Ok, here's one I've been mulling over for a bit: recently, an acquaintance of ours adopted a new dog from a rescue group. They were told that it would not have been adopted in its region of the country (southeast), because.... it's a *black* dog. (Well, black and white, but the color mentioned as the problem was black, and it *is* mostly black.) Whatever. Hard to say if that's like black cats (a superstition thing) or a carry-over from human racist ideas, or just not practical in the heat.
*Then* I hear the dog's name is Kobe. Huh. So the friend is going, like maybe he likes beef, do you think? And I (cynical I) am thinking: why is it ok to name a dog after a basketball player? When the trait they share is coloring? So, after a while, I ask the adopter if hu is going to change the name when the dog comes home. And I say why I'm asking: mainly, if I ever have to walk that dog, I won't be calling it Kobe. And hu says, "omigosh I never thought it might be for that reason! But you know what? I have a friend at work whose dog is named Tiger, after the golfer, because (and here hu quotes hu's friend)"the dog is half white, half black, and half something else."
So, math aside, what do you know of this phenomenon, if it is one? Are sports players of color the only ones to be honored in this way? I never met a dog named after Joe Namath. We have often given our animals human names, but never after a specific human. I suppose I've seen names of philosophers and such, but never people who are alive, and never having the reason given to be the looks of the animal.
I don't like it.
Oh, and the dog's name did get changed.
