I once had a theory that the origin of the word Porcupine was "Poke-you-spine" but over the centuries, the pronunciation was simplified to the modern "porcupine" to make it easier to say.

I then learned that the origin of the word was from the french "Porc-espin" which means "spiny pig"

so, here's a poke-you-spine....now a porcupine on steroids

I chose hamster as the species because it was the only rodent on the species list that even vaguely resembles a porcupine *shrugs*