# How did you come up with the name for your cat?



## Ears and Tails (Jun 22, 2013)

I read this forum a lot. I love the stories and mostly the names of the kitties you have, or that have you.

I was wondering where the names you have come from.

Here is my story of how one of my cats got her name. Once my brother who was highly allergic to cats married and moved out my mother wanted a cat. I did not know anything about cats so my daughter aged two and I tagged along to see what she was getting herself into. To my surprise Mom went to see many cats. She wanted to see how they were taken care of in their current environment before considering which one she wanted.

Finally one day we went to a Persian breeder and she liked what she saw. They had a litter ready to go and they were sweet. We went up the stairs to see the kittens. My daughter was so wide eyed and full of love for all of them. The breeder opened a cage so the kittens could come out and visit. My daughter very carefully sat on the floor and watched until one came up to her and jumped in her lap and purred. At that time Snuggle Bear was a big thing. My daughter looked up at us and called the beautiful red Persian Snuggles. Snuggles was ours for many years and I still miss that wonderful cat who stole my families heart. 

How did you come up with the name of your cat?


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## Siskin (Nov 2, 2013)

Seven was a street stray at 3 months old. He was literally just skin and bones. I brought him in the moment i saw him (10 days ago) and he proceeded to sleep just about 24 hours a day for the next week. The only time he wasn't sleeping, he was eating or using the litter-box. Afterwards his personality started to show. He absolutly loves sneaking and poucing from the shadow, so at one point my mom called him 007. So it stuck 
(Check my sig)


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## feralkit (Oct 20, 2013)

Smokey is grey. That was kind of quick. My husband would call him Keyser Söze when he went in the woods, "and like that, he's gone". Haha!

Gremlin really looked like a gremlin when we found her with mange and big ears.

Screamer screams loud for attention.
Cream puff was the color of cream. 
Mr. Grey is grey, but his adopter wants to call him Touch of Grey, I think it is because of the Grateful Dead song and the hair color commercial. I find that to be pretty cute. <3
Fireball aka Waterballoon is named such for her assertive feeding behavior. She really feels like filling a waterballoon when feeding her.

fftopicOther creature names.

The dog is Joe, named by my daughter. 

Most of my arthropoda are named after foods for color combos, cause I am weird like that. Chocolatemilk, Greenbean, Hersheysspecialdark, Juicyfruit, etc.

I run out of creativity with alot of arthropoda and recycle the names. Most don't live long, but have babies and grandbabies to name.


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## cat owner again (Dec 14, 2012)

I really wasn't invested in the cats when I adopted them. My female had 3 kittens that I know of. She was such a good mama and they were growing up clean and healthy on the street. At about 5 months old, two died (I still think poisoned). I took her in and kept the name "mama." Her son was almost all white so the neighbors who fed them called him ******. My grown daughter thought that was not a politically correct name (?) so I named him Blanco which means white in Spanish.
I thought of changing the names but since they go outside I want to make sure they know their names so I can call them so I left them. Mama is the sweetest kitty and small due to having babies so little. Blanco is a stubborn, outdoor kitty that just uses me for his needs!


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## Carmel (Nov 23, 2010)

Blacky: We named her, but we didn't name her. It wasn't like we sat down and said "ok, Blacky is the best name imaginable!" -- with her being a black cat we just adopted talking about her as "Blacky". She was an outdoor semi-feral that for a year wouldn't allow me close enough to pet her so there was lots of time for us to get used to the idea of "Blacky".

Jasper: I knew a cat at the cat sanctuary named Jasper, I really liked him, and I remember thinking if I ever got another male cat Jasper would be a pretty cool name. At the time I thought I'd never have another male cat so it was thought more in the sense that I'd be missing out on lots of male cat names I like.  But then Jasper got trapped in the garage and I started calling him Jasper, which works since it's also a gemstone that often comes in red tones. I announced to my family a few weeks in I'd started calling him by a name, which was a big thing since with a name comes getting attached (and he was acting like a crazed wild cat). It took my family a good month to get the name straight, at one point they'd even forgot I'd named him... they weren't invested in him at all to start with.


