How do you name your cats?

In my years of owning cats and kittens, I wind up naming them all after favorite characters from: tv shows, video games, movies, and cartoons. 

Except for four cats...

Pute - My first cat at age six (one I can remember). I was age six and thought the made-up word was cute for some reason. Long passed away, RIP.

Mr. Meeks - He was named that because he would cry, "meeeeek" all the time. He died of old age, several years ago, RIP. 

Feathers - Because his fur was very long on the top of his head and moved like feathers in the wind. RIP. 

Bubbles - She is simply named this because of her huge bubbly eyes. 

But all other cats in my childhood history was named after fictional characters. The first cat my parents ever got for me (I was a four years old and only know him by family photos) was named "Fat Albert". And yet, my mother thought it was weird when I name a cat after a Japanese anime character, in my teens. Anime is a cartoon too, just produced in Japan. 

Mister Bojangles was the name chosed for our boy, he had such attitude and I thought of the Mr's in the Tarrantino film, all cool swagger. He is now Mister to all and sundry, but I have been known to call Bo, Bo when he is poorly (ill).  Our other cats were, Dennis (the magic cat, tada), Snoops, Brian, Dylan, George and Kizzy.  We also name our hens, the latest are all called after Hollywood Diva's and have Ollie and Madpants the labradors.  

We spend a few days getting to know the pets before naming them, but always something we don't mind calling, not that there are neighbours to hear.

I tend to give mine human names. I prefer dignified, serious names for my pets. However, Smudge was supposed to be a temoprary name, and it stuck.

1.  Marge-after MIL.

2. Leo--he looks like a lion (he's part Maine Coon)

3. Phoenix--named after the place he was found; shortned to Nicky/Nicolasha/Nico

4. Kara--always loved that Italian name; when spelled properly, with a "c", it means "dear".  Her middle name is Elisabeth.

5.  Gemma Pearl--ditto for "Gemma" ("gem" in Italian--I love jewelry)

6.  Lucinda Grace, a.k.a, "Lucia" ("Light" in Italian)

7.  Loki--Norse mythology

8.  Mari--after the person who found her

9.  Rosalie Charlotte--I've always loved the name "Rosalie". It's also a combination of some family members' names--a mother and son ("Lee").

I guess my first cat was named Snowball because she had white on her (she was a tuxedo). I was very young so that probably was the best I could conger up in my mind. I had hundreds of kitties and they all had different names and very simple since I was a child with not a lot of imagination for unique names.

I adopted a new cat in my 20's, but my grandfather had already named her Freckles. I don't know why, but she remained Freckles. Years later a little black stray showed up very hungry and cold and tiny. I took her in and spent several days thinking of names to go with a black female kitten. Nothing seemed to fit until one day she walked across the carpet and I noticed her paws looked funny. Careful examination showed she had extra toes. Don't understand how I didn't see that uniqueness in her immediately, but you guessed it she became Mittens.

Before Mittens passed my brother brought home 6 barely weened kittens whose mother had been killed crossing the street. I adopted the most precious Tuxedo male kitten and called him Thomas.  Later I added a middle name James and since then all my cats have middle names. I use their middle names when I get angry with them or want their attention. Then Mittens passed away and I adopted a calico Tabby and I named her Tabitha Jane. It seemed I had two pukers so I called them my "2 Bad T's" as a sort of joke. Tabitha passed away two years ago and I adopted Tibby Sue. She was another dark grey/black tabby. I wanted another name starting with a "T" to continue with my 2 Bad T's joke. I think it fit since I could have called her Tabby, but felt this was close to that name, but a bit different. In April my beloved Thomas had to be put down. How I loved that cat. Probably my very favorite of all my cats I ever owned. He had such a sweet personality and had some very cute habits the others never did. I since have adopted another kitten. Since Thomas was a Tuxedo I wanted another Tuxedo with similar markings. I again needed a "T" name and decided its name would be Tuxxy. I was on the look out for a male Tuxedo and growing impatient I viewed  a kitten from a newspaper ad kind of fitting the description. Although he was not a tuxedo as I envisioned I adopted him. The name Tuxxy didn't fit him since I didn't consider him to be a tuxedo kitty even though he was black and white. That night I was getting him all tuckered into his bed for the night and the name Tucker came to me. I told him he was all tuckered in for the night. Tucker stuck and I had my "T" name. He is now Tucker James. His middle name in memory of Thomas James. I was surprised how quickly Tucker picked up and learned his new name and came when I called him. I think he was about 6 weeks old. I still have my 2 Bad "T's"...Tibby Sue and Tucker James. We are one big happy family.

