Random Animal Names

My family has made a habit of doing what I will now call 'Random Animal Names'. 

Have you ever had somebody point out somebody you had no idea they knew and say, "Oh my, look, it's Purple Head!"  And then you ask them if that person is really named Purple Head and why they haven't mentioned him/her before and they will reply, "Oh, no, we just made that nickname up because he/she has purple hair." 

See?

Well, my family does that, except, with animals around our neighborhood. 

There have been many cases of this in my life.  First, when I lived in the mid-easterns (Where you can feel humidity in mid summer and there's no need for special winter jackets) there was this tree in the patch of ground that seperated my yard from my neighbor's. 
  Now, the first three years we lived in that house, we never noticed anything suspicious about that tree.  It was simply an oak (I believe.  It was pretty huge) and was surounded by a foot and a half diamiter of bricks.  (Inside the circle was mulch and dirt, and [depending on the season] dead leaves). 
  Now, as you can imagine, there was aparently a hollow space between the earth and the bricks.  One day our neighbors called us (I was good friends with the girl that lived there) and told us to look out the window that faced the tree.
  We did and there was a Black Racer out there.  Now, this animal name was their fault, because they told us that this snake's name was Sammy.  At the time I was jealous that they had come up with the name.  (A month before we moved or so another Black Racer came and we named it Sandy, although, it was more likely that the new one was a male and Sammy was the female from the defensive position it would always sit in.)

About two years ago we moved (again) and there's a large lake and sitting within the lake there used to be a swan.  We had no way to know whether or not it was a girl or boy so we came up with a simple name.  Chris.  Female and Male.

Now, up to date, there is a house in our neighborhood which is home to a Golden Retriever.  An obviously old one too.  So somehow he became 'Grandpa'.  Thanks to my mother no doubt.

And that's interesting.  >_____>  xB