How do you name your Kitties?

swampwitch

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One of my sisters couldn't wrap her head around the fact that I named my black cat "Lily." She kept telling me "Lillies are white!" Lily's shelter name was Felisity, which I didn't really like, but I wanted something that sounded similar. Also, she's very gentle and soft; I didn't even think about her color!

How did you name your cats? Did you go by their looks? How they feel? Their temperaments and personalities? Something else? Please share!

Cheers, from
SwampWitch
 

catsarebetter

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Well, we went (originally) with the Jungle Book theme. We adopted a Bengal, he was Shere Khan (since he looked so exotic). We adopted a Mau, and she became Bagheera. We got another Bengal, and she became Rikki Tikki Tavi, so the Jungle Book then turned to a Kipling theme. After Tavi died, we still had Khan, and Bagheera, and Noel (who is my DSH, that I adopted at Christmas about 8 years ago). We adopted another Bengal kitten and we named her to go with Noel, since she was a Christmas baby too. So we now have Joyeux and Noel (and beleive me, I've done up the candle holders and so forth that all say Joyeux Noel, or Joy Noel.. hehe).

A lot of times, we have themes. Often we'll name them from literary sources. Sometimes we let them name themselves by their personalities. I have to say that Khan, Bagheera, and Tavi definitely seemed to fit their personality even though their names were picked out beforehand.
 

catloverin_ks

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Mine just get named,hehehe. I dont usually have a theme or anything I use, its just whatevr pops in my head,lol. Taffy though was named after I watched an episode of Animal cops(i think it was) and I saw a cat get rescued and thats what they named the cat, and I thought it was rather cute/different.
 

gingersmom

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Ginger was nameless for most of a day, although the shelter had named her Jingles or Jangles or something that just didn't fit her.

So I let her get to know our apartment, and at one point I just started calling her Ginger - it felt right, so it stuck! (I think it had to do with her fur coloring, as she has a lot of ginger tabby markings on her torbie coat.)

Ferris was named Ferris by his foster family, and I liked it (and thought it went well with Ginger) so I kept it.
 

miagi's_mommy

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When we got Miagi, I wanted to name him Simba.
but my mom was like everyone has a cat named Simba.

then we were going to name him Bob (Bob cat) and then we thought
that was too original. so my mom said Mowgli and she came with Miagi
and it stuck. It has nothing to do with Mr. Miagi from the karate kid.


and Tiger was already named. I wanted to change his name but
he looks like a Tiger with his markings so it stuck and I call him Tigger
sometimes.
 

catlady810

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For me I watch how they act or just rambling names till it fits right.

Stormy was named when I got her. I kept it because it just fit her perfectly.

Quizno (R.I.P) Was orginally name Gizmo, but my bf said it sounded like Quizno so it stuck.

Cuddles was named due to how she liked to be cuddled and be held like a baby. So Cuddles stuck to her. Cuddles was suppose to be called Quizno 2 but it didn't fit her.

Now Sushi, her orginal name was LoveBug. EEWWW, I didn't like her name. She looked like she was mixed with Simanese and that made me think of chinese/japanese food. So, Sushi just fit her. LOL, I almost named her Smurf, but like I said Sushi fit her to a T.
 

white cat lover

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Twitch was spastic. Hence the name. TigerLily...lil sis was insistant she have the name "Tiger", but she's a girl...so I added the Lily(the ironic thing is I'm allergic to TigerLilies). Damita I had named like 6 years earlier...I just added the Mae to go with Dory's name. Dorian Grey I finally settled on...I had named him Chico & he wasn't a Chico...so when I *officially* adopted him I changed his name...took me awhile, but I was watching the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen & it stuck. Besides...I call him Dory for short(like Finding Nemo Dory fish) & he's very like her....forgets things almos instantly! Molly was named Molly when I adopted her. Ophelia Rose...Ophelia cuz she's quite the drama queen(like Hamlet's Ophelia) & Rose just in case she got to be a "normal" kitty. I think I could've gotten away without the Rose part!
 

fred&nermal

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Originally Posted by SwampWitch

One of my sisters couldn't wrap her head around the fact that I named my black cat "Lily." She kept telling me "Lillies are white!" Lily's shelter name was Felisity, which I didn't really like, but I wanted something that sounded similar. Also, she's very gentle and soft; I didn't even think about her color!

