I always wait to get to know a furry friend before assigning a name. Sometimes I give a name a trial run.
My first pet, I was 24, was an adorable kitten with really long, blue fur. I gave him a cute name, Nissen, which is Danish for the elf/gnome/pixie. After a month, his name was "The Beast", shortened to Beastie or Beastikins. It just suited him much better.
I had a really hard time with the name for a young female cat found on the street. So, it was "hey you" and "kitty" and "hey cat" for at least a month. Then as I was walking home one day, the name "Sucha" popped into my head. When I got home, I asked her if she wanted to have that name. She meowed something and seemed to like it, so Sucha it was.
We tried out all kinds of names for the 10 week old kitten who became the large tomcat who lives with me now. None seemed right. A friend who spent a lot of time at our house and knew the kitten well suggested "Shrederik". The kitten liked to shred any piece of paper, cardboard, styrofoam , paper towel roll, etc. he could find. He is known as Shrederik, Shreddie, Shreddikins, and sometimes "The Shredster".
I always try to make sure there is an "s" in a cat's name. I have been told it is easier for cats to recognize words with that sound.
I have had one dog. She was six months old when we bought her and already answered to Sasha. It was part of a very long name on her pedigree papers. We didn't change her name.