Fun Topic: How did your cat or cats get their names ?

[Abby&Buddy'sMom]

I thought this would be fun and interesting too. How did your kitties get their name ?
Abby: We got her the shelter in 2003 , and my young son asked me in the car "what kind of cat is she?" I said "She is black, so she is not a Tabby, so she must be a Abby" . About a year later we got Buddy . Buddy: We got him from the same shelter,and couldnt decide on a name for about a week or so. I found myself usually asking Abby.... Where is your little buddy at ? So that is how he got his name Though these days Abby is mostly known as Abbigail, and Buddy is mostly known as Budgy

[momcat]

One afternoon I stopped at a small Mom & Pop pet shop to get food for our RB parakeet, JC Chapin. There was a sign on the door saying "We have kittens". Of course I had to go see them but had no intention of adopting one. As I was looking at them a little faced popped up; I looked at him, he looked at me and that was all it took. Groucho had a home. He's black & white with a white patch between his eyes, a cute black nose, and a white face with a Groucho Marx moustache. Of course "Groucho" was the obvious choice.

[cassiesmom]

I knew I was going to adopt her and she was a solid grey kitty. I had gone to the shelter on a Saturday and they asked that I return the next day because she was shy and I was a nervous first-time adopter. I told my mom this in church on a chilly morning and she happened to be wearing her grey cashmere blend overcoat. I got back to the shelter, saw the kitty, thought of my mom's coat and she got her name - Cashmere, which we shortened to Cassie.

My other choice was Pepper, from a Peppers Waterbeds bill board.

She has a ton of nicknames -- kitty boo (thank you to Laura's Kitty Boo for this one), bug, muffin, honey cat, babycat (after Tehya the Babydog), missy (as in 'scuse you, missy, I am carrying groceries and you are in my way), my sister calls her cookiepuss, and Cassie Lassie, from a friend of mine at church. It's a wonder she even knows her name!

Edited to add: I forgot about my fur-nephew Milo! That was his name from his previous family and he knows it, so my brother and his family decided to keep it. He too has nicknames... Bud, Buddy, Miles, honey boy (since he's orange), and Sir (when he's being a furry orange trip line because he wants something). But I walk in their house, he's there and I just say, "Hi, Bud!" It fits him.

My sister's RB meezer Poco got his name from the Italian word for "little". He was a teeny kitten that was found in a field, brought to the veterinarian's office and they called my sister to see if she would take him. His nicknames were Pokester, Smoky Poco, and Mr. Blue Eyes. He was truly my sister's heart kitty -- he used to sleep on her pillow with her! .

[maerlyn]

Well, this is an interesting thread!

The day after my beloved Merlin went to the Bridge, I went to the vet's office to return some unused fluid. As I stood at the reception desk, in tears, the receptionist suddenly jumped up, said, "I have someone I want you to meet," and ran upstairs. She returned with a tuxedo kitten who was quite lively. Having just buried Merlin's body and having Morganna at home - I was obviously in a King Arthur mode and blurted out, "That's Mordred!" I had had no intention of adopting him, but once you name them. . . .

About a year later, as Merlin's first Bridgeday was approaching, I found a tiny white kitten who'd been dumped on a remote, unpaved mountain road and left to die. I brought her home, of course. Emailed a cyberfriend to tell her; she said she'd been praying that God would heal my heart, and the timing of this kitten was strange. Playing with the little one, the name "Althea" popped into my head - a name for which I had absolutely no context. I emailed the same friend, asking if she knew anything about the name. (Why I asked her that, I have no idea; it was just supposed to be part of the experience, I guess) She replied that it comes from a Greek word that means, among other things, "healer." With the them from Twilight Zone playing in my mind, I typed the name into my computer and found that Althea is another name for the shrub commonly known as rose of Sharon - and Sharon is my name! Any thoughts I had of rehoming the kitten were surrendered; it was obvious that the whole set of circumstances had set her up to be mine.

Blue was left at my barn, and I trapped him, not knowing his gender. The vet tech took him from the trap, checked, and said, "It's a little boy." "Little Boy Blue" popped into my head, and she needed a name for the record. . .so Little Boy Blue. He has since morphed into The Blue Dude or simply Dude.

[catmandu]

Hmm
Mr Scrappy got his name as he was scrappy to his Cat Companion Pouncer who got her name by pouncing on her toys!!
Moose was a Big Cat , Juke Joint Joseph got his name from a bar in Milwaukee.
Scrapster and Scrappy Two were named as they resemble Mr Scrappy.
Mikey Fluffy Tail is named after Michael Angel, and Ebony Beau Tubster Two after Ebony Beau Tubster Angel, and my Black Cats have Tubster in thier names after Tubby Angel.
More tomorrow

[Taz_Zoee]

Paizly was found by a fellow Pet Talker (snakemama) and she called her Priscilla. At the time I had Taz and Zoee so I wanted a name with a Z in the middle. I had a baby name book and was carrying it around asking my boyfriend about names. (This was before I even brought her home) Finally I just said pick a letter. He said P. Then I said pick a number. And he said 4. So I went to the fourth name in the P's and it was Paisley. It was perfect that I could spell it with a Z in the middle.