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## Yuki'sMum (Dec 3, 2012)

I've been allergic to cats my whole life but my reactions have become milder the older I've got. My eldest daughter always wanted a cat but knew we couldn't. Five years ago she decided to get one. She had decided on a Bengal as a friend of hers has two and she loved their personalities. I'd found out that I don't have much reaction to bengals so when she found a local breeder who had a litter we went to see them. They were 6 weeks old and as adorable as it gets! It was a litter of 5 and 4 were snows and one brown (the mum was half snow and the dad was full snow). I held one little girl for quite a while and she snuggled down in my lap and fell asleep. I fell in love right there! The breeder said when we'd decided on names, to let her know so she could start calling them. We couldn't take them home until 16 weeks. 
When choosing her name, I wanted something that would reflect her Asian Leopard Cat heritage. Both my eldest daughter and I love anime so I searched Japanese names. I considered Yoshi (we love Nintendo) but decided on Yukiko pretty quickly. It means 'snow child' which I thought fitted her as a snow bengal  my daughter is a graphic designer so she called her kitten Pixel. 


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## 0ozma (Sep 22, 2012)

Hachi, from the movie "Hachiko: A Dog's Tale"


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## cat face (Apr 4, 2013)

*B.B.* was named _"Black Betty"_ by the woman at the shelter. 
I am really pants at naming pets, so when they asked what name I was going to call her (for microchip registration) I just blurted out that I would keep the name she already has. The woman beamed and I thought to myself, "Oh great, imagine me hollering THAT to get her attention!"
When I got home DH and I started playing around with things to call her and then B.B. was blurted out and we both knew that was it!

*Belle* was originally named Spats (for obvious reasons, she's a Tuxedo). Well Spats hated her name and if there's one thing I learned about Belle QUICKLY is that she is very stubborn when she doesn't like something. Well, she didn't like the name Spats and she wouldn't even acknowledge it. 3 weeks go by, no change and I didn't want her thinking her name was "PssssWssss, here kitty." So I thought since her sister had a human name, I would give her one but what? I looked at her with her gangly long legs, big feet, huge almond eyes, bat eared, one white eyebrow... my heart melted and I thought, "You are such a beautiful little girl." .. and Belle was the name for her.

I named *Sadie* before I even met her. The picture I had of her, with her cute little face and big round eyes, pink little nose and pointy ear fur at the tip there was just no other name. You could almost see her personality in her face. 
After calling her every variation of Sadie - Sadie Wadie and all sorts of silliness, I later added "Woo" and it stuck, so Sadie Woo she is.


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## Carmel (Nov 23, 2010)

cat face said:


> "Oh great, imagine me hollering THAT to get her attention!"


:lol: That is priceless! Once or twice I've caught myself calling out for Blacky and saying "Where's my black baby?" ... embarrassing. Usually when I call her I just say "Sweetie, where are you?" ... much, uh... safer.


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## cat face (Apr 4, 2013)

Carmel said:


> :lol: That is priceless! Once or twice I've caught myself calling out for Blacky and saying *"Where's my black baby?"* ... embarrassing. Usually when I call her I just say "Sweetie, where are you?" ... much, uh... safer.


LOL!! yea, much safer!! 
If I saw some random woman calling through the neighborhood, "Where's my black baby?" I can't even begin to count the number of questions that would be running through my mind, the first of which... "Did that poor woman forget her medication?"


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## sueasinsue (Jun 23, 2011)

My rescue tortie is Ezmerelda-7 toes and she is temperamental, I saw an old wive stale somewhere that said cats with seven toes were witches that assumed their familar's form-hence the witch Ez. 
My two siamese rescues are Tabitha and Blue, Tabitha because my husband said that was a "good" witch name and Blue because his eyes are the brightest blue...
Although they all have nick names as well-Tab is also poo poo pie, Blue is also Boo Boo Kitty and Ez is "honey pie" lol!


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## Marcia (Dec 26, 2010)

Since I adopt senior and adult cats I always try and keep their original name if known or it's not too stupid or silly like Miss Hissy Spitty Kitty. Nope can't do that. The past two were strays though so they really had no name except a stupid staff pick. I like people names so it's usually the first name that pops into my head after I meet them.


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## tghsmith (Dec 9, 2010)

yeti, because my wife said we couldn't call him sasquatch.. emma came with her name, tammi just fit, jolene because my believes that all bright calicos need french sounding names.. smokey because my wife named him(I still call him whiley cat)


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## Ears and Tails (Jun 22, 2013)

I have another one. One cat was not enough for Mom so she went searching for another. This time a Maine **** but when we finally found this breeder he did not any left but he had a Maine ****/Persian mix. She was really sweet and pretty so we bought her home.

Once she was there we did not see her for what seemed like days. I think she knew a visit to the vet was in order . Once she came out we named her Heidi. She hide a lot so it was a very appropriate name. She was another wonderful cat.


