What's In A Name?

I've never had a cat that responded to their name...at least not like dogs do. So, names might be picked on the pets looks or personality. I don't think they care what they are called as long as they get fed. Some of my memorable cats bring back fond memories.

Spazz (F) - A Sealpoint Siamese that was just that.

Da Mooch (F) - Black domestic shorthair. Named that because she was. A walk in that stayed. We shortened it to "Mooch".

Satan (M) - A large black domestic longhair with stunning green eyes, from the shelter. Was supposed to be in charge of home security.

Lucifer (M) - Black Bombay, from the shelter. Sort of golden eyes. He and Satan tolerated each other. I always got asked how could I name cats "Satan" and "Lucifer". I guess I did that because nobody else did. And really, it's just a name.

Cleo (F) - White domestic longhair rescued from a shelter. Everyone should have a cat named Cleo. Anyway, she was already declawed in the front when adopted. But even so, became the Alpha cat over three cats and two German Shepherds. Maybe we shoulda named her "Attitude".

I did have a Doberman (F) already named "Kathy". That's about the oddest name for a dog that I've had.

Presently our kitties are... Sam (F), Mandy (F), and Casper (M). Kind of common names. What have we got out there for some unique names?

All my cats respond to their names and their nick names.

I talk to them and use their names all the time. mean even if we are all just here in the house and I am on the computer for instance, every now and then I'll look up and say "Tolly (wait for response) Mazy, Jennie. Tolly will say "mrp?" and rattles nhis tail, Mazy says "prrt?" and rattles her tail, and Jennie flicks her ears and pretends she didn't hear me, but the tip of her tail gives her away. .

They told me their names.

Tolly was a tiny 5 week old kitten I rescued from a rain storm. It took him a week to let me know what his name is, I was trying all kinds of names and one night as I was reading in bed he climbed up and bumped his little head in my face and said he was Tolly.

His full name is Tolly boy and his nickname is Sweet Pea.

Mazy told me her name was Mazy the moment our eyes met in the shelter. Her name was Trinity there, but I took one look at her and said "OH! You're Mazy!" and she said "Prrt!" (I was there looking at kittens but I was Chosen by Mazy so that was that)

Her full name is Mazy cat, and her nickname is Lovey or Lovey cat.


Jennie was a stray raising a family of four all on her own. I was calling her Socks because all I saw was her hind feed disappearing over the porch railing, and I had to call her something. The day she waited in the grass for me, after jumping the railing, our eyes met and I said "OH! Your Jennie!" and she blinked her eyes at me. It wasn't long after that that she came home.

her full name is Jennie girl and her nick name (just revealed to me this week) is Jennie-Jennie

<edit> her kittens were trapped and brought to rescue. They were over 2 months old by then and pretty wild, but I bet they all did fine, as Jennie has good genes!

My Bridge Angels are Baby , Sissy , Squeaky , Bibbs and Ootay .

Telling how their names came about would make this post too long but Ootay is the only unusual name in that group.

I think it depends on how much you use their name and how much they let stuff sink in.

Linus knew his name within three days but didn't understand the word no for the first year.

Mandarin knew his within the first week.

Majel however thought her name was "Hello" for the first six months since we always said, "Hello Majel" and I guess she didn't process the Majel part. Btw we almost decided to rename her Hello or something close to it (like Cello since she loves music and strings ) because she wasn't letting Majel sink in, but it finally did.

And then there are the sweet rainbow babies:

Kitty only responded to Kitty and so aptly that that was her name.

Figaro responded to Figgy but also "here kitty kitty."

Kazi well he responded to anything I said...

Jimminy Cricket responded to Monkey or Monkeybrains. (he liked to crawl on my shoulder like a Monkey).

Just a few memorable pawprints on my heart.

All of my kitties know their names quite well actually. It didn't take any of them long at all. I call them all by nicknames usually though.

Shadey - named because it looks like someone took a pencil and "shaded" him in.
Elliott - I have always loved the name and he just LOOKS like an Elliott.
Imhotep - I wanted an Egyptian name and Imhotep means "he who comes in peace". That suits him because he is always so able to calm me down. He knows when I'm upset and is truly my soulmate cat.
Osiris - Keeping with the Egyptian theme.
Cleopatra II - Again keeping with the Egyptian theme but the 1st Cleopatra died in my arms exactly 1 month before Cleo II and Osiris were born. She was named as a tribute to the baby I had lost.
Nova - My boyfriend, Dana, named him as he adopted him before I came into the picture. He just liked the name.
Azizi - Egyptian again meaning "Precious" and that he is!
Teyah - I just really loved the name, and she is such a pretty, dainty cat that I thought it suited her.

