Naming My Senegal Parrot

Some of the criteria I immediately set when trying to choose a name for my Senegal Parrot were that the name had to be short, easy to pronounce, not a human name, unique, fun, and suitable for my bird. Personally I think it is kind of silly giving a pet a human name because talking about it would be strange. Imagine you name your bird John and then later you are telling your friend about how John bit you so you had to put him in a cage… Seems a bit weird because it sounds like a person did it or they may associate it with some other person they know by that name. So by giving your bird a unique name I think it is more suitable and really more fun as well.

I also opened the floor to suggestions from my family in case they came up with a good idea I missed. Eventually I tried to narrow the list down by discarding names that are too long, difficult, or unsuitable. I think some names I considered were Kermit, Kiwi, Jet, Floyd, Zappa, and Duke. Extra kudos to anyone who posts a comment guessing correctly what each of these potential names referred to.

Unfortunately none of these names clicked. They seemed ok but for some reason none of them seemed ideal. I was leaning to go with Kiwi but something just wasn’t right. I think someone mentioned this to my kid sister so she went around telling everyone about a bird named Kili, mispronouncing it as kids often do. Word of this got back to me and the name sounded perfect. It finally clicked. This was the right name for the right bird that chose me at the store. The name met all my criteria: short, easy to pronounce, unique, just right. Furthermore, earlier the same year I had climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania so Kili it was. I should note that the way I pronounce the name is kee-lee and not killy (like willy).

Pet parrots can live for a very long time, sometimes 50 years or more, so make sure when you pick a name that it is really suited and you are absolutely sure this should be the name for it. Consider that your parrot is likely to try to say it’s name in the future because it will be a word it hears often, so make sure it is something that is easy enough for it to pronounce. Remember, naming your bird makes it your own so choose carefully and have fun with it.