Rigatoni

Rigatoni refers to the ridged tubular Italian pasta, from the Italian rigato meaning ridged or lined, from rigare meaning to line or scratch. Rigatoni is one of the most popular pasta shapes in Italian cooking, beloved for its ability to hold thick sauces. As a pet name, Rigatoni belongs to the Italian food-naming tradition for pets and typically suits a tubular, ridged, or simply rotund male companion whose owner has strong feelings about authentic Italian cooking.

Rigatoni is a name of wonderful, unashamed Italian food enthusiasm. For a male companion who is cylindrical in silhouette, who holds onto affection the way rigatoni holds onto thick sauce, or simply for an owner whose love of Italian cuisine is deep enough to name a living creature after a pasta shape, Rigatoni is the name. Whether shortened to Rigi or Toni for daily use or deployed in full formal dignity at the vet, the name carries a warmth and a certain unapologetic joy in the pleasures of the table that is always charming.