Love this sort of thread
My current kittens are named after the Beatles- Ringo, Lennon, and Lucy (in the sky with diamonds). They fit with my mice, Sadie and Penny, who are also named for Beatles songs.

In the past, we have some pretty insanely named cats.
We used to have Matty and Fluffy (both looong haired black cats) and gracie (long haired gray cats), and Matty's daughter, Eeyore.
Then, we got Squishy. He was an adorable little orange tabby, who we werent technically supposed to have, but we REALLY needed a barn cat, for the mice in our barn. He was found before we could pretend he just showed up, so he went to live with our cousin.
Shortly after, a group of three strays DID just show up, another orange tabby, a black and white, and a solid black declawed and neutered male. We named the tabby Squishy 2, and the black and white was named the opposite of squishy 2, Hard 1 or Stiffy for short. Well, that led us to Via being the other (think of a certain medicine for men, lol)
Stiffy ended up being a girl, and was renamed (I cant remember what) and had a little kitten Uno before she was spayed. Squishy 2 was hit by a car

Then, my sister found a stray, Silvie, who had 5 kittens. The two silver tabby kittens died that day (we think there was something genetic going one) but two white and gray boys and a white and tan girl survived. They were Remmy, Catalina, and it bugs me, but I cant remember the other boys name. They are all cuties though

There's several name threads on here all the time, so I'm not going to go through names again.

I've noticed that with a lot of cats it's how the name ends that determines whether they'll respond to it. Most cats will learn their names with time, but there's some names that are just easier for their to catch on to, especially if you're taking in a stray.

Names that end in y or ie sounds tend to work really well. My theory: They sound like kitty and every cat gets called kitty at some point. They listen for that familiar sound and through that learn their name eventually.
I'm sure there's probably something similar to this in other languages with names that sound similar.
Plus, in English, it's how we say words that end in y, i, or ie - when talking to pets or babies many people will lilt that up.

Daisy is so jealous that if I want her, all I have to do is yell for Speck or Marshmallow. She will come running!

Jack is the only one of my three who knows his name. I think a big part of the problem is that we have a thousand nicknames for the cats and they get called too many different things. Jack is called either Jack, Jack Attack, Jacobobby or Roo and he'll always respond, though I think he just knows the tone of voice we use when we talk to him.

Lily is Lillian, Lillith, Lily Munster, Lily Potter, Lilliputian, Putian, Wedge, or Wedgling.

Boo is usually Boo, but she's also Boobooly, Boo Diddly, Boobastic, or Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo.

I've only ever had one kitty that REALLY knew his name and that was Leo. But we raised him from 4 weeks old and he was more like a dog than a cat, LOL.

My current kitty is named Samba, after the Volkswagen.

My current indoor kitties (all 17 of 'em!) are:
Girls:
Silka
Bitsy
Dakota (I didn't name her and I don't like this as a name, so I call her Koda most of the time)
June
Dottie
Tabbs
Maggie (but I mosty call her Mama Cat, because I also have her 4 kittens)
Jellybean
Tippy
Patch

Boys:
Scotty
Mooch
Sammy
Dusty
Scrappy
Nacho
Tugger (I had the worst time with him. I put "Smokey" on his vet papers, but it just wasn't the right name for him. And he wasn't "telling" me his name like most cats do. I finally hit on Tugger and he actually answered to it right away. So it must be his name, even though he didn't want to tell me )

The outdoor ferals are:
O.J. (for Orange Julius)
Smudge
Dude
Shadow


My mom's cats are:
Niji (this means "rainbow" in Japanese; she's a calico)
Fritzi
Sonja
Fiona
Roxy
Yep, she has a sorority---all girls!
And my cousin's kitty is living there right now, his name is Botitas ("little boots" in Spanish). Sometimes called just Boots. He looks EXACTLY like Puss in Boots on "Shrek". And he's from Panama, hence the Spanish name.

Of my cats, most will come when called. They do know their individual names. Sammy always comes, the others might or might not, depending on whether they think there's a treat in it for them.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

Names that end in y or ie sounds tend to work really well. My theory: They sound like kitty and every cat gets called kitty at some point. They listen for that familiar sound and through that learn their name eventually.
.

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I agree with the lilt for "ee" sounding names. Most of my cats over the years have had that kind of ending but not all.