Our last pair of cats were named Mischa Barysha and Twinkletoes.

We got them as kittens, and they spent a lot of time jumping from one place to another, twisting in the air, as if doing pirouettes.  They were very active, both of them.  Our daughters were young, and both involved in dance classes.  So we decided on a dance theme for the cats' names.

Our present cats demonstrated their personalities immediately.  The female was always into EVERYTHING, curious and nosy, which nearly always resulted in our laughter.  She's a very funny lady.  The male was stodgy right from the start.  He'd sit there and watch her being funny and having a good time, and then look at us laughing with a kind of "puh-LEEZE" face on.  We called them George and Gracie.

Our house cat is Smokie, only because she is a Russian Blue and with that smoky grey fur - what else could she be.  We didn't know what sex she was at the time, so - Smokie for a girl - Smoky for a boy - as it turned out it became Smokie Girl.  we also have two other cats - named Oscat and Oscat Too - for OutsideCat and his/her pal is OutsideCatToo for also.  My daughter's cat is Mr. Mineaux because he is a French gentleman!

Willow - she was the first cat ever in my family and no one thought they liked cats, especially my grandfather. I thought it would be funny to get a male and name him after my grandfather Wilbur. When I went to the shelter, this tiny little brown tabby girl just picked me and I forgot all about the blue w/w male I'd gone to look at. Wilbur was changed to Willow and sometimes Willie. RIP Willie girl

Gus - I'm not sure what made me think of it, but he is named after the mouse in Cinderella. He's beautiful but not very smart, super loving and quite overweight, so it just fit. When I got him, the shelter worker told me he was an 8 week old female. Took him to the vet the next day and found out he was a 4ish month old neutered male. :lol3: I call him Gussie a lot bc he seems so girly and pretty to me.

Pepper - she's the new kitten, only had her a week and I'm not 100% sure it will be her name. The whole family keeps calling her Tinkerbelle, but that's my mom's chihuahua's name. Pepper is a ruddy Abyssinian, so her name does fit her coloring. But she's so tiny and delicate, I feel she may need a super sweet girly name. Pepper is a name a friend was considering for her daughter and it was in my head for weeks before we got the kitten so I just assumed it would fit. We shall see how it feels after a few more weeks.

Facey was named face because she is a black and white bandit with a funny black patch under her chin, like a goatee. 

Mittens was named so because she is mostly gray with with white feet. 

Tiger is long haired gray Tabby. When Tiger was handed to me, she just screamed mini Tiger. 

My former cats:

Pure black Trouble with a few white stray hairs used to be Cuddles because she is such a cuddlebug but her name was changed to fit her naught personality. 

Pretty is a gray tabby with white feet and belly. Pretty got her name by accident. I tried calling her Precious but she ignored me. Then she was nicknamed Fat Cat until we could find her a name. I started calling her "pretty girl" and "big girl". One afternoon I broke out the treats and Pretty was still learning to come when treats were out. I went towards her in the window and shook the bag and said "Come on pretty girl, LOOKIE!!" She immediately turned around, perked her ears, arched that back, stuck that tail straight for the sky and chirped loudly. Pretty was what she was from then on. Was the only name she ever responded to.

My lovely Luna Moon was part of a litter I rescued and adopted out.

I actually never really knew her name at first, but as the other kitties left the house and I chose her to be mine I remember sitting on the bed, watching her flounce around and stumble over herself.

I was kicking around the names Frieda, Crookshanks, Willow, Malky and Elphaba, but Luna just kind of rolled off my tongue. Luna never looked up, never stopped playing really, but she grew more vocal and pricked her ears when I would call her.

Her official name is Luna Moon (I realize that I'm just saying moon twice, lol ) but I call her Luna most of the time. When I come home, its "Luna Mooona!" and she will always respond. She has also been called Looney, Looney Tune, and someone dared call her Oreo. That person was quickly silenced.

