# How did you come across the name for your cat(s)?



## Marcia (Dec 26, 2010)

For my latest, Polly, her name was actually neo*POLLY*tan. She was the 5th of what the shelter called "The Bottle Babies" that I took in in early June. The first 4 siblings I brought home all looked like flavors to me, va*NILLA*, *CHOCO*late, Licorice and Tang. When Polly showed up a couple days later with her dilute calico coat, neopolitan ice cream came to mind, hence the name Polly. It stuck and it fits. 

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## sheiladoreen (Jul 11, 2014)

My rule for cats is that I find them/pick them and my SO names them.

Our first, Puccini, is named after my SO's parents' first cat together (when they were in college). His dad's side is Italian so the name came naturally to them, I think he was named about Puccini the composer. When we got Pucc, we actually thought we were getting a girl (he's registered as a female named Crystal) until we saw his neuter papers- right away my SO said "PUCCINI!" and it just stuck.

I was hoping for another Italian name for our second. Again, thought we were getting a girl, so we brainstormed female Italian names. Arrived to pick up our new girl and discovered she had hidden in the rafters. I took the next cat within reach, "Chester".... lol. Didn't fly with my SO. He's a big Ninja Turtles fan and decided to name him Roku- short for Oroku Saki, the full name for Shredder from the TMNT series.

Nothing to do with the cats' appearance or personality, just my SO being creative lol


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## Speechie (Dec 2, 2013)

Skye suits his given name so we kept it...
Pazu was Baloo in the shelter. We wanted something similar and love Miyazaki's films so, chose to name him after a character.


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## KsKatt (Jul 6, 2014)

I'll list a few.
Adonis was my first feral, he is just so handsome that Adonis fits. 
Zeus was an injured little boy who needed strength to get through. Zeus is a very powerful God. 
Sunny is the deep golden color of the sun. 
Moon is the cream color of the moon. 
Buttercup was one of five kittens that came to me with their mother at about 6 weeks old. I called the mother Jasmine and her five daughters were the flowers. Buttercup, Daisy, Rose, Lilly and Poppy. 
Being out here with so many kitties they are more of a colony, it's hard. I wish I could keep them all inside and safe. If I'd known I was going to be a cat rescue I'd have chosen a place way far away from the road. A cat took my Rose from me. I was thrilled that the girls never strayed far, I always saw them, any time I went out. Poppy, Lilly and Daisy all disappeared in one summer, before I even realized (in my heart that they were never coming back). I hadn't seen them but was informed a new neighbor had a pack of hunting dogs, that were getting loose, a lot. I can't let myself imagine that it was the dogs. But I have never had so many disappear in one summer. Haven't have any disappear since, it's been several years. 
Well, that brought back bad memories. Sorry.


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

MowMow's original name was to be Rah or Utu. When I got him home he spent the first few months wandering and MaOWING at me constantly.. in pairs. Two MAOWS ... pause... two MAOWS.. so I just started calling him MowMow. Now he's Sir Utu Rah MowMow.

Shepherd Book, because I thought he looked like a wise man with lots of secrets when I met him... It doesn't really fit him but.... too late now. He answers to it.

Neelix because he was so friendly and outgoing.... in an almost obnoxious way, just like the character on Star Trek: VOyager. It fit him and it still does.


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## happy_panther (Aug 4, 2014)

MowMow, I love your names 

We named ours driving home from the shelter (about an hour's drive). They were from a litter of 4 - all black boys called Eenie, Meenie, Miney and Mo. Ours were the last 2, but the names didn't suit them.

They are both named after talking cats from the anime Fairy Tail. Happy was decided first - after a funny blue cat. His character is cute, silly and a bit cheeky but very loyal and loving. 

I thought Lucky would be a nice name to go with Happy, but my partner chose Pantherlily - another cat from the show, who is a bit of a badass with a battle form. He is not as emotional, more a 'toughg guy' but has a hidden soft side.

The funny thing is, becuase the boys looked so alike, we didn't really know who was who when we gave the names. But their personalities fit their names perfectly and they also match ours as well.. Happy is most like me, and Panther is like my partner.


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## Time Bandit (Aug 17, 2010)

All of my cats are named after TV/movie characters, and each one fits them well.

