I once owned a pedigreed cat. This critter had to have a name that began with L, so I went for
Lucinda and called her
Cindy. Her eyes were wide and slanting and she always looked as if she was up to something, so anything that sounded like
Sin would have worked.
So it's not altogether human to me. I knew someone at school who had a little sister named
Lucinda but called
Cindy "because", she explained, "we couldn't call her
Lucy!" It turned out that they thought
Lucy was a very beautiful name - so do I - and that this sister was the only plain member of the family (four sisters in all). I wish I could forget this, but I can't. I did however see a reference to sister
Cindy in the media recently, and she's now going by
Lucinda. I suppose that's a happy ending. But it doesn't make me warm up to
Cindy.