| 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.
~from Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, T.S. Eliot
Eliot goes on to tell us that every cat must have a practical, everyday name, a unique and exclusive name, and a name that the cat knows unto herself. For enjoyment as a cat lover, please find this book and read it to your cat—she’ll walk about with her tail waving at knowing that at least one human knows cats well enough to call them friends. It’s also the inspiration for the musical Cats, and we know how felines worldwide reacted when an entire musical was dedicated to their distinctiveness.
"Semi-sweet Butterscotch Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough"
But that's just her "show name", everyone just calls her "Cookie", named for her many varieties of tortoiseshell fur patterns, her sweet purr-sonality, and her nice round belly.
But we’ll concern ourselves with just that first practical name, the one that we usually give to cats because we have to call them something, and they prefer to sit by and let us guess. All names used in this article are names of actual cats, though their identity has been protected because they don’t particularly want to be bothered with stardom.
We could be unimaginative and call all of them “Kitty” because naming is apparently just to fulfill some need we humans have since most cats won’t come when called by any name, except when the calling is accompanied by some incentive like a rattling treats can, a can opener or crackling bag of catnip, at which time you can call them just about anything.
"Luciano, Rodolfo, Guiseppe and Musetta"
The "cast" of a favorite opera, "La Boheme", a fostered litter of kittens whose momcat was, of course, called "Mimi".
Most of us, however, are overly imaginative with our cat names because, admit it, you’ve got a list of alternative names for your cat that are saved for morning kisses time, “Morning Glory”, lap time, “Cuddles”, and that time when your cat had better just get lost for a while because you just discovered the vase of flowers all over the floor, which is not printable on a family-oriented website.
But that everyday name we give our cats is an expression of our earliest and deepest feelings for them, despite all the other things we might call them. The name might describe their personality, “Sweetie”, their coat type, “Peaches”, physique “String Bean” or some typical activity, “Zippy”, for instance.
Our cats enter our lives at different ages, and our first impression of a kitten is different from a mature cat, and rescues are often ill or traumatized and need some quiet time to come back to their own personalities. A name like “Nasty” given to a skinny, unsocialized stray may seem inappropriate on a robust and contented cat later in life, but neither you nor your cat will forget those meager days, and you can laugh together at the memory.
Our own experiences also influence the names we give our cats. You may choose to name them for characters in your favorite book, “Charlotte”, or movie, “Bogey”, an ancestor, “Sophia”, or a friend, relative or other person who’s made an impression on you. Characters in history, “Kublai Khan”, are popular, as are ancient gods, “Zeus”, and goddesses, “Medusa”, and political figures such as “Napoleon” and “Roosevelt”.
If you’re searching about for a name and just can’t pull one from your imagination, you can use a baby name book just like people do, but books of likely pet names appear everywhere from the checkout to major bookstores. They’re fun to read because you find out the origins and meanings of names, and you may find something totally unique in a “names” book. A simple internet search turns up dozens of names pages, many of them specifically for cats.
But without further ado, here is the list of “most popular cat names for 2007”. This is posted on CatChannel.com, originally published on Petfinder.com, the online database of adoptable pets used by shelters and organizations all over the country. The names are gathered from Petfinder’s more than 11,000 animal shelters and rescue-group members.
Top 10 Cat Names
1. Smokey (291)
2. Lucy (284)
3. Angel (265)
4. Oreo (260)
5. Midnight (260)
6. Shadow (260)
7. Patches (256)
8. Princess (248)
9. Tigger (243)
10. Molly (239)
So does your cat have one of the famous names? Or is her name as unique as she is?
Soon you’ll be able to tell us all about your cat’s name and how it came to be, and your story will give you a chance to win a prize! Beginning in January, 2009, we’ll be asking you to send us the story of how your cat got its name. We’ll have a panel of five judges to read the stories and score them for a variety of qualities such as the originality of the name or a humorous or touching story. The story that wins the greatest number of points wins the prize.
We’ll provide a few examples, so start getting your notes together and get ready to tell a story about your favorite companion
|