Samantha's full name is Captain Samantha Carter, after the character of the same name from Stargate: SG1. She's beautiful, smart, and sweet, yet tough, and she rules the household with an iron paw. Definitely the 'top brass' in our house!

Alice got her name from Mila Jojovich's character from the Resident Evil movies. As soon as she entered our home, she wanted to lick...everything, especially people. My husband and I instantly thought of a Licker from Resident Evil, but thats no name for a cat, lol! So she became Alice, a tough and independent girl. Her full name is Alice Turkey Giblets No...Alice - for the mentioned above, Turkey - because she lays down looking like a Thanksgiving turkey all the time, Giblets - because of the turkey position and because giblets are funny, and No - because we said "no" to her so much as a kitten we thought she might think that was her name, haha!

Jules is officially Jules Winnfield, named after Samuel L. Jackson's character from Pulp Fiction. When Jules was a kitten, he thought he was the toughest thing around...at four months old and four pounds, I remember him going total fluff-puff-hissy-spitty-'Halloween Cat' on a 100lb+ Golden Retriever at work (of course the Golden looked at him like he was nuts!). The name fit perfectly! Thankfully he's now learned that not all dogs are out to eat him, but he's still the toughest boy around, lol!


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## Mandy and Ellie (Oct 22, 2013)

Ellie's full name is Eleanor Roosevelt... sounds odd but I love names of old famous people for pets, I think it's funny.

Tootsie got her name from looking like a little Tootsie Roll


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## texasgirl (Feb 27, 2013)

Moses got his name because, as a kitten, he was always batting the water out of the bowl. (Moses parting the Red Sea) I named my other boy Noah because he was so gentle. And I originally thought Josie was a boy and named her Jonesy from a Stephen King novel but then changed it to Josie when my vet said she was a girl. (at the time I didn't know almost all calicos were female)


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## Artiesmom1 (Jan 28, 2014)

I kept Artie's name when I adopted him.
I did not care for it at first, but then I fell in love with him and him..
It suits him!
His original name, when he was first surrendered as a kitten, was Trout!!
So glad his adoptive mom changed it to Artie!!


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## fanwoodguy (Oct 14, 2011)

Smokey got his name because he looked like a puff of smoke as a kitten.
Lexi was called that just because.
Buddy is called that because he came after Smokey passed and I needed a buddy. He was called frisky by the rescue group and that name would have fit just fine. 3 years later and he remains both a buddy and frisky as a kitten.


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## Heather72754 (Nov 1, 2013)

Lol, Trout - why would you call a cat that?? My oldest cat, Penny, we found in a shelter in a dark-ish cage and her big green eyes were shining out at us. We thought she looked like a shiny penny, so the name stuck. My middle cat, Mystique, is all black, medium-haired and was adopted last year two days before Halloween. She needed a mysterious name to suit her silky self, so Mystique it was. Also, my husband is a big fan of X-Men so he approved lol. The last cat we adopted, Sunny, came from the shelter with his name. He didn't know his name as he had only been there a few days and they named him, but it seemed to suit as he is a big butterscotch boy with a (now) shiny coat so we kept it. Now he knows his name.  

Of course, it's a miracle _any_ of the cats know their names with all the nicknames they have lol.


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## DeafDogs&Cat (Mar 27, 2013)

Munch.... well, funny story...

I couldn't decide on a name and had been waffling over a few. I always name my pets after literature or authors. So id had him a month and narrowed it down to 3... Merlin, Horton, and Munsch. Then he stole a dog treat, trying to take my finger with it landing me in the hospital 12 hrs later, so Munsch became Munch lol


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## Marcia (Dec 26, 2010)

Heather72754 said:


> Lol, Trout - why would you call a cat that??


 Heather we had a cat at the shelter named Flounder!! :mrgreen: Seriously, I can't make this stuff up. Sweet, sweet boy, but an absolutely awful name.


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## Heather72754 (Nov 1, 2013)

Seriously...that's just as bad, yuck. Mystique's name at the shelter was 'Special'. Ummm, no. :crazy


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

MowMOw's shelter name was "woody" He didn't look like a "woody" to me. I don't know if they gave him that name or the people who surrendered him put that on his intake forms. 
Book's rescue name was Cinder (original for a black cat...)
Neelix's shelter name was Cookie. If he was a female I would have kept that name, but it seemed kind of girly for a male.