I forgot about our first cat, a large snow white beauty,   He adopted us, and the kids just started calling him Tom - until one night not long after 'he' arrived, 'he' climbed into my daughter's bed while she was sleeping.   Everyone thought it was VERY funny when she started screaming { except she and I ].   When everyone crowded in the girl's room they found Tom and 6 kittens on Gina's pillow, with one kitten tangled in her hair!   She [Tom] was promptly renamed Snowball, and once Gina was untangled, got over her fright, had a shower, and settled down, she joined the others oooing and ahhhhing over the babies!

Christy's was the name the shelter gave her. It stuck. It's a nice name for a small, delicate calico.

Tiny was named by the neighbor's kids, who brought the half-feral nine-month-old stray to my door one day. They had at some point had a kitten named Tiny, and this particular cat looked a lot like him, being also a brown tabby. I still have no idea if the kitten Tiny and my Tiny are the same cat, but by the time I realized that shy Tiny wasn't going to find a home anywhere but with me, the name had stuck. By the time he was full-grown, I realized just how odd a name Tiny was for him. Tiny weighs 11 pounds and is a long, lean cat with heavy bone structure and thick fur; by his size I would almost think he was a tomcat if I hadn't sent him off for neutering myself. So the name "Tiny" has become quite ironic; but he answers to it, and it does seem suitable considering how easily spooked he is and how much his time as a stray has affected his personality: He is a quiet one-person cat who will hide from thunderstorms and jump when the toast pops out of the toaster; but when he's secure, he's a sweetheart who spends time with me simply because he likes me.

Mya and Zeya are Burmese, so I picked Burmese names for them. Mya means emerald. Zeya means success. 

Noortje is a Dutch diminutive for Noor, which is an Arabic name. It means light. I chose this name, because I really liked how it sounded. 

Lara is named after Lara Croft (Tombraider). You'd have to see her play to know why 

Holland and Daymon were both named at the shelter. I loved the names, and they fit, so I kept them. I have the hardest time figuring out pet's names...

We had dogs, not cats, when I was growing up. Our first was Artie, who was there in my first memories, so I'm not sure how he was named. Then was Gidget, a poodle that we adopted from neighbors who were moving into a senior condo community that didn't allow pets, but they named her. Then we got Oreo, a terrier mix who was black and white. We had a guinea pig named Michael because he was all black with one white paw and my older sister was a HUGE Michael Jackson fan. This was back in the 80's, before MJ had all his plastic surgeries. Then we had another poodle that my parents got for me. He was an apricot teacup, and I couldn't decided what to name him until my grandpa said he used to have a dog named Kaiser, so I named him Kaiser, I guess to compensate for how small he was...

Other animals in my family are mostly dogs. Jake is a Labradoodle who was named before he was adopted from an abusive home by my sister. Maddie the beagle and Gracey the big orange cat belong to my brother and SIL, they were both shelter adopted, and I'm not sure if they were named at the shelter. Frosty is an old girl taken in by another brother and SIL from an abusive home. She's around 14-15 years old by now, all white, not sure what breeds are in her mix. Frosty also came with her name.

My youngest brother got his dog Mallie from the same shelter I got Holland and Daymon, and I believe she was named at the shelter. She's a mixed breed, but we're pretty sure she's got some border collie in her. Finally is Biggie Smalls, a pure-bred Weimaranar that my soon-to-be BIL got from his parents (they breed) shortly after he and my sister started dating. Biggie for short.

Frisco - I was about 4-5 when my dad took me to get her. I remember that one of my friends had a cat named Frisco that had recently died, so I named her after that cat. I have no idea who this friend was now though. 

Lois - She was from a litter of kittens my friend's cat had. They had named her Lois and we liked it, so we left it.

Tipper - I was in grade 3 when we got Tipper, a smooth collie/shepherd mix. I remember wanting to name him Rocky, but my parents didn't like it so my mom named him Tipper after the white tip on his tail. 

Sadie - She is my first dachshund. I had planned on naming her Amelia but it just didn't suit her. I just started calling her Sadie Baby and it stuck. 

Fynn - another dachshund. His name at the breeder's was Lucky, but my mom had a dog growing up named Lucky that she idolized, so I wanted to change it. My friend and I (she's his coowner) both liked Finn because he looks Irish, lol. Her boyfriend has issues with "i" being in names, so we just changed the spelling to Fynn. 

