joy to raise, and you can give them all kinds of cute and funny pet names to match.
So let’s swoop right in and take a look at some of the best names for bats.
Vampire-Themed Names
Okay, this is far and away the most obvious source of vampire names, so let’s get them out of the way first. We all know that vampires turn into bats – though in the original Dracula the world’s most famous vampire can also transform into a wolf, large dog, or mist. That said, “Dracula” is far from the first or only vampire out there, meaning there’s a whole host of names on which you can draw.
In the story, Dracula turns Lucy Westenra into a vampire, making both “Lucy” a great name for female bats if you want to show off your knowledge of Victorian Literature and vampire lore. If you’d like to be a bit ironic and name your bat after those actually trying to stop Dracula, you can’t go wrong with “Mina” for Mina Harker (whose intelligence and powers make her among the strongest heroines in Victorian Literature!) or the man, the myth, the legend, “Van Helsing” himself!
You could also choose to name your bat “Bram” or “Stoker” for the author of Dracula.
Of course, Bram Stoker wasn’t the first person to come up with the idea of a vampire. You could go with “Sheridan” for Sheridan Le Fanu, for the author of Carmilla (another great vampire-related name for a bat), a Gothic vampire story that inspired not just Stoker but Carl Dreyer’s 1932 classic vampire film Vampyr, where the vampire is named “Marguerite Chopin.” Sticking with the world of classic vampire flicks, you could go with “Nosferatu,” an alternative term for vampires popularized in the 19th century in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the title of F.W. Murnau’s famous 1922 film. This film is actually an unlicensed riff on Dracula, where the world-famous vampire is instead named “Count Orlock,” giving you yet another vampire-themed name for your pet bat. (While we’re “enumerating” different “Counts,” don’t count out “The Count” from Sesame Street or the sweet-fang-toothed “Count Chocula.”)
Finally, whether you’re a Twi-hard or just up for another laugh a decade after the fact, then “Bella,” “Edward,” “Jasper,” “Carlisle,” “Alice,” and all the other vampires of the Twilight-verse are perfect name fodder for your beautiful little bat. (You could also go with “Robert” or “Kristen,” for Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, but don’t expect them to be happy about it – ditto Anna Kendrick.)
Moon-Themed Names
While there are so many vampire-relate names to give your lovely little bat, maybe you don’t feel like being as obvious as that (or “Batman” which, let’s be honest, is another obvious choice for bat names we should get out of the way, along with “Afred,” “Bruce,” “Robin,” and all manner of other Batman-related names). Bats, like vampires, are associated with the moon and nighttime, opening up a whole host of other naming possibilities.
If you’re musically-inclined there are a ton of moon-related pieces that are perfect for bat names, from “Claire” or “Luna” for Claude Debussy’s “Clair de Lune” to “Rusalka,” a name from Slavic folklore attached to Dvorak’s “Song to the Moon.” David Bowie gave us “Moonage Daydream,” making “Bowie” (or “Ziggy!”) great choices, while the Hollies and the Beatles both covered Dr. Feelgood’s jazz-rock song “Mr. Moonlight,” an offbeat name for moon-loving bats if ever there was one. Shakespeare may have written some of his sonnets to his own “Dark Lady,” but you could name your pet bat “Cher” for her song by that name and her starring role in Moonstruck. (On the other hand, Juliet begs Romeo “O, swear not by th’ inconstant moon” so if you’d like to double down on the Bard and have a pair of bats, well, do so As You Like It.)
If you’re an anime fan, you’ve probably already thought of naming your bat “Sailor Moon” or “Serena” for everyone’s favorite anime heroine who takes 30 seconds of animation time to transform before fighting (we kid, anime fans). One of Sailor Moon’s cats is named “Artemis,” after the Greek goddess, because she was sometimes known as “Cynthia” due to her mythological birthplace at Mount Kynthos and sometimes associated with the moon, giving you a couple more good pet bat names. For fans of stop-motion animation or classic cinema, there’s “Georges” or “Méliès” for the mind behind 1902’s Le Voyage Dans Le Lune, one of the first films to capture the public attention. (If you’re the type of person to say of film adaptations “The Book Is Better,” you can name your bat “Jules” or “Verne,” because the film is adapted from an 1865 work by the famed French sci-fi author.)
Other Names
Finally, a quick rundown of a few funny pet bat names that don’t quite fit into other categories:
- Vlad
- Birdy
- Trixy
- Benny
- Batwing
- Jet
- Blitz
- Batina
- Ariel
- Loki
- Nightwing
- Jam
- Moondusk
- Shrike
- Palo
- Buffy
- Beatrice
- Sara
- Spooky
- Luca
- Tinkerbell
- Aurora
- Sonar
- Fangs
- Lucky
- Shade
- Blinky
- Bax
- Marcel
- Foxy
- Vixen
- Cassandra
- Mirage
- Happy Flappy
- Betty
- Blackjack
- Boo
- Betsy
- Pepper
- Blinky
- Echo
- Jinx
- Vamp
- Fluffy
- Stella
- Rasputin
- Batfink
As you can see, you have quite a few choices when it comes to selecting the right pet bat name for your adorable sonar-emitting blood-sucking creature of the night. What’s in a (pet) name? What we make of them, sure, but they’re also a great way to label personality traits or show off our cultural tastes.
Whichever name you choose, your pet bat will be ready to meet the moonlit sky with style.