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## NebraskaCat (Jan 15, 2013)

Simon, Nala, and Penny were each surrendered to their respective shelters as adults having allegedly had the names their whole lives. I kept the names. Maybe not what I would've named them, but workable and fitting.

Unfortunately now I've apparently turned into my mother and commonly mix up the girls' names: "well hello there, Penny ... er, Nala ... whoever you are"


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## cat face (Apr 4, 2013)

NebraskaCat said:


> Unfortunately now I've apparently turned into my mother and *commonly mix up the girls' names:* "well hello there, Penny ... er, Nala ... whoever you are"


Oh geez, I was thinking the same about a month ago!! Except it was my Grandmom that use to get us kid's names mixed up and we use to make fun (as kids do) and laugh and call each other by our "new" name for the rest of the day!
I do the same now with my girls, they just sit there and look at me like, "WTF is wrong with you, mum!? I'm not B.B.!?" "I know she called me by YOUR name twice today! ew!"


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## Lotu (Apr 26, 2013)

My husband had a cat when we married and although I cared for her I really didn't want to get another and he didn't push it even though he really did. For about 6 years we didn't have a cat until our daughter started to really want one (which my husband suspected would happen all along). I decided to allow one kitten and since my husband was so patient all those years, I wanted to name the kitten (before even picking one out!) something to honor him and he is a math guy, so I thought Decimal was cute...and my daughter likes to call her "Deci". The kids are great at math too so it kind of went with our family. I found a litter of kitten online at a local rescue...four black and 2 brown mackerel tabby and white. One of the tabbies had a white spot on her back and she became our "Decimal". The white spot just seemed to fit the name. In the end I agreed to 2 kittens, because after visiting the foster homes a couple times pre-adoption, I thought it would be sad to be removed from mom and then all siblings to a new place all by herself. We had to scramble to come up with a name for the sibling...a sister, black with ghost tabby markings and a bit of white fur on her neck. My son had wanted the other tabby who was a boy, but he was unavailable and was having a difficult time accepting the substitute. I tried to get him more interested by brainstorming names and he just did not seem to accept any new names. I mentioned "Jet" as in jet black and then he said "Delta" as in the airline. My daughter said that she liked Delta. I didn't realize at the time that it was also a math term  My husband was just thrilled to get a 2nd kitten and really didn't care what we named her. It wouldn't have been my first pick but I named the first one, and didn't hate it. I like that it is a math theme that fit in with the family. I watch Project Runway and there is a dog in the fabric store "Mood" name "Swatch" and I just think that is clever. Maybe I want to be clever too? HA.


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## librarychick (May 25, 2008)

My BF and his roommates had named Jitzu before I moved in. She was named Crunchie (after the chocolate bar) by the people who'd had her mother...but yuck! She was sneaky and stealthy and kinda...a jerk, so my BF and his roomies called her Jitzu. As in nin jitzu, the way of the ninja. It suits. lol

Torri was named after an obscure sea goddess. Her full name is Torrier (Tor-E-A), but TBH she gets called Princess just as often as anything else.

Doran was originally Dora 'cause I thought he was a girl (at 10 days old it's hard to tell!) and he just would NOT sit still. So he was named after Dora the explorer. *sigh* When we found out he was a boy I took the the web to try and find something more fitting. Turns out Doran means outcast in Irish Gaelic, since he was abandoned and it sounded like Dora it won. Now I really like it 

Muffin's name was a joke. We figured we'd give him a 'foster home name' which could be dumb, and then his 'real' family could rename him...and then we kept him. Lol. it actually says Fuzz Muffin at the vet.

I used to have a bunch of ferals I cared for, I was singularly unoriginal in naming them.

Momma - big female who was the mother of the original litter. Feral and hated me.
Cinnamon - dilute tabby calico female, Doran and Muffin's mum. She let me pet her once or twice and had no issues with me being around her baby...but was pretty anxious about me otherwise.
Tommy - The first to get a name. Tommy the tom cat, lol. He was a gorgeous flame point with slightly crossed blue eyes. I loved that boy, but Jitzu hated him like CRAZY. He got neutered and went to a great home. Cinnamon's Brother.
Ronnie - Tommy's younger brother and Cinnamon's litter mate. Probably Muffin's dad. He was a little wilder than Tommy, but he'd still come when I called them for dinner. He got neutered and released and was still there when I drove by a few months ago.
Donnie - Tommy's litter mate, likely Doran's father. (yep, all related.) The most feral of the boys, I never got within 10 feet of him. The best babysitter for Muffin though.

Those were the adults I looked after, I never did get Momma spayed, she was way too smart for a trap. Cinnamon got trapped by the woman who took over the colony from me, I think they relocated her to a farm.

