Naming ferrets

Everybody knows, one must pick the names for their pets carefully, in the case of ferrets, these names will have to stand the test of 8-10 years, so no different to naming a dog or cat, you've sometimes got to think about it for a while to get the perfect name.
To be honest, the names for Futret and Bannock kinda sneaked up on us.

Coming from a mostly Scottish family, I quickly learned growing up to get used to bizarre colloquial words and not question them, but while my older brother was staying in Scotland, he discovered two he didn't really know well.
'Futret' a word used mainly to describe a ferret, but can refer to any other weasel-like beastie, and 'Bannock', a kind of floury pancake.
My brother, naturally enough, got these words mixed up occasionally, the most entertaining of which involved him informing my uncle that his 'futrets were on fire'.

This story became family lore and the two words were only naturally to be the names of the pair we were to share our home with.

Hoodie and Asbo, or 'A.S.B.O.' as it should really be, were a little trickier, but were transferred from designation to a different species, originally, as a little girl, I desired little more than two pet rats, named Hoodie and A.S.B.O. due to the stereotypical 'hooligan and troublemaker' status of the animals.
A.S.B.O., pronounced 'asbo', for anyone reading who is not of British nationality, stands for Anti-Social Behaviour Order and is a kind of restraining order given to hooligans (and sometimes hoodies!) to prevent the behaviour that warranted the A.S.B.O. in the first place.

Ferrets having a similar 'thief and biter' image in the public eye, and only a few days to come up wiht appropriate names before the babies were brought home (originally they were named Thunder and Milk, as their brothers were Lightning and Cream), I gave up the idea of Hoodie and A.S.B.O. the rats, and plumped for Hoodie and A.S.B.O the ferrets, and nicely it has suited them so far!

Futret, Bannock, Hoodie and Asbo

Ooh, a brand new blog, intended to be all about, what else, ferrets! And the many adventures I get up to with my own wee beasties.
So I thought I'd start with a bit of a reminisce about how my own 'fuzzies' came into my life.

Well, to be honest, how else should it have come about? The first two were a birthday present to a girl who knows nothing whatsoever about ferrets from my big brother. My brother, an apprentice gamekeeper, is notoriously good with animals, one of his fish was half-eaten by our ancient cat and left on his desk and one of his mice escaped, never to be seen again, not to mention Psycho, the syrian hamster, who spent a brief period of time in the care of the police!
Naturally, he was not going to be the one to look after the working ferrets he planned to get, so twin that with my birthday, and the almost-seven-although-it's-not-polite-to-point-out-an-older-lady's-age guinea pig, the last of three who all lived to be 5+, I was given for a birthday present once before as proof that animals tend to survive fairly well in my care, I was to be charged with the care of said beasties.

To this day I haven't met the lady from whom I received my two ferrets, but I know they came from a very good rescue centre. Two extremely handsome sable polecats, a hob and a jill, who went by the names of 'Nipper' and 'Mindy'.
These were quickly changed to the slightly less normal names of 'Futret' for the little 18 month-old jill, who is as beautiful, fussy and temperamental as any top model I have yet to see, and certainly more photogenic and 'Bannock' for the two-year-old hob, who remains the biggest ferret I have ever met, and weighs in today at 1.74 kilos, although I maintain it is his glands, and it just means there is more of him to love. Despite his size, Bannock is the friendliest ferret I have yet to meet, and the thought of using those pearly whites against a human I'm certain has never crossed his hairy little mind.

Naturally, after falling completely in love with the dainty little Futret, and the whacking great monster that is Bannock (who by now is fair convinced he is a dog, and begs and rolls over for treats, the cuteness of which is probably the reason for said weight problem) eyes began to wander to a litter of kits who had been brought to the ferret club, of which we are members.
With... actually very little persuasion needed at all, two of these kits came home with us. A stunner of a little poley jill, who we named Hoodie, and a little albino hob, who now goes by the name of Asbo.

One thing that intrigues me about the new hob, Asbo, is that unlike his albino brother, he has remained incredibly white, with most albinos turning creamy yellow rather than the pure, almost pink, white of Asbo. Having him neutered will also help preserve the whiteness of his coat, will he ever get the classic 'nicotine stain' look of an albino ferret? Well, we'll have to wait and see I suppose.

Coming up, where are those names from? And what do all these confusing ferrety words mean?
And what IS the Weasel War Dance!?