I've never had a cat not respond to his or her name, but then I talk to them and use their names all day long, day in and day out.

as for 'kitty kitty', those words have not been said in this house since Mazy came here. She HATES 'kitty kitty'. I'm guessing it some how is associated with her stray days.

Originally Posted by nurseangel

Daisy is so jealous that if I want her, all I have to do is yell for Speck or Marshmallow. She will come running!

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Originally Posted by bnwalker2

I've only ever had one kitty that REALLY knew his name and that was Leo. But we raised him from 4 weeks old and he was more like a dog than a cat, LOL.

My current kitty is named Samba, after the Volkswagen.

Click to expand...

No, no, now, no cat is "like a dog". Any behavior a cat exhibits is cat-like, regardless of whether it resembles the way a dog acts, it is a cat doing it, so it is a cat behavior.

All of my cats know they're names, and will respond when the name is called, and they come to their names as well. Like otto, I use their names all day long, everyday.

Monster, he is my big bottle baby. He was too little when I brought him home for me to be able to see he was a boy. I thought he was a girl, and his name was Bella. He was a naughty little kitten, and one of his nicknames was "Monster". He responded To Monster, so when I found out he was a boy, I kept that as his name. He has a lot of nicknames, and he responds to all of them: Monster Kitty, Mon-Mon, Moo, Moo-Moo, Boo-boo Kitty, FatBoy, Baby Boy. (There's more but I can't think of them all)

Mittens was already named when I got her. I didn't change it, Mittens is a cute name. Plus, it fits her. Her nicknames are: Mitten Kitten, Mitt-Mitt, baby girlz, MiMi, Fatty Girl, Princess, Mitten Mitten the lil kitten.. And my boyfriends' little cousins call her "Mintins" when they come over..

Precious.. Not my favorite name. My boyfriends cousin was with me when I found her, & he picked the name out, because of her purrsonality. I couldn't think of anything else, so I went with it, its a good name for her because it really is her, she is precious IMO, but its not the name I would have picked. She only has a few nicknames.. BayBay gerrlz, Preggo, I like to call her Momma, or Mamma Kitty,(Since she's preggo), My brother nicknamed her Rocket cat, or Rocket Kitty, And there's one more.. Perouse (pronounced Purr-oo-say). The nickname Perouse came about bcause my boyfriends other cousin sometimes will text me something about her, and lets just say she is 20 and not the smartest person. She can't spell for the life of her, and when she sends me a text telling me something Precious is doing, she spells it "Perouse". So I just started calling her Perouse. She responds to Precious, Preggo, and Perouse, most likely because they all start with "P".

When Precious' kittens are born, I will name them because I'm going to have them with me until they're 12 wks old, so they have to have names. I can't keep any of them for good though, so they will just be named so I have something to call them until they go to their forever homes.

My two are named Ripley and Newt after characters in the Aliens films.
I picked the name Ripley as there is a red tabby in the first two films but she is named after Sigourney Weaver's character as part of the reason I loved the film Alien when I first saw it was that it had a strong female lead character (so I named my cat after her!). She has loads of nicknames but answers to Rippers, Princess & Madam.
Newt was also named along the Aliens theme (just seemed logical!) but after a few weeks I nicknamed her Roly Poly Pudding (because there's a Beatrix Potter story where a naughty kitten almost gets made into a roly poly pudding by two rats and I kept telling her that's what would happen to her if she was naughty!).This was eventually shortened to Pud Pud which she answers to. She also answers to Pretty Girl.
Like others here I talk to them constantly. Ripley talks back more than Newt!

All my cats have known their name. My first cat Betsy, came already named. She always responded. Then we got Max. He was already named to. He knew his name very well although he was great at ignoring someone when he didn't want to participate. Then we added Speedboat to the family.
He was a stray kitten. I tried to name him Simba because he had that Lion look, but he ran so fast through the house, my husband called him Speedboat and that stuck. Then came Muffin. He was a stray hubby found at the boat dock. I really don't know why I named him that, but he still knows his name very well. Our girl, Mattie, was a stray who came up on the front porch. I named her for my grandmother since I live on my grandparents farmland where their house was. She answers very well to her name. I thought all cats knew their names.

my 2 both come to their names, flash also comes to angel, sooty is the strange one..you say 'wheres my boy' and he comes running....sometimes its eadier saying that than his name

Most of the kitties I've had have responded to their names very well.