Josh - she was our pit bull, she was already named when we got her. 

Ana's name came to me spontaneously when we were bringing her home. She just looked like an "Ana", and I already knew I wanted to spell it with just one 'N', not two like most people do. It was only a day or two later that we realized she adored the taste of banana.

Tohee got her name because she was a tuxedo (with white toes, although most adorably, the pads for those toes were still black) and because she was this slight little thing and literally trilled and squeaked like a little bird. (A towhee, with a 'W', is a smallish bird that's part black and part white.) So her name has something of a double meaning.

Keef... is an interesting story. The lady we got him from thought he was a girl and wrote "Fluffy" on his adoption card. We already knew he was a boy, and "Fluffy" wasn't going to cut it. My mother was teasing me that I should name him after Kiefer Sutherland and I said NO WAY... I'll look at this baby names book and pick out the first name it opens on, if it sounds okay. And the first name it opened on was "Keefer". XD So Keef is what we called him.

Our other cats (that we had when I was a little girl) had obvious names: Cow Kitty, Stripe, Wishy (a tuxedo with a white wishbone shape between his eyes) and Patchika. There were also Spunky and Trouble, and Christy, because I was five or six at the time and I thought a girl kitty should have a more personlike name.


If I'm ever able to get another cat, I might name him Howie, after Lovecraft... since he was a cat lover (his own cat cameos in at least two of his stories).

Never, ever, let a six year old name a kitty.  My poor Siamese is named Meatloaf.
 

Our cats have 'people' names; in fact, I've only had 1 cat that had a cat name, but he looked like a "Puddin" so I had no choice.

Our present group are:

Hannah Bea

Jack-ola (I'm not sure how that came about)

Rufus John

Katie Mae

Charlotte Roberta

Bridget Elaine

My cat is "Wintressia". I can explain, I swear.

I was 16 when my cousins brought Win over as a kitten. I actually wasn't home at the time - I was babysitting my best friend's three young cousins. One of them suggested "Victoria", as in the Spice Girl. (This was immediately vetoed.)

I can't remember the exact timeline of events after that, but at one point, I logged onto AOL on my laptop (dial-up - this was back in ye olden days of 1998) and I asked my online friend, Rav, for name ideas. We were both pretty big fantasy nerds at the time (we roleplayed dragon characters online, for crying out loud), and he suggested "Wintressia". I think he pretty much just made it up on the spot, but I thought it was awesome to the max (I was 16, remember.)

So, yeah. Wintressia. Win-tress-ee-uh. Usually I just end up wandering the backyard screaming "Win, here Win!"

My first cat, which I got when I was 13, was named Kazarothien James-Joseph Skandranon Rashkae Sheean III. I have no excuses for that one. His "first" name is a mix of Kaz, a character from a cartoon I loved at the time, and "Azeroth" - the name of one of the lands in Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, the FIRST Warcraft game - in 1995!

None of my pets have ever had human-appropriate (or even remotely human-appropriate) names. I guess I just like weird names, and/or names that mean something personally to me.

But, 16-year-old nerds should not name cats. It is very difficult and embarassing to make vet appointments when the secretaries at the front desk cannot even begin to pronounce your cat's name.

zohdee said:

Never, ever, let a six year old name a kitty.  My poor Siamese is named Meatloaf.

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LOL! Did the six-year old kid say why Meatloaf is a good name for a Siamese who never eats it?

Michelle Obama was smarter than that. If she let Sasha and Malia name the dog, Bo would be Moose LOL.

Larry was named Sylvester when I got him from the rescue group. He came with his sister, who they called Cinderella. Neither one of those names seemed right. So I was talking to my mom on the phone and she said, "How about Larry?" She had Curly, my brother has Moe, and I looked at him and realized it was perfect. He is soooooo "Larry"!

I renamed his sister Lena, after my grandmother. She, (Lena) unfortunately, had FIP and had to be put to sleep. It was very sad. But for 5 months and I had Larry and Lena. Now I have Larry.

Other cats I had, years ago, were Torfinn and Gudrun. I wanted Norwegian names, and Torfinn sounded cool, and Gudrun was the name of my very Norwegian piano teacher when I was a kid.