When you’ve got a new pet, especially when it’s a species you’ve never owned before, the most difficult thing is figuring out how to care for that pet. Besides that, you have to grab a slew of pet supplies, like an enclosure, bedding, pet food and all that jazz. And finally, there’s the fun, yet sometimes difficult job of giving your pet a name.
It can be tricky finding a name for your pet that’s spot on perfect. You want a name that you like, that suits your pet, and is something you won’t get tired of over the years. Those types of names can be hard to find.
I was lucky with my ball python in so far as I already had what felt like the perfect name for her before I even adopted her. I called my gorgeous belle “Havana,” after the capital city of Cuba, as I thought it was a beautiful and fitting (because of Havana’s hot climate; python regius is not on the List of amphibians and reptiles in the archipelago of Cuba, so I suppose it’s neither a native nor an introduced species on the island of Cuba).
There are a number of different ways you can go about finding a name for a pet ball python, and I’ve done my best to outline many I was able to think up in this article.
There are some names that I feel are plain good for ball pythons on their own. These I typically found while searching the net for advice on what to call newly adopted ball pythons or snakes.
Other names I’ve pulled from naming conventions, such as mythological characters. These I feel would be excellent for breeders or those with larger numbers of ball pythons to use, as it’d be pretty cool in my mind if all the names were unique, yet somehow matching.
Then there are names you could pull from places like public figures, album names, or fictional characters you love. I have a number suggestions based on these, and I’ll get to them below.
Finding the Perfect Name for Your Ball Python
Naming Ball Pythons After Characters in Mythology
If you have an obsession with ancient mythologies, you may really like the idea of naming one or more of your pet ball pythons after these figures.
There are a slew of different mythologies you can pull names from – like Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Norse mythologies – to name a few.
Out of these, if you’re planning on having or have multiple ball pythons to name, you can choose to stick to a naming convention – like only Greek mythological characters. Or you could choose to use a single name from each mythology, so there’s a greater pattern at play. I think that’d be pretty cool, personally.
Some of my favourite names for ball pythons that come from mythological characters include:
- Greek & Roman mythological females
Medusa, Artemis, Gaia, Persephone, Aphrodite - Greek & Roman mythological males
Hades, Dionysus, Hercules, Zeus
- Egyptian mythological females
Isis, Serqet, Nephthys - Egyptian mythological males
Set, Ra, Anubis, Sobek
- Norse mythological females
Freya, Hel, Frigg - Norse mythological males
Odin, Loki, Thor, Vale
As an offshoot of this idea, you can also find really beautiful names if you consider mythological places instead of merely using character/gods/goddess names. Take for instance: Asgard, Nile, and Troy. These names are also wonderful because they can be used for males or females, as they’re essentially unisex.
Naming Ball Pythons After Places
Speaking of mythological places, you’re not limited at all if you take the idea and expand it to include pretty much any place you find has a nice enough name to make for a pet name.
You can name your pet after a continent, country, a state, province, or territory, a town, or even a city, like I did with my pet Havana.
Some of my favourite places to name ball pythons after are the following, though I’m sure there are a slew more that are excellent, and if you can think of any, please let me know in the comments!
- Continents & countries
India, Asia - American, the UK, & Australian cities
Austin, Sydney, Brooklyn, Chandler, Madison, Bristol, Aspen, Adelaide - French & Italian places
Paris, Milan, Toulouse, Dijon, Florence, Pau
Using a Famous Person’s Name for Your Ball Python
There are so many different places you can pull names from if you’re thinking of using a public figure or famous person as a namesake.
You can look to history, to musicians, painters, writers, and photographers of the past and present, you can look to scientists, politicians, public figures – there are just so many options!
Your favourites will probably revolve around who you personally admire, or celebrities you feel would make for amusing and funny names for a pet ball python. A few of my faves include:
- Snoop Dogg
- Gaga
- Swiftie
- Dali
- Monet
- Da Vinci
- Marie Curie
- Kim K
- Stephen Fry
- David Copperfield
Naming Ball Pythons After Fictional Characters
You can also name a ball python after a fictional character, like in one of your favourite movies, comic books, graphic novels, video games, or written works (a novel, play, poem, or short story, for instance).
There are so many fictional characters who have ridiculously good names, and if you have multiple ball pythons and want to stick to a naming convention amongst them, this would work out quite well and be incredibly easily recognizable.
If you particularly like the Marvel universe, say, you can also easily stick to delving out names from that universe only – plenty of names to go around!
