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The answer appears to be yes.
In a recent USA Today article, "Less-than-fetching pet names can reflect back on owners," Florida-based veterinarian Dr. Patty Khuly says that what a cat or dog is named can reveal quite a bit about the pet parent.
"Pet owners always seem to go with dramatic names for their pets," writes Dr. Khuly, citing such gems as Ghetto-Fabulous, Shrapnel and RazzleDazzle. "Maybe they represent names they are unwilling or unable to name their children," she muses. Not that the good doctor is above getting creative with her own pets' monikers, including one named Slumdog. (Her only explanation in the piece was that he "came by his name honestly, I can assure you.")
We were curious whether other vets felt the same way, so we asked around. As it turns out, pet names are a big source of conversation around the animal hospital water cooler.
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"There's all this lore in veterinary medicine about pet names," Dr. Tony Johnson, clinical assistant professor at Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine, tells Paw Nation. "The first one is, never name your pet Lucky. That almost guarantees your pet will get hit by a car or get some crazy disease that's only been seen twice since the Middle Ages."
Another no-no is when owners recycle pet names. In fact, it is a "humongous red flag," according to Dr. Johnson. When a person gives successive pets the same name, like Fluffy II, says Dr. Johnson, "I always wonder, 'what happened to Fluffy I?"
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