I’ve definitely done this on tabletop rpgs. A one-shot DND character I played once was “Napoleon the 69th.” He was named after and visibly resembled our black cat, Napoleon. He was a tabaxi monk. His backstory was that his family line was an extremely ancient long-deposed royal family. Like a royal family from several dynasties ago. But his ancestors were still obsessed with protecting their noble lineage, so they were inbred to hell and back. He was a tabaxi that was so inbred, that physically…he was just an ordinary cat.
I’ve definitely done this on tabletop rpgs. A one-shot DND character I played once was “Napoleon the 69th.” He was named after and visibly resembled our black cat, Napoleon. He was a tabaxi monk. His backstory was that his family line was an extremely ancient long-deposed royal family. Like a royal family from several dynasties ago. But his ancestors were still obsessed with protecting their noble lineage, so they were inbred to hell and back. He was a tabaxi that was so inbred, that physically…he was just an ordinary cat.