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## Arianwen (Jun 3, 2012)

This is only one but Lottie was called Lotto when we first had her because before she had been taken in by the shelter she had been living on an allotment on a staple diet of gardeners' sandwiches!!! We wanted to keep it similar and changed it to Lottie although she is sometimes "Miss Charlotte".


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## DeafDogs&Cat (Mar 27, 2013)

I named a kitted I rescued once 'Biff' because I found him under an outhouse... also called biffy lol

Eta the outhouse hole hadn't been dug yet lol


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## DeafDogs&Cat (Mar 27, 2013)

Munch's name was Casper... which every other deaf dog and cat are named lol


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## Time Bandit (Aug 17, 2010)

Samantha's shelter name was Zumba. I was not going to have a exercise program for a cat.


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## Sundown (Aug 11, 2014)

Our one rule was that all 3 members of the family had to agree on the name. My husband suggested Gilgamesh which I immediately vetoed. I suggested we starting thinking about something that all 3 of us (2 adults and a 13 year old) liked. We started with names from Harry Potter, but nothing really fit. Next I suggested looking at names from The Chronicles of Narnia. Aslan was immediately suggested, but didn't really fit our gray/brown tabby. My husband then suggested Caspian. The three of us all looked at each other and all said "Caspian!" and that was it. 

My first cat was abandoned by his owner. No one even knew what his name was. Someone in our building started calling him Sundown because you always saw him prowling the neighborhood at night. We kept the name after he decided that we were his family.


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## Jenny bf (Jul 13, 2013)

Lulu was originally Gabana but it wasn't her. One of my nieces who is a sweetheart but shy is nicknamed Lulu so we took that as it suited her more. It also
Means precious in some countries and that's a given for our beautiful girl.
Kiki was the name of a cat in a children's TV series when I was a child and I thought it suited her. So she became Kiki Kitten.


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## Arianwen (Jun 3, 2012)

I remember Kiki and there was a dog as well - I can picture hi but not thin of his name.


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## librarychick (May 25, 2008)

Just for the heck of it I'm going to list ALL my pets, not just the kitties 

Jitzu - From ninjitsu (the way of the ninja in Japanese...so I've been told anyways). Before my SO got her she had been called Crunchie...which is a terrible fit for her, lol. Apparently the litter all had chocolate bar names. Anyways, Jitzu was way too cool for that sort of name, and since she was so very agile as a kitten my SO and his roomies at the time re-named her Jitzu.

Torri - Her full name is Torrier (TOR- ee -A), my SO picked it. I guess Torrier is a goddess of the sea...can't find any info now. *shrugs* we just liked it. We always call her either Torri or Princess though.

Doran - Was originally named Dora because I thought he was a girl when he was teeny and he would NOT hold still even when his eyes were closed. So, Dora the Explorer was supposed to be his 'foster kitten' name...Then we found out he was a boy and decided to keep him, but he knew his name so I had to pick something similar. Doran is Irish Gaelic and it means outcast. Since he was abandoned by his mum (and I like the sound of it) I went with that.

Muffin - you may already have heard the story...lol. We weren't planning to keep him, so as a joke we decided to name him Fuzz Muffin (since that was a deterrent to keeping him....lol) because his forehead was so huge it looked like he'd risen...like a muffin. His full name is Fuzz Muffin Naughty-paws Underfoot. Suits him to a 't'.

The other pets are a bit different, so I'll just list a few of the funnier/cuter ones (names, not pets...they're all cute!)

I call our fat tailed gecko Piper...my SO insists her name is Tiny Purple Dinosaur.

Our guinea pigs are/were named: Prudence, Ruth, Willow, and Molly. My SO calls them: Rubidium, Ruthinium, Europium and Molybdenum. A typical conversation about the piggies goes something like:

Me: Are you going to come feed the pigs dinner with me tonight? Willow is getting braver!
Him: I don't think Europium likes me...and Molybdenum is definitely scared of me.
Me: That's why I want you to feed WILLOW and MOLLY their carrots!

XD

We also have a betta named Mr. Fish after a betta fish in a series of books I read...as an excuse for my lack of creativity.

We have also had a betta named Apophis, a gerbil named Indiana, and spiney mice named Tetley and Lipton.

The worst one currently in our home is a skinny pig I'm pet sitting. His name is (actually) Sir Brutus Minimus.

