Why did your cat get his name?

[calismum]

Been quite a bit on the forum recently about names. Thought it might be an interesting thread to find out/update on why our cats got their name.

My lot past and present
Shanti - ginger Tom - the colour of chianti, and I was only 17 and didn't know how to pronounce Chianti!!
Pepper - Tortie female - she was mainly black peppered with orange
Smudge - Tortie/white female - her colours all smudged into each other.
Max - B/W Tom - I just loved the name
Misty - Tabby/white female - Chosen by OH, he liked the name
Sid - Black semi feral - when I found him cowering in the shed he hissed just like a snake so was called hissing Sid, shame really coz he turned into a lovely natured boy.
Shadow - Black feral female, daughter and shadow of Sid.
Munchkin - Tortie feral female, sister of shadow, daughter of Sid - she was the colour of Jaffa Cakes and that advert was out at the time 'don't let the Munchkins get your Jaffa Cakes'
Alfie - Named by OH's dau
Kinsi - a name we seen on a gate in Skye last year 'Kinsi lives here'

So come on, why did you give your cats their names, I need to know as there are a number of unusual names on this forum:lol: :lol: :lol:

[angieh]

When Merlin came to me all those years ago he was actually called "Brockly" because that was where he came from. I think that's near Bristol! There may be another town or village with slightly different spelling, but I haven't tracked it down.

It took quite a few days to settle on his "real" name. He just looked like a wizard to me! I had wanted a cat for so long and it was like magic to have one.

Smudge was called Smudge because she had a white smudge on her black nose, which looked like a smudge of paint.

I'll let you know whether Kizzy is actually a "Kizzy"!

[Mags]

When Merlin came to me all those years ago he was actually called "Brockly" because that was where he came from. I think that's near Bristol! There may be another town or village with slightly different spelling, but I haven't tracked it down.

Brockley Combe is in Somerset, just outside Bristol and not far from Bristol Airport ;) There is also a Brockley in Surrey I think:?

[angieh]

Brockley Combe is in Somerset, just outside Bristol and not far from Bristol Airport ;) There is also a Brockley in Surrey I think:?

He'd come a long way then! He was brought into the place I worked in Storrington, West Sussex - not very far from the East Sussex border. He spent the afternoon playing with paperclips before I brought him home.

[dandysmom]

Su-Ling (seal point Siamese) - name I picked from a book

Scamper (ginger semi-longhair moggy) named by me at age 6 because that's what he did as a kitten. Most unsuitable as he grew into a very large dignified cat!

Sultan (Aby) he had regal presence and cattitude even as a wee kitten

Misty (blue torbie) named by a friend when I couldn't think of a name.

Patches (brindled tortie) already named when I rehomed her

Dandy (Singapura) I was trying to think of Malay or Chinese names when it occurred to me he was born right here in the USA and was a Yankee Doodle Dandy!

Princess Leia (blue torbie) former owner was a Star Wars fan; she knew her name when I rehomed her, so ...

Onyx (black moggy) she didn't look like a Midnight or Sooty ...

[Moli]

Leo, is my sons cat and Leo is his birth sign....
Merlin was a little monster as a kitten always into things....He was Blu when I got him..
Oliver constantly asked for food as a kitten....He was Sparky...
Casper, he was named after Mags's Cassie....

Chancer was supposed to live with the lady next door, but he took a chance and moved in with me, with 3 dogs and 4 cats...

[Leesy]

Charkie-I named him Charkie as when he came to me as a wild little kitten the colours of his fluffy fuzzy fur reminded me of charcoal so I sort of invented the name.

Maximus- I loved the "Gladiator" film and just loved the name Maximus from the film and wanted him to have a big strong name behind him. LOL:lol: We call him Maxi Baby at home.

Maisy-Jane - My daughter and I decided on Maisy`s name it was just a name that we both liked. Her nickname at home is Maisy-Moo.

[pookyandjo]

Great thread Calismum...this is going to be a stroll down memory lane!..
My very first cat was a tabby and white DLH.. and his name was...... drumroll........yep.. you guessed it... Fluffy!
give me a break... i was only about 6 at the time!
then a black DSH called sooty... i know... still not very imaginative...(both of these were "family cats"
I got "my" first cat when i was bout 13.. a DSH jet black i called C- for...(i was breaking out of the stereotypical names slowly!)
a couple of years later.. Fluffy was gone and Sooty wasn't much longer for the world... i "found" on the way home from school a DSH tabby i called Dr Spock cause he had big ears and was a liitle odd looking...
I joined the police force just before my 19th birthday and on my first weekend home from the academy i had to have C-for PTS cause he had a kidney problem and in the first week i was away he had lost all movment in his hind legs.
Spocky stayed with my parents
After that i didn't have a cat for a few years until i was working nightshift one night and we went to a burg... i was sitting in the front of the police car with the door open using the radio... and a tabby kitten hopped into the police car..climbed up my leg...thank goodness it was winter and i had pants on instead of a skirt! and proceeded to make himself very comfortable on my clipboard!
I ended up taking him home...we (hubby and i had just started going out a few months earlier) named him Omar Oakleigh Portman Templeton the 1st..
a mouthful i know... we lived in our first flat in omar street in Oakleigh... Portman avenue was where he found me at the burg we were at... and the guy i was working with on the van that night was a guy called Ron Templeton..
We only had Omar for 4 years before he disappeared..
Next on the scene was another cat that i picked up in the course of my duties... we went to a call of "shots fired" .. so we kitted up with our ballistic vests.. and went racing off with lights and bells blaring.. only to find that the "shots" were some kids with crackers... we were in the process of giving them a stern talking to... when the hemp shopping bag next to the bigger of the two kids started moving..... you guessed it... a kitten... a tabby and black DSH...they told us that after they had finished with their crackers... (they had two left when we got there) they were going to throw the kitten in the bag.. into the creek to see if it could swim!
Needless to say i took the kitten off them and took it home...
We named him John... after John Merrick (the elephant man...cause he wore a bag on his head too!)
John was with us for quite a few years...we lost him when cait was about 5.. she treated him like a dolly...and he just went along with the whole thing..
We were catless for a little while after he went...then we got Tinky Winky.. named after the purple Teletubby.. not cause he was purple... but because i liked the name..
Tinky was orginally Caits cat... but she will tell you that i "stole "him .. so we got George... were were going to name him Dipsy... but David said no more Teletubby names... that he had to have a proper name .. He wasnted to call him Ralph.. but Cait won the argument and George it was...
Now we have HRH Princess Harri..The ginger cat that i always wanted... and was going to be called Prince Harry... but He ended up being a She and the rest.. as they say... is history!

