Pom started out life with the name of Mr. Bojangles, as far as I can tell. When he moved from the Modesto Shelter to the Milo Foundation, he was christened Ping Pong, but was commonly know as Pong, because he only had one testicle (think about it.) When I adopted him, I was reluctant to draw attention to his "difference" by using that name. Besides, now he is neither Ping nor Pong (think about that one too.) Having grown up a fan of the Babar the Elephant stories, I decided to name him after Babar's son, Pom.

Here is some material I found on the Web about his namesake:

"Flora, Pom, Alexander and Isabelle can be very naughty and silly at times, but they are really very clever and inquisitive little children. Alexander and Pom are the boys and Flora and Isabelle are the girls. Isabelle is the youngest of them all and still a baby. Alexander and Pom often get up to mischief and do things that cause much worry to Babar and the adults. However in the end they always learn from their mistakes and are often given a firm scolding by Babar. Flora is a very outspoken and smart young elephant who often criticises Alexander and Pom's bad behaviour. However, she too has got up to some mischief, such as the time when her penfriend came to visit and she lied about who she was, claiming she was the Queen of Celesteville."

Although he has been variously called Palm, Pomme, Tom, and so on, Pom really does prefer his current name. However, when he is taking a walk on the mean streets of Oakland, he is known as "Da Bomb" (for street cred.)

~ Jay Siskin (Pom's Dad)