Some of my favourite names after fictional characters include…
- The Three Musketeers
Athos, Aramis, Porthos, D’Artagnan - The Marvel Universe
Spider Man, Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Thanos, Wolverine, Deadpool, Black Widow - The DC Universe
Batman, Superman, Wonderwoman, Joker, Flash, Lex Luthor, Deathstroke, Poison Ivy - Game of Thrones
Daenerys, Jon Snow, Arya, Cersei, Tyrion, Sansa, Stark, Drogo
Some other places you could pull interesting character names from include:
- Harry Potter
- Pokemon
- Archie Comics
- Big Bang Theory
- Supernatural
- Grey’s Anatomy
Speaking of which, I named my first cat, Avery, after the Grey’s Anatomy character Jackson Avery. Something about his green eyes reminded me of the character.
Oh, and we named three cats who frequented our area, two of which we ended up taking in, after The Three Musketeers as well! So I’m definitely not beyond doing this myself 😉
Using a Word in a Foreign Language as a Ball Python Pet Name
There are plenty of languages around – and plenty of words in them that are quite pretty, quite cool, and very unique, all which make for excellent pet names in general.
If you’re thinking of picking out a word in a foreign language to name your pet, first brainstorm the language you want to use. There are so many options, like…
- A European language (like French, Spanish or Italian)
- An Asian language (like Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, or Korean)
- A Middle Eastern language (like Arabic, Persian, or Turkish)
- An ancient or dead language (like Ancient Greek or Latin)
- A fictional language (like the languages of Middle-Earth, Klingon, or Dothraki)
Then you’ll likely want to decide which word you like, maybe one that resembles your pet, or is quite literal, or one that means something that your pet makes you feel. Here are a few ideas of words you can translate into other languages to come up with a unique and interesting name for your pet:
- Venom
- Beauty
- Reptile
- Slither
- Night
- Black
- Ball
- Snake
Some Interesting Names for Ball Pythons
Just want some overall pretty darn good names for ball pythons to start you off in the right direction? I’ve seen a lot of good ones on the net, some of my favourites of which include:
A-H
- Achilles
- Ares
- Barney
- Bijou
- Cleo/Cleopatra
- Daenerys
- Dante
- Diamond
- Dot
- Ginger
- Havana
J-M
- Jake
- Jewel
- Krishna
- Pandora
- Eden
- Lemon
- Max/Maximus/Maximilian
- Montana
- Monty
- Patrick
S-Z
- Sam
- Sasha
- Spot
- Stitch
- Stretch
- Zoe
Jessica says
I totally agree with you. I just wish more people would understand that snakes aren’t evil and aren’t going to harm you unless you hurt them. I’m also trying to convert people to liking snakes. So far I have got two people to like snakes. She always wants to hold my ball python when she comes over (I have no arguments about that) yeah people don’t realize how cute snakes can be. And my snake is the sweetest even good with kids
Elise says
That’s actually pretty good! Two people is a lot! I convinced my mother to let me put the snake in her lap one time, but she refused to pet it unless I was holding it. So sad. I think they’re fantastic animals. What kind of a snake do you have?
Marky D says
I have a beautiful four and a half year old female normal phase Royal Python. I just thought ……..her name has to be something Royal. So she was called QUEENIE. She’s a honey, very calm and inquisitive.
Elise says
That’s so cute!! Yeah Royal Pythons/Ball Pythons are the best! I’d love to see a picture of yours.
Cody says
I named my python Bellgora it just sounded good to me.
Elise Xavier says
It does sound like a good name!
madeline says
I want to get one soon (convincing parents) and I’ve hooked myself on the name Norbert. Like Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback, in Harry Potter? But I’m gonna have to save that for the bearded dragon I’ll inevitably get one day… I’m thinking Salazar, as in Salazar Slytherin. Or Draco, or Malfoy… But Salazar is good, I think. Or I good go with good ol’ fashioned Monty.
Elise Xavier says
Norbert is an awesome name! I love bearded dragons, too. Salazar is the nicest of the other names, I think. Very unique!
Leah G. says
If I ever get a female ball python, I’ll name her Calypso. I love that name for a snake!
Elise Xavier says
That is an awesome name for a snake! I love it! Reminds me of Pirates of the Caribbean :).
Jan Griffiths says
I have Max (Maxwell), Champagne Pastel boy, and the girls, Greta (Albino), Brandi (low-white Piebald), Maxine (Yellowbelly het Clown), and Norma Jean (Normal). Most breeders just issue their snakes a number, but that’s so impersonal. Mine are my kids.
Elise Xavier says
Great names! I especially like Maxine.
liquid icer says
I called mine crook/crooks because of his trait of crooking his head at people