Of the naming of cats

[Jilly_in_VA]

As y'all know, I volunteer at the ASPCA weekly, where I work in what I call the stray cat jail and hotel. One of the more fun aspects of that is occasionally giving a name to some cat who didn't come in with one. Most of our strays just have numbers and I hate that. Natalie, who now runs the stray jail. seems to like my suggestions, and sometimes they actually stick. For instance, most recently we got a big red tabby boy that I fell in love with when I discovered he would take any amount of petting and ear scratching and had a lovely rumbling purr. I called him Sebastian, after the protagonist of J.P. Donleavy's novel The Ginger Man. It seems to have stuck. Awhile back, we had a tuxie boy whose grooming was so immaculate that all I could think of when I looked at him was, "Bond. James Bond." He became James and was presented in Adoptables as such. Other people join in, of course. For awhile we had a string of female cats we named for queens---Marguerite, Marie Antoinette, Wilhelmina, Astrid (who died tragically), and Isabelle of the six toes who became modestly famous on Twitter. We had a sibling group of three teenage kittens, two boys and a girl, who were so wild that Natalie characterized them as a "horror show" and called them Freddy, Jason, and Carrie. Today's bunch included a brown tabby boy who kept reaching out of his kennel and grabbing at anyone who went by; I suggested Jack Reacher as a kennel name; however, he went to a foster home for socializing so who knows what they'll call him. The only other one I named was a pretty blue and white lady who rolled over and showed me her belly first thing---"Look, I'm pregnant!" She gets to be Lan Ping (Blue Apple), which was actually Jiang Qing's screen name when she was an actress, before she met Mao Zedong.

You'd think I could be more creative with my own cats, but no. The tortie is Winnie and the big fuzzy brown tabby is Vicky. I have no idea why. They just fit. And how did you name your cats?

[EarnestPutz]

1. Nicely done. Good for you and the volunteering too.

[jpak]

2. I named my 3 ferals after hurricanes

[jmowreader]

3. They basically named themselves

Example was the third cat I had. It was black. I was reading a magazine in bed one day with this cat sitting on me, and I come to an ad that had a panther in it. The face on the panther looked very much like the face of my cat, so I picked up the cat, looked her straight in the face, and said "I know what you are." From then on she was PK, for Panther Kitty.

When I got this cat, they put her in one of those boxes you haul cats home in. About five miles into the trip home, she had escaped the box and curled up in my lap.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

4. I named Othello

After the Othello game. In the game there are little chips that are black on one side and white on the other.

So if you look at Othello top down he's black,flip him onto his back he's white.

Plus the name really fits him and his creative personality. He also likes to play with puzzles,like his busy box.

[BlueGreenLady]

5. I love your cat naming avocation!

Patsy Climb and Kitty Wails were my two beloved sister cats. Sadly, they have transitioned to kitty heaven. My current cat is Betty Boop because she's ditzy and a bit too friendly and demanding of attention.

[Ocelot II]

6. Over the years mine have been named:

Kitty(white and gray, childhood cat), Tulip (not sure where that came from; she was a black cat), Charles (fluffy orange cat, the name seemed to fit), Leonard (brown tabby, named after a friend), Spot (calico, lots of spots), Teddy (tabby and white), Alice (tortoiseshell), Woody (all gray) and Milo (fluffy white and orange) - the names just fit somehow-, Jeoffry (gray tabby, named after Christopher Smart's poem Jubilate Agno), and Pixie (fluffy brown and white, named because she's so cute).

[applegrove]

7. Samantha because i always liked male girl's names and Bewitched.

Mickey for Mickey Mouse. Monster whose name was South Park when i got him as a recently fixed 2 user old male with some battlescars. They said to me "if you Can't keep him bring him back". Apparently he had been adopted and returned. Got him home. He started starring at my shoulder at one point. Then attacked. He mostly bit but was missing one fang so he could not break through my skin. He tried really hard. I did not like the name South Park so i called him Monster because he on occasion tried to be one. I never got hurt during an attack. I kept him because old warriors deserve a home. Everyone always thought that was the cutest name. He calmed down white a bit over the years and went from attacking and not hurting me once a week to once every few months. He was cuddly otherwise and slept in my armpit every night. He was really attached two me. Spent some time at my parents house. Dad had to wear oven mitts to coax him into the basement. Twilight was a name given my black girl by my niece. She only knows her name at mealtime. Captain Morgan was given that name by the pet store because he had a grey patch that looked like a goatie and they thought he was pirate like. I changed that to Captain "Hughey" after my grandfather because I read some books on pirates and the Caribbean and Morgan retired to become a slaveowner. Angus because it was a good Scottish name.

[Glorfindel]

8. The Naming of Cats by T. S. Eliot - 1888-1965

The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
It isn’t just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I’m as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
First of all, there’s the name that the family use daily,
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo, or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey—
All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter—
But all of them sensible everyday names,
But I tell you, a cat needs a name that’s particular,
A name that’s peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?
Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum—
Names that never belong to more than one cat.
But above and beyond there’s still one name left over,
And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover—
But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular name.