Yeah...I named the boys Tommy, Ronnie and Donnie...it rhymed. lol


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## Cat Lover Lennie (Jan 7, 2013)

Rambo was named because he was tailless, full of fleas and a mess in general when I adopted him from the shelter. He was 6 wks old and alone because all his siblings had tails and had already been adopt. He was yelling his little head off. His shelter name was Brandi and I was told he was a girl. Rambo just seemed right because he looked like a survivor! He's 11 now and sleeping next to me as I type.......he snores!


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## CatMomNY (Sep 19, 2013)

Humbert was a rescue, and my first cat, so I had no naming ideas. When we decided he was the one (after he kept coming up and nuzzling and "showing off" for us by jumping around and meowing his little head off if we made a move to leave), the shelter volunteer said his name was Humbert, and we could change it on the adoption papers. Well, Humbert was around 7 when he came home with me, and he's kind of a grumpy but sweet little old man, so we decided to keep the name. It just fit too well. Now he's mostly called "Humie" (Hyou-mee).


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## BigLittleSmall (Dec 9, 2013)

*Momma* - came with our house and was extremely pregnant at the time. When we were there looking at the house initially, it was just a name I used to get her over to me so I could pet her, and it just kinda stuck.

*George* - my big old lug .. he's pretty but boy howdy is he's about as smart as a sack of rocks lol. He is named after the person a cartoon character on an old Bugs Bunny cartoon (Hugo the confused Abominable Snowman) mentions .. "which way did he go George?" 










*Gimpy* - he had a bum leg when he was born. He just kinda dragged it along behind him for the longest. He couldn't play or jump and run like the others and so he was just my little gimpy boy. He did outgrow it, and now, although clumsy, gets around just like all the others.

*Munky* - she's my wild child .. so I named her after the lead singer of one of my favorite bands, Korn.

*Mr. Diggs* - well, he and his brother came from outside a Freds store beside a dumpster. I guess they had been eating garbage to survive and when I brought them home .. Mr. Diggs (originally Bryant) would ignore the cat food and instead get into the trash, while his brother Denny ate all the cat food .. so after months of having to pick up trash everyday I decided that his name should be Digger .. since he liked digging in the trash so much lol. Once he came to live with me, he went through a great trial & tribulation, and his personality is one of such charisma .. I felt Mr. Diggs suited him better!

*Nilla* - she actually came to us with that name. She's almost 2 yrs old and she knows her name .. so I saw no need to change it .. with her sqeaky soft meows, her finicky nature, and her coloring .. I think it suites her .. when I'm baby talking her (which she loves) I will say where is my Niiiiiiillla Vaniiiiiillllla .. and she will just chatter away lol.


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## AutumnRose74 (Oct 10, 2013)

Well, I haven't adopted yet, but I have been rolling some ideas around in my head. Some of them are tied to coat color:

All black male - Blackington (from the book _Two Too Many_)
All black female - Jenny Linsky (from Esther Averill's _Cat Club_ books)
Tuxedo male - Astaire (as in Fred)
Tuxedo female - either Holly (as in Audrey Hepburn's black cocktail dress in _Breakfast at Tiffany's_) or Marlene (inspired by Marlene Dietrich's famous black tux)

Yellow tiger/tabby male - Garfield (what else!!!  I am a _sucker_ for the _Garfield_ comic strip - I have the first 7 "Fat Cat 3-pack" anthologies on my bookshelf!)

I also really am leaning towards Miriam, ('cause I'm Jewish, and I'm also a fan of South African singer Miriam Makeba), Angelina (one of my paternal Jewish great-great grandmothers' name), Florence (her daughter, my paternal great-grandmother's name) or Sonja (after Nowegian figure skater Sonja Henie) for a female of any other color. 

For males - who knows??


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## TrudiRose (Oct 5, 2013)

My young daughter was in a community theater production of "Seussical" playing the character JoJo, and we got our cat the day after the final performance. We let her name him, and she chose the name JoJo because it was obviously on her mind, it's a cute name, and she had a wonderful time doing the show, so it had positive feelings for her.


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## CatMonkeys (Sep 27, 2012)

I kept the names the shelter gave my two (Will and Kelly). I fostered them for about a month before I decided to adopt them, and after calling them Will and Kelly for so long, calling them something else seemed strange. My grandfather suggested I rename them Cinder and Sandy (since Will is black and Kelly is light orange) which I liked and considered, but it felt too weird calling them anything other than Will and Kelly at that point.


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