Jax came from the shelter I volunteer with. His original name was Derek (his litter was Dancing with the Stars Pros names). After I brought him home I went online to look at names. I just started reading them off to my boyfriend and he tried them out on the kitten (this is also how we named our dog Zoee). Then I got to Jack and just thought of Jax. I like it because it is short and kind of similar to Taz.

[katladyd]

MacGyver, my orange baby, was named after the television show of the same name. Mac was pretty much neglected by his owners, who would go away for a week or more at a time and leave him to his own devices after locking him outside of the house. He became very resourceful and learned every home on the block that had a cat and how to get in each of these houses to get food and water. He was poofed by my supervisor where I worked at the time (she was a crazy cat lady herself who lived in that neighborhood) brought into my office and I was told to take him home. She told me his story and I renamed him MacGyver, after the very resourceful t.v. character.

Ming was named Ming because he is Siamese and I had known a cat named Ming and thought it was a great name for a cat. I bought Ming from a pet store in my neighborhood (a nice place, their animals were all cared for very well)when I went in there looking for a scratching post. Left with a cat and no post!

Kimba is pure white and I named him after one of my favorite cartoon characters of my childhood, Kimba the White Lion.

[kaycountrygal]

I like your question.
First of all, my Luke is the second Luke I've had. The first Luke was gotten by me in 1968. At the time Paul Newman was a popular movie star and he had great BLUE eyes. My first Luke, a Siamese, had lovely blue eyes and I thought of Paul Newman's blue eyes and then his movie Cool Hand LUKE and thus my little Siamese kitten became Luke. Luke1 was with me for 1968-1983. After Luke1 died, I decided I would have a housedog as pet/companion rather than a cat...and I did.

However, in Nov 2001 I saw the most beautiful little Persian-Siamese kitten up for adoption at a church event (Blessings of the Animals). The person was going to take the kittens to a shelter if they werent adopted. I knew I had a sweet little dog at home (Honey, a rat terrier) and she would not be happy to have a cat in the house. So, I told myself I could NOT get a kitten.

You know what? I could not get that little kitten out of thoughts--the prettiest kitten I had ever seen with wonderful BLUE eyes. Only a day had passed since the church event so I called and asked if the kittens had been taken to shelter. Not yet was the answer and I said... can I come over... and I did.

Yes, I picked out that pretty little kitten and both the owner and I thought it was a girl kitten so I named her Lucy. It was about a week before I could get an appt at vet to have kitten checked out etc so for a week I called "her" Lucy. When vet examined Lucy, she told me it was NOT a girl kitty. Did I want to take time to think of a boy name for their records? No, I said.... let's name him LUKE for his blue eyes. So Lucy became Luke in a matter of minutes. That's how Luke2 got his name. He has turned into the most beautiful cat as you can see. He is not as loving as Luke1 but cats will be cats and I love him.

I should add that Honey gradually adjusted to Luke1 but they never became good friends. Honey dog died and then I got LilGirl who tolerates Luke. I guess I should say they tolerate each other. There are times when they actually lay next to each other on the couch which pleases me so much.

Here's a picture of Luke2 as a kitten and some pics of him all grown.

[dehlers43]

My current naming trend started when I got Charles and Wally (both RB). Since Charles was a pedigreed Abyssinian I thought he needed a more regal name so he became Prince Charles and his kitty buddy was Randy Andy after the prince's younger brother. But the name Andy just didn't fit my sad-eyed little tabby so he became Wally. A few years later we adopted our first dog, a rather homely mutt I promptly named Jane, as in Plain Jane. Then came the little terrier mix, Newton. So my crew was Prince Charles, Lady Jane, Squire Newton and Sir Wallace of Dogs.
It only made sense to name my little grey tabby Princess Chelsea Pearl,,,,well it made sense to me.....lol. But when it came time to name the kittens, I switched from royalty to famous elected officials, thus the names Franklin and Winston (RB).

[mrspunkysmom]

Mr. Spunky was a punk cat when younger but I needed a more positive name, so I chose Mr. Spunky. He knows his name..

Sam is Samwise Rory Beauregard Gamgee the Red, because I couldn't decide on a name. I had an orange cat named Sam, always loved the name, when I was 6 years old. I was trying not to resurrect Sam of long ago as a lesson to my mother who named all of her cats Sunshine. it didn't work, Samwise became Sam. And he knows his name, too.

Jane, is Lady Jane Grey, because she is such a lady and is a beautiful Russian Blue type cat. She answers to "where is my Janie?" or even more often to "where is my Little Girl?"