[niyad]

24. Thank you. Exactly what I was thinking of.

[Shrike47]

9. We once had a Magnificat, I name I really liked. Her brother was Velociraptor; he tried to live it.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

10. My local shelter always names the strays they get.

My current cat came to them as a stray and they named her Tatiana. When I'm talking to her, I mostly call her Little Girl.

[Midnight Writer]

17. I had a Little Girl, a Big Guy, a Little Sister, a Big Tom, and an Orange Cat.

They don't seem to care.

They can ignore you equally well no matter what you call them.

Mostly I communicate with them clicking my tongue or whistling. That seems to get their attention.

[tblue37]

11. I wait for their personality to reveal itself, even if I have tentatively chosen a name.

If the original name doesn't fit after a day of two, I choose a more appropriate one.

[Arkansas Granny]

12. I call the feral kitty that I feed Porch. That's the only place she will

allow me to get close to her. I've been feeding her for about 5 years now; but she won't allow me to touch her. Oddly enough, she has never had kittens.

[kirkuchiyo]

13. We are adopting our third rescue cat

Which is the perfect order for this guy as he had to have his back right leg amputated. Our first rescue cat IS a big orange tabby we named Cheddar, mostly we call him Chedd though. Rescue number two is a gray tabby we named Mozzerella, shortened to Mozzie. And the third and we are starting to reach on the cheese names here Is Parmesan-Reggiano and we'll call him Reggie. Pics on instagram at cheesecatboys if you're interested.

[happybird]

14. For the most part, they name themselves

I’ve had a Frannie, Wheezie, Bob, Sammy the Dude, Pooper, Annabelle, Leo, and Ziggy Stardust (he was almost Gozer the Destructor but his oddity pushed him to Ziggy).

I let them hang out for a while and the names just come along with their personality. When the name hits you, you know it’s right.

[Harker]

15. Amelia could really fly.

Max was huge. Ursula looked like a little bear. Claude was...clawed.

[Ohio Joe]

16. It all started in the mid 1960's....

We got our first cat. A family with six kids..., heh, good plan. My brother named her Percy... We knew she was a girl and just thought Percy was a girls name. No... No, we could not be wrong... So... Oh... So many years later and all of us and our progeny all keep at least one cat... And all of us only get females... And all of us only give them male names.

We all have family issues... It could be worse

[Corgigal]

18. Burr is named,

because that is what it sounds like when she talks to us. Now that the musical Hamilton is a hit, she can now be a villain.

House Panther, who was named Kit Kat in the shelter, is just a cool black dude. You can call him panther or house. You can ask why he is panthering around? He will ignore or respond when he thinks you deserve it. He can tumble the chihuahua/ Pomerania dog like an NFL champion.

[Wolf Frankula]

19. Every cat has three names

One, the name given by the cat's two legs. Two, the name used by other cats. Three, a name like Puss, Kitty or Pussums.

Wolf

[trof]

20. Ace...he was coal black. As black as...you know.

He showed up at the back door late one night when I was sneaking some ice cream in the kitchen.
Yellow eyes.

I opened the door a crack and he was IN!
Butting and rubbing my legs and ankles.
I put him in the garage with a blanket and some water.
He looked well cared for.

Next morning I got Miz t. to put a collar and leash on our German Shepherd, Nasha.
As we gingerly introduced them to each other Ace jumped out of my arms and raced to Nasha and did the same rubbing and head butting on her legs.
Nasha could care less, but Ace was IN LUV!

Best cat we ever head.
Used to bring me squirrels.
A mighty hunter!

[Elessar Zappa]

21. The names of all the cats in my life:

Smokey (male Russian Blue), Natalie (female tortie), Tiger (female tabby), Lebowski (male rag doll), Morris (orange male), Emily (grey long hair female), Scootita (female calico), and Pickles (female tortie/Russian blue).

[hay rick]

22. I've had numerous cats over the years.

When I lived in New Jersey they were all neighborhood strays. One stray was named Petie by our next door neighbor because he had a black circle around one of his eyes- like the dog in Little Rascals. Taking care of an outside cat was too much trouble for the neighbor, so we took over "ownership"- feeding, vet, and indoor shelter at his convenience. Petie was a large, black and white long-haired fixed male with a very laid back and friendly disposition. I started calling him Petie Sweetie. Petie Sweetie eventually turned into Petie Pie...

[pansypoo53219]

23. i was at an art fair + a hairy hippie chick was chasing a little boy 'COSMO!". bad name for a kid

(pre sienfeld). cosmo(s)- flowers, so i named the girl kitten pansy. 2nd pair. i knew i wanted basil, hmm, spice, name girl pepper, but she said no, so i went w/ sybil. he turned out big + she was petite(fawlty towers). next pair gonna be chester + percy(girl). maybe oscar + felix for next pair.