I have also trained dogs named Toni Toni Chopper, Marshmallow, and Superman.


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## nklincoln (Aug 2, 2005)

Beans came to us about 17 years ago. Wondered in and stayed. Husband said she is such a Bean Head and the name stuck. When I took her to the vet I was embarrassed so I told them her name was Beanie as she was my Beannie Baby. But she answeres to Bean Head..

Stretch got his name from Hubby. He came to our house and stayed 6 years ago. He would stretch from here to there. So hubby called him Stretch. 

Is anyone following our Lava flow on the Big Island?


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Cinderella was already named that, but I only called her "Baby."

I wanted another "C" name for Cleo. Her name was Mocha or Mocha Latte, but I was told she didn't know her name. After about a month, she still wouldn't respond to Cleo, so I was laying in bed one night and wanted her to jump up and she wouldn't. I finally said, "Mocha!" and up she flew! So I call her Mocha (she also truly thinks her name is "Good Girl"), but to avoid confusion, I never corrected it here. After 8 years, I think I've only typed "Mocha" once or twice here by mistake. 

Cali and Charlee were named Nera and Nari. Cali was named after a co-worker whose real name is California, and I like boys' names for girls, so Charlee got her name from being a tomboy when I went to meet them.


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## Jakiepoo (Jan 5, 2013)

We are a family with a horrible naming streak of naming pets after colours. 

There was Silver our grey cat, and Ebony and Ivory our black and white rats. So we decided to stick with what the shelter named Jacob and it's stuck. He usually responds to it when he's in the mood, so that's always a plus.


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## cat owner again (Dec 14, 2012)

I am kind of embarrassed because I didn't put much thought into my cat's names. The neighbor feeding them when they were unclaimed called the white cat, ****** and the mother cat Mama. When I took them over I called ******, Blanco which means white in Spanish. Mama was such a good mother cat, that it just fit her. Well now he is grown up and I have to call them in from outside and feel a little weird, calling "Mama". I tried changing it but I kept forgetting. I always see all of your creative names and am glad my cats don't know....


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## jking (Feb 22, 2014)

Misty was my husband's cat and he named her. I named Tiger. I just thought he looked like a little Tiger and the name fit him well. 
My sister in law named Echo shortly after we brought her home from the shelter. 

Chino was named at the shelter and we kept it because it really seemed to fit him. 
Shadow's shelter name was Amelia. We renamed her Shadow when we brought her home.


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## my5kitties (Sep 13, 2005)

Midnight came with her name. She belonged to my former neighbor, but when they moved, they took Midnight's brother, Spaz, and her sister, Tiger, with them. They left Midnight because she was "acting weird". Turns out she was in heat. Anyway, we took her in late May 2005. Two weeks later, she gave birth to four kittens. Sadly two were still born. The surviving kittens, both boys, we named Star (because his little face looked like a star) and Lucky (because he was having difficulties breathing). In November 2010, we brought in sweet, gray boy we named Smokey. He was FIV/FeLV+ and we lost him on January 14, 2011 from cardiac arrest. My Shmoo never made it to his second birthday (March 23, 2011). In April 2011, we found Miss Momo, another little gray kitten. At first, I called her Li'l Smokie, but it just didn't feel right. My kids were watching Avatar: The Last Air Bender when they decided to name her Momo, after one of Aang's pets. When we found her, she was approximately 5-6 months old and 7 weeks pregnant. Because she was so tiny, I made the heart-wrenching decision to have her kittens aborted. If she had been allowed to give birth, there was a very good chance that we would have lost her and her kittens. The vet told me that she had six kittens in her when they spayed her. And finally, my newest and youngest baby, Mr. Noodles...When we found him, he was about 4-5 months old because he was shedding his baby teefers. After first I named him Spartan because right after we took him in, he got really sick and we weren't sure if he was going to make it. When he did finally kick the unknown infection, he bounced back and is a happy-go-lucky kind of guy. While I still liked the name "Spartan" it just didn't fit him. I think my daughter is the one who suggested that we call him Noodles. I tacked on the Mr. so that it wouldn't sound so goofy.


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## bluemilk (Oct 3, 2005)

Well, when I 1st got Robin, I thought he was a girl! I named him Beatrix. An elderly vet with a practiced eye, and a magnifier informed me of his actual gender. Because he's acrobatic, likes to BORROW fascinating or fun things, and because of the woodland colors on his coat, I called him Robin Hood.