How did you name your cats? Did you go by their looks? How they feel? Their temperaments and personalities? Something else? Please share!

Cheers, from
SwampWitch
I go by instinct. Whatever name seems to fit. Some names have come from other medias (Snoopy, Nermal, Rama). Or some from appearance. Fred is fred because his Tux reminded my of Fred Astaire. We had a cat we named Tyler. It started as Tailor because he had a fluffy tail, then we shortened it down to Tyler, as it just felt better.
 

catlover19

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My boyfriend named Milo and I don't know why he named him that.

When I got Zebra we couldn't think of a name so I was like ummm how about Zebra and we both laughed and then it just stayed.
 

jennyr

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Every cat finds its own name, in my book. It's a mix of colour, personality and any themes you like. It usually takes me about a week to name a cat, after watching carefully and thinking about possibilities. Persil came to me all black and covered with oil, and I had to bath her every day for a week to get it off. Only then did I know she was pure white. So 'Persil washes whiter' from t he ad slogan, but it also works well in French, where it means 'Parsley'. Funnily enough, I have a picture of her fast asleep in a tub of parsley!
 

eudevie

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For all of the Female cats we've had, they all started with an M.
First we babysat a friend's cat on a trial basis for my brother, who was badly allergic to cats before. That cat's name was Muffin. My brother ended up doing fine. After the friend came back to town, we sent Muffin home and a couple weeks later we brought home Max(ine). She was named after the M on her head.

Later we found a cat on our porch who would not go away, even after my stepdad dumped water on her. We ended up bringing her in. I suggested the name "Mackenzie" after Colonel Mackenzie in JAG, my stepdad's favorite show at the time. Someone started calling her Megan however, and it stuck.

Later we had to give Max to my dad because she bit my stepdad's arm and it got really infected. After we moved, about half a year later Megan died of Feline Leukemia.

After waiting a month, we adopted two other kitties: Dash(Already named, because he runs all over the place, gets into everything, etc.) and Morgan.(Keeping up with the M theme, and also Captain Morgan is my stepfather's favorite alcohol.)

There are cats outside that I've named as well.
Slim-because he is skinny,but healthy. Tuxedo cat.
Mac- because he's big! but he's sweet.
Mina- named after Minako (Sailor Venus). Probably related to Slim.
Rose- a ginger-tabby whose coat is lighter than normal. and for some reason this name came to mind.
Cherokee- a character from a boy's love web comic I read, who is new to the school. Also that is what the people on that board call newbies. It is still just a kitten, so thats why it's name is Cherokee.
 

leto86

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Nacho was named by my ex-SIL, who loved Nachos, and he's orange.. I guess thats why, lol.
Orion was named by my brother who named him after the constellation.
Poptart was named by my one sister, who just wanted to name one of our foster kittens Poptart,

I named Gordito that because it means short fat one in spanish and thats exactly what he was when we got him and his siblings!
I named Cappy that, well it's actually Cappuccino, but we just call him Cappy now. I named him that so his two rothers (Macchiato and Latte) could all have matching names for the rescue. People think it's cute when they are named like that.
But we ended up keeping him, and shortening it doen to Cappy.
 

gayef

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Tonka and Lexus were named by my husband, who is into Japanese vehicles.

I named Pearl and George, otherwise my husband would have named them Mitsubichi and Honda respectively *sigh* and those names just didn't fit. Pearl's full, registered name is Old Style Pearl Elegant. I named her Pearl because of her coloring when she was little and Elegant because she isn't. George's full registered name is Old Style My Name Is George. He is named that way because well ... ummm ... he is the sort of cat who just isn't firing on all cylinders if you know what I mean. Bless his little heart, he is about as dumb as God's own ancient dirt and has about as much common sense as He gave to little green peas. *sigh* I love him dearly but he walks about the house just kind trilling to himself as if to say, "Duh! My name is George! Duh!" *grin*
 

jugen

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Twig was named that because when we got him he was so small he could fit into the palm of your hand. We should change it though, he's 22 pounds. Oh well, he's hardly every called Twig anyway. Usually Tigger, Mr Biggles, Wiggles, Monster cat, but hardly Twig.