My current girls are Rosalie & Zoey

Previous kitties have been

Brigitte (F-orange)
Boots (F-black with white feet)
Baby (F-tabby)
Sisco (M-gray)
Alizea (F-tabby)
Alice (F-Black with white spot on chest)

Some of my fosters (that I can remember at the moment, lol)
JW (Johnny Walker-M-all black kitten)
JD (Jack Daniels-M-white and gray)
Hennesy (M-orange and white)
Sage (F-white with black spots)
Isis (F-white with black spots)

there were at least 6 other foster kitties that I can't think of the names right now.

and now Rosie's babies are
Bast
Anubis
Seth
Kauket
(all named after Egyptian Goddess/Gods)

My cats for the most part know there names and my past fosters it was half and half for it really depended on there situation all of the kittens knew there names

Right now I have

A-Yoda -(M) Black Siamese mix his nick names are Yoda and handsome
Princess- (F) Black DSH her nick name is Diva
They both know there names
Allie Cat- (F) brown/orange tabby calico
she doesn't know her name
Sylvia (F) gray tabby nick name is mama cat and she listens to both
then there are the kittens who all know there names
Jack,Sydney,Rose,Claire,and Charlie Can anyone guess what TV show there names came from
Yoda was named after our cat that crossed over the rainbow bridge a few months before we got him so instead putting a #2 at the end of his name we just called him A-Yoda since that was how my daughter said Yoda any ways
But the strangest cat name i have herd was my sister in law had a cat named Sargent Thomas Dill and is nick name was STD and a few other ones followed as I'm sure you can figure out what they where

Cats I have had:
Mrs. Whiskers "Whiskey" (RB) - Named by my mother - Knew her name and would always come when called.
Spencer "BoBo" (RB) - Came from the pound as an adult and was already named - We rarely called him Spencer but he did come to BoBo.
Milo - Named by me - Knows his name and will sometimes come when called.
Dexter - Named by me - Doesn't respond to his name but he comes running when I call Milo. He also responds to Cheetah which is what I usually call him anyway.
Lola Named by me- She doesn't respond to her name but is only 7 weeks old.

As a young child I had cats named Scooter, Tiger & Oscar all named by my mother.

My brother has a cat called Miss. Kitty who responds to her name.

All of my current kitties know their names. Like Otto, I talk to my cats (and other pets) quite a bit as I am often home alone during the day and use their names and nicknames exclusively. I rarely call them "kitty," but I do call them "cattens" and they respond to that as well.

I named Cassidy the moment I saw her picture on the shelter's website. She is a ginger and white DLH tabby and when I saw her photo, I knew her name was meant to be Cassidy. I love Irish names (I am Scottish, but look Irish and love all things Irish, Scottish, and the like) and since she looked like a frilly girl, the name Cassidy just came to me. It suits her perfectly and she answered to the name immediately. She also responds to nicknames such as Cass, Cassie, and many more (there are way too many to mention).

Delaney was named, well, Delaney since I wanted to stick to the Irish theme. I had also named her after seeing her picture. And, again, it suited her perfectly. She is not quite as girly as Cassidy, but the name Delaney seemed to compliment both her looks and personality. She answers to her name as well as to Lane, Lanes, Laney, and Delanoe. Of course, there are others, but I won't bore you with those.

I named Emory because her name at the shelter was Emma. She didn't look like an Emma, but I immediately liked Emory. I think it's a unique name and not one that is heard often -- especially in cats. I like her unusual name since she's a torti and all tortoiseshells have unusual coats and patterns. I had almost named her Fiona because of the Irish connection, but it just never stuck. So, Emory it was. She still answers to Emma though I rarely call her that. And, she also answers to Em, Emmy, and Ree.

And, lastly, my kitten was either going to be named Finnegan, Finnian, or Finley. And, Finnegan won out. He, too, looks the Irish part as he is a red and white DLH tabby. His original name was Furby, but that was just not acceptable by me and he never responded to that name. But, as soon as I called him Finn, he looked at me and mewed. He answers to Finn, Finster, and a ton of other names. Trust me, for him, the list would be way too long to even write out!

I've had other cats that responded to their names as well. My RB kitty, Opal, always came when called. In fact, when I'd go to bed, I'd call out "Pal, bedtime!" and she would come running. Another RB kitty, Henry, answered to his name and his nickname, Hank, by trilling. And, I know there were others as well, but many of the cats we had were indoor/outdoor and never had the attention they needed in order to learn their names or respond to them (which was not good, but how my parents operated and continue to operate to this day -- cats are just cats to them).

I am both proud and honored that my kitties now know their names because it shows that I spend a lot of time working with them on our relationship. They all have their quirks when I call our their names, but, when they come to me after I say their name, it always makes my heart skip a beat .