Emily is just such a pretty name for a Calico that looks like a Calico-Tortoiseshell. She is a recent rescue and I needed a name for her. She will answer to Em

Bob is an American Bob-Tail. Sounded good at the time. He doesn't answer to his name yet.

[Scooter's Mom]

Charlie was adopted from a shelter and his original name was Calvin. He really didn't respond to that much, and I started saying, "Sorry Charlie" to him all the time because my (RB) Scooter Bug wouldn't play with him. He seemed to like being Charlie. So, Charlie stuck. Oh yeah - and there was a song out by Miranda Lambert called "Me & Charlie Talking" and because Charlie is the talkiest kitty I've ever seen, really - he walks around meowing constantly - I thought Charlie fit for a multitude of reasons. He's definitely a Charlie.

Jingle Belle was a foundling 3 days before Christmas and my best friend helped me name her. We wanted something pretty and Christmassy. Most old-time PT'ers remember when we found her, lol. Hubby brought her in, we took her to the vet that day and nobody replied to our signs we hung up... YAY us!

My RB Scooter Bug was originally Fizgig. Actually he was "the little no-named kitty". I was NOT going to get attached to him because I already had 3 other kitties when the neighbor brought him to us. Then I thought of Fizgig. Well.. I'd sit in the bedroom watching tv on my bed and he'd sit at the end of the bed and sort of scoot up an inch at a time, until he was on my shoulder and then bug me to pieces... so he named himself. He was my heart kitty. It has been 2 years (and 3 days, Jan 23, 2010) since we had to say goodbye to him.

[Don Juan's mom]

Don Juan was given that name at the old Santa Clara Valley Humane Society, where I adopted him in 2001. He was taken there after someone caught him in a humane trap. I kept the name because it suits him... he's sweet and affectionate and just a little naughty.

Zerlina was called "Zana" by the rescue group that had her at an adoption event at a Petsmart. At the time, I was thinking of getting a little black kitten and calling him "Leporello", after Don Juan's manservant. I petted this pretty black girl, and asked her if she'd like to be called "Zerlina." She purred. She's named for the character in the Mozart-Da Ponte opera Don Giovanni, of course.

My step-kitty Rugger is named in honor of the pastor at our church, who was a great rugby player in his day. At first, my husband was just going to name him after the pastor, but then thought that it might be a bit disrespectful to name a cat after a priest. Remy had that name already when he adopted her. It may be after Remy Martin liqueur, seeing as she's an orange girl.

[snakemama]

Hubby named Sherpa, and I don't really know where it came from. Charlie was found by a friend of my sister's...he thought she was a boy and picked that name. I thought it was a good one and kept it. Kyubey is...a little amoral creature from an anime, and he eats souls....as a former vet tech, I firmly believe that cats hold to the "law of opposite names", so I wanted to give Kyubey a name that would ensure tht he was friendly and lovable. It worked!

Trust me, when a vet tech sees a cat with a name like "Angel" or "Sweetie" on the list of the day's patients, they know to be ready to break out the leather gloves....Cats with names like Chaos or Lil' S**t (Yes, there really was a LS at the last clinic I worked in, best patient EVER) on the other hand, tend to be wonderful.

[moosmom]

My VERY first cat, RB Mollie Rose I named after my niece Holly Rose. RB MooShoo was named by my daughter. He had the pattern of a moo cow and she suggested Moo. I put the "Shoo" part in.

Maya Linn is named after the woman who designed the Vietnam Wall in Washington, DC. My Munchkin, Shortiegirl was originally named Little Mews Faberge by her bad breeder. I call her my Twenty Five Dollar Short Multi-Color Kitty Cat. Her breeder spent so much money on her trying to save her from pyometria they decided to name her Faberge, after the very expensive egg. I liked the name Shortiegirl. UtchieB I originally named AustinButchie. Somehow the UtchieB name stuck.

Xavier aka Spike I renamed after adopting him from the Old Saybrook Animal Control. He's a 20 pounder and the name fit perfectly.

Isis, my other Sphynx came with that name and she sure answers to it!!

Bartie has had his name since he was 6 weeks old. He's now 16 years old.

Buddy was originally named Baby by his former owner who never came back to get him. He's my Budman and my heart kitty.

Puff-Puff ( I did NOT name him) and HE'S NOT STAYING!!!!!!

[catmandu]

My Princess is so regal that there was no other name for her
Michael Bo Bo Sam Precious and Moose were already named, and I could not improve on them!!!
Miquelito is little Michael, and Pouncierge was named after Pouncer ,My First Cat
Malcom was named after Malcolm in the Middle as he was between Gregory and Terrance the Feral Tabbies.
And Josephine was named after Juke Joint Joseph.
I am old I will have to continue tomorrow.