Our orange cat was named Simba (where I get my handle from). I got him in 1995, after I had worked the previous summer atthe YMCA as a summer camp counselor. In the summer of 1994, I was one of the lucky counselors who got to go on the movie field trip 4 times where we saw -- you guessed it -- The Lion King. I purchased Simba (don't blast me) from a pet store (only because I specifcally wanted an ORANGE cat) and had asked for a girl kitty and was assured Sim was a girl, so I named her Nala. Well, I take Nala in for her first vet visit where they asked me what her name was and I said 'Nala.' They then told me that she was more of a Simba. However, Simba, quickly got shortened to Sim, and it's tradiiton in my family never to call a pet by their real name, so Sim/Simba became Tim, Timmers, Timba, Tim-o-phee, The Lion King (he had the personalityof a lion), and Flufferbutt (he was a huge cat). Sadly he passed away in 2008 at the age of 13.
Our dog is named Gabby. My husband named her. I really have no idea where it came from, but in the Spring of 2001, I was student teaching a group of 3rd graders. One of my students was the daughter of a teacher across the hall (who I would often talk to about teaching as the teacher I was assigned was of no help -- she took on me and another student teacher at the last minute and had no qualifications to be a model teacehr). Anyway, my little 3rd grader had a younger sister named Gabrielle who was 3 years old. She was such the typical 3 year old that when she was mad she'd say "My name is Gabby-elle!" I guess I told this story to my husband too many times. So technically our dog (half Lab and half Dalmation) is named Gabby-elle. Just like Simba, Gabbers, Gabby-Abby, and Gabberdoodle is what we call her the most. We got Gabby in July of 2001. She's the best guard dog ever.
As a side note, naming after interests or hobbies -- my mom has three cats. She has a graduate degree in English and her cats are Othello, Cassio, and Iago from Shakesphere. What's cute is hearing my daughter, who is 2.5, say thier names -- O-Tell-O, Cass-E-O, and YA-Go. At least she gets some Shakespearian exposure at her young age.