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## oceanmist (Feb 12, 2011)

Casie was named after the constellation Cassiopeia since my dad is an astronomer. 

For Cherry, I knew I wanted a nature themed name and I knew I was getting a female cat (parents won't allow any male cats in the house due to spraying). I had a few names written down (Lilac, Mint, etc.), but when I got Cherry, none fit. My mom wanted me to name her Popcorn so we could call her Poppy, but that didn't fit either. 

Later on, I was looking around online and saw this picture. Immediately the name Cherry popped into my head and it stuck.


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## erinyaap (Aug 19, 2014)

I don't have any good stories lol. We were thinking of kitty names before we went to the shelter. If we ended up with a boy/girl pair I liked Jack and Jill or Daisy and Duke. Once we found these kitties and found out they were both boys we had to find 2 we liked. The were Marshall and Mitchell but when I hear Marshall I think of Eminem and that wouldn't work . Duke just looked like a Duke so we decided on that one pretty easily. I kind of wanted another D name but couldn't find one that fit. We went back with Jack and decided it worked because it was kind of like Jack Frost and he is mostly white.


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

I just renamed Cleo this morning. She's now *Slim Shady*. :grin:


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## Arvada (Aug 25, 2014)

I have actually had 3 cats named after rappers. The first one was a stray calico that came in through our window when I lived in Utah. At the time I was married, and my ex has always been terrified of animals, but when this little ball of fluff sauntered in like she owned the place, he actually liked her. We found out from the neighbors she was a stray, so we started feeding her, and letting her come inside whenever she wanted. My ex named her Nas, and ever since then he has gotten over his fear of cats and dogs.
Years later, I had a mother and daughter named Aesop, and Apathy. Aesop was a dilute tortie, and little Apps was grey with a white bob.

When I got Truth, I considered sticking with the rapper theme, or at least a musical theme since I love music so much, but I wasn't coming up with anything that fit. Then I had a dream in which I was riding a big white horse named Truth. I thought it was a beautiful name, as meaningful and unique as Truth herself. 

When I got Storm for my twin boys for their eighth birthday, I told them they could choose any name they wanted, as long as they agreed. They named her Stormy, and I added a last name of Llewellen, after a character from a Dean Koontz book. Then the boys decided she needed a middle name. They picked Moon, so she became Stormy Moon Llewellen. We call her Storm for short.

When my boyfriend went to pick his kitten, most of the kittens we kind of wild, because they were born outside, away from people, but there was one who was so calm and relaxed. He didn't try to run or hide, and when my boyfriend picked him up, he seemed perfectly comfortable being held. My boyfriend knew this was the kitten for him. We wanted a name that sounded as comfortable as the kitty was, so my boyfriend named him Southern "do whatever's comfortable," Comfort. This name came from the booze, and the motto, after we saw a funny commercial for southern comfort. We call him SoCo for short. I think the name suits him. He really is quite comfortable here. 

I like the names we all picked for our kitties. I think they're pretty awesome.


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## ashlee18 (May 21, 2014)

My family is horrible at picking names.

My first cat Winnie was named Winston Churchill after the cat in Pet Cemetery. He looked exactly like the cat in the movie. He also responded to and Win. I also sometimes called him Winnie the Pooh even though I despised calling him that when I was a teenager.

Rascal was named by the GA ASPCA. We had no intention of keeping that name but none of the names we tried stuck. So after 6 months we relented and he was Rascal again. It fit him perfectly.

My boxer is named after the chicken company, Tyson chicken. I had no idea that it was the second most popular boxer name. I am so unoriginal. He and I even met another boxer named Tyson but with much poorer manners.

My girl boxer Echo was named by my roommate. She was supposed to be Lola but one of her littermates was named Lola and I wasn't willing to share the name. Her name fits her well when her bark echos through the house.

Merlin was also named by the GA ASPCA. I had no intention to ever change his name. As soon as I saw it and met him, I knew it was perfect. This cat is so smart and mischievous. He has learned how to open doors already and get to his food bin which is in my closed closet.


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## Jenny bf (Jul 13, 2013)

Arianwen said:


> I remember Kiki and there was a dog as well - I can picture hi but not thin of his name.


Sorry I hadn't been on this thread for a while. The dog was hector


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