Rocket was named that because the silly cat never stops moving. So we thought it was an apporiate name. He's got "pet" names too though, Weenis, Pooh, Eenis, little butt, Abbyboy.

Isis well, it just seemed appropriate at the time. During the coarse of having her I keep thinking we should've named her Banshee, because everytime there's another cat of dog outside the house, she screams at the top of her lungs and she whines when the other cats walk by her. Dh calls her spooky because she is so scared of people (other then us) because of her being a "reformed" feral cat.
I call her snoose, for what reason, I have no idea, it just seemed good at the time and stuck.

Luna got her name because she was all grey and I thought the name was suiting. She is very mysterious and we learn something new about her everyday. She is a "reformed" feral too and is scared of people.
Her other names are Lu lu, luna bear, pooter bear.

Neffie came to us with her name. I am thinking of changing it but she is 7 and knows and comes to her name very well. But in the few weeks she's been with us, traits have come out that are hard to grasp. First she is very aggressive but only when the cats walk towards her and then she will back down and growl first. But she is the first one to start the problems now.
She also bites from over stimulation I think. She bit me twice yesterday and I was stunned each time. Nothing hard, just enough pressure to let me know she was not happy with me anymore. But right after that, she came back for more pettings. It was strange. Her real name is Neffertiti.
 

MoochNNoodles

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We used to name our cats after holidays near when we got them. ie. Christmas Tinsel & Morning Glory (Morning Glory's were a type of sparkler we would get around Memorial Day-4th of July).

Mooch and Noodles came after my favorite comic strip. Originally I wanted to name them flower names, but DH didn't like that. They both have certainly lived up to their names too. My 3 cats at my parent's came with their names.
 

jane_vernon

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Diesel was named after the fuel
Aaron named him

Portia was from Shakespeare - I really love Shakespeare names so I went through them all till I found one that I just loved - So Portia is was!
 

xxtashaxx

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it depends i think.
the first cat we ever had was a all black cat , so we named her magic( i know) lol
then we had a stray who came in who i let my partner name , he loves the Taz lol so he was called that.
after a while we took in another kitten stray again my partner wanted to name him as he likes arsenal football team he got named Bergkhamp lol.
then we took in 2 old cats who was already named so we kept them hansle and grey stoke *gracy for short* see sig.
when hansle passed away we took in lilly we kept her name it just suited her.
when her kittens died we took in two 4 week old kittens who wasnt weened. we called 1 patch as he is sort of patchy , and the other fluffy as she is fluffy. when lilly had her litter 12 weeks later ( she went missing for 6 weeks came back pregnant)
one of her kittens had a club foot , and for some reason remind me of forest gump , so she was called forest then i had to name her brother something outside to so he was called midnight. then her sister was so much like her mum and my mother in laws cat so we called her tigerlilly ( also a sort of outdoors thing.
then the stray we had hanging around i for some reason kept calling him tom so it just stuck.
and sorry its so long.
 

catsallover

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We adopted Bird and her black and white brother(now gone) together, so we had Sylvester and Tweety Bird.

Meggie's "grandparents" called her "Megakitty" because she was such a large kitten (she was an only kitten- she's a normal sized cat
) and we changed it to "Megan" but it ended up "Meggie" (occasionally called "The Megnut"
).

Butterbean got her name because my DH wanted me to go to the vet and tell them my white fuzzy kitten's name was "Butterbean"
- and yes, they did look at me like I was odd...
so of course I told them who named her
.

Smoochie is a "failed foster" and we were going to name her "Mooch" (as she was the second of my BIL's kittens we had taken in
), but she gives kisses, so we changed it to "Smoochie".
 

laureen227

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i saw Pixel's name in The Cat Who Walked Through Walls, & i liked it, so decided to name my next cat Pixel. i actually got a pair, so had to come up with a name that went with Pixel. i chose Mouse - Mouse was a blue kitty, so she was sorta mouse-colored, too. then i acquired Cable, who i thought was male when i named her. then Java came along - i did a poll here for her name. then i got Chip last spring. they're all named after computer-related stuff.
 
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