A Rose by any other name...

So i like to have character or pet names that say something about me.  I don't really roleplay but i do see my characters as a sort of extension of myself, perhaps upping a part of my personality that i don't really allow myself to fully display or explore.  Of course it's not really that deep but yeah, i put some thought into names when rolling a new character.  This often involves nonsense spelling variations or foreign words.  Sometimes  it's just a pop-culture reference (with my pets moreso than my toons). 
Look at my list of current pets on my main, Luinel.

Charlotte (Spider) - Charlotte's Web.  Ghostlands tame for skill.

Crystal (Spider) - Tongue in cheek here.  A friend of mine in fifth or sixth grade was named Crystal.  I named a stuffed animal after her.  She decided she didn't want to be my friend eventually.  TF BC tame for skill.

Curon (Raptor) - Crescent moon in Sindarin (Lord of the Rings elvish).  I was going with the shape of his claws, keeping in mind that lunatic comes from the Latin for Moon.  Lunatics were said to be moonstruck.  This goes with the word play i have for my main, Luinel.  Wailing Caverns find.

Daefan (Carrion Bird) - Shadow+veil or cloud in Sindarin.  Deadwind Pass tame.

Eiheikani (Crab) - Japanese, tamed early in Wrath while i was still watching Inuyasha.  As i recall it basically means sentinel + crab.

Iorek (Bear) - Golden Compass reference.  I can't name my mount but i can name my tank. xD

Laika (Wolf) - first dog in space (Russian).  I had a Husky/Lab mix with this name, too.  I used to be very much a space race nerd and wanted to be an astronaut until about eighth grade.  Well..i still want to visit space, but i know it's currently unrealistic.  This model looks like a coyote and because it's from a specific mob in Mulgore it barks when you click on it, just like that dog that runs around the village in Mulgore.

Lunexx (Scorpid) - Madexx tame in blue...another moon pun.  The first time i saw this guy spawn he was the perfect color for me.  I never use him, really just a vanity thing.  I have no idea what i called the scorpid i tamed in Tanaris for its skills back in BC.  Probably Sting after the sword in LotR, but i'm not sure.

Mack (Turtle) - Dr. Seuss reference, Tanaris tame.  I killed hundreds, if not thousands, of these turtles trying to get the mats to lvl my leatherworking back before i became an engineer.

Mornast (Wasp) - Black + Sting in Sindarin.  Yes, i tamed that bugger in Zangarmarsh cuz my blood elf goes with purple when she can't get blue.

Periwinkle (Moth) - another Terrokar tame.  I thought the heal would be awesome in Wrath, but i was wrong.  I still think this is the prettiest moth in the game.  I just like the color...though at one time i considered this to be my Hobbit name, a punny version of Luinel actually.

Quadpod (Ravager) - I have had this beastie in several different skins but i always name it this.  Pun off of Tripod of course.

Rube (Tallstrider) - This is a pun of sorts...taken from the Latin etymology for flamingo but also named after the character in Orson Scott Card's Empire.

Ruin (Dragonhawk) - My first pet ever...Red Fire in Sindarin (pronounced rue + een) but also pretty cool sounding in English.

Shelob (Spider) - this is my Deth'tilac tame.  I could not have tamed her alone, i needed help and i got it from a lovely friend.  LotR reference, of course.

Sneaux (Cat) - I have tamed other cats, but my ghost saber has been with my character since ~lvl 24 the first time i rolled Luinel (long story there).  It is the name of a small shoe brand that makes skater shoes that are very durable and i wore almost exclusively for 2-3 years.  It is properly pronounced Snow (the word is apparently New Orleans French slang for snow), not snooks, though snookums will do in a pinch.  My favorite stuffed animal as a girl was named Snowy.  I have had three versions of him.  He is a white bunny.  Deep down, Sneaux is a killer bunny just like in Monty Python.  Run away!

Thulug (Wind Serpent) - Sindarin for breath + lightning as i recall...though upon a little research it was actually -lug from dragon/serpent.  This was my second most used pet in BC.

Toby (Turtle) - tamed east of Tarren Mill, back before the zone was completely changed and was just about my favorite place to quest.  Named after the cute friend to the rabbit Skippy in Robin Hood... which is still my favorite Disney film. 

There are quite a few pets that i tamed for skills, named, used for a while, and eventually discarded because of a lack of stable space.  As you can see i have retamed some of the ones i remember.  I really want to figure out which five pets i would use in a stampede come MoP.

But the real reason i wrote this post is because i have been searching for a name for a Pandaren monk come Mists.  I was reading the queue earlier and it bopped me over the head.  I am going to roll a Mei-Lei (Meilei).  It's got a Chinese influence and pop culture and Hawaiian!

Mei-mei = little sister in Chinese (which you probably know if you've watched Firefly).  I like this Yahoo answer:

Mei on its own has loads of meanings, ranging from eyebrow to evil spirit, from magnesium to coal, and more (with varying tonal pronunciation in some cases). It can also mean beautiful (note, however, that meili, 美丽，is more commonly used as beautiful) and sister. When you hear or see meimei (妹妹) though, you can be certain that they're referring to a 'younger sister'.

 So it's kind of like Chinese for beautiful, but what i find completely awesome is that it has the same pronunciation as the word melee!!!  Skadoosh!  I've already rolled characters on two servers to serve as placeholders for the time being.

ETA:  my sister is taking Chinese and tells me that Mei is used for beautiful in their word for USA... literally beautiful country.