Sorry for the Gettysburg Address... but i start writing on here and it just all comes out!

[dandysmom]

Don't be sorry.... love these stories! I like Omar; must add that to my list of names I like. And I cannot visualize Angie's dear old Merlin ever being called Brockley! Too similar to the detested vegetable! :-D

[Magenta]

Well...first cat was called Snowball, yes, she was a big ball of white fur - I was very young at the time lol! She was a stray that wandered in one day, stayed for about 3 months and then wandered off again.
Second cat was Riff Raff a long haired smokey grey and white. She came running down the garden one dark and stormy night absolutely drenched through and looking a total mess with matted fur and mud, hence the Riff Raff name, plus I love Rocky Horror lol! We had her for just over a year before an RTA :(
Then there is Smudge a tabby and white short hair, who was one of my Mum's friends cats, but she didn't get along with her brother and left, ending up at my parents. She already had the name, but we often call her Smee or Smeagol! She's 19 this year and still going strong!
Liebchen was the next one. A black short hair with 5 white hairs on her chest. She was the univeristy cat that really belonged to the woman who owned the house next door, but she was always round ours! The name comes from The Witches. When we left Uni we made sure the lady living in the house next door would take care of her.
Then there is Twitch, tortoiseshell and white short hair. She turned up 2 weeks after I moved in to my current house. She came in a pretty sorry state with a horrible growth at the base of her tail. I found out that the home she came from (up the road from me) had children that used to pull her tail and they had obviously damaged it, so she niggled at it and caused the formation of a huge scab that hadn't been treated! I was appalled! I took her straight to the vet and she has been with me since. Whenever she sees those children she runs and I don't blame her :( Her name came from the way she can never sit still and is constantly flicking her tail lol!
Finally Obsidian, Black short hair with speckles of white hairs throughout his coat, it looks like he's going grey! When I first met him he would hiss and spit, so hissing Sid it was for a while, then as he warmed to me I firgured something a bit more dignified was in order lol, so it became Obsidian, although he's still known as Sid at home :)

[smudgley]

Smudge - all her colours are smudged

Emily - the children chose that

Bluebell - because she's blue & cute

Tiger Lilly Pumpnin - My daughter wanted her cousins to choose a name, one suggested Lilly & one suggested Tiger, so they went for Tiger-Lilly, then I said it should be something with a halloween theme as it was halloween time. I suggested pumpnin (because when Lucy was little she couldn't pronounce pumpkin & always said pumpnin)... so that stuck & she is Tiger Lilly pumpnin. The children call her Lilly, but me & John both call her Tiger lilly pumpnin! :roll:

[Kazz]

Cleo - because it suited her ladylike and regal yet friendly. But in her old age she decided she would like to use "Daisy Mae" don't ask me why but on grand days in her 20's she used that name on occasion, but only in privateOscar - because he need a name that suited him he was Flynn/Flint etc etc befoe I settled on Oscar and it suited him Oz for short.

[dinahsmum]

Sissons
Roger
Watson
all former lecturers of my OH
Tizzie
Mini
just girlie names, which I'm not very good at
Chester - came to me after much thought and consideration and rejection of others
Bentley - well, who wouldn't want a sleek grey Bentley which purrs like a dream?

[random]

Thomas was my first cat and as I was about 3 at the time he was named after the cartoon cat from Tom and Jerry, he was a tabby.

Tabitha was named because she was a tabby cat, I was 8 when I got her, Thomas went missing and never came back when I was about 5.

Kiara was the first cat I got on my own when I moved out. She was named after Kiara from Disney's Lion King film, the daughter of Simba.

Vitaani is another from the Lion King. Not a main character, she was a bad lioness who had a rough start but turned out good in the end and this was fitting as Vitaani had had a rough start in life when I got her.

Tucker was named as I got him with his sister Nipper (who I lost at 9 months in an RTA) and I fancied names that went together, so Nip and Tuck. They were meant to be two girls and were going to be Tia and Maria but when I picked them up I realised Tucker was, in fact a boy, so had to make a change of names!

Princess is named purely because we wanted a really special name for her, and what is more special than Princess?

Colin is named because he was going to go to another home and they had a bit of a joke saying they would call him something 'uncat like', such as Colin or David and Colin just stuck. I hung onto him as I was going to have him neutered first (he was from an accidental litter from my Vitaani) but before it was time for him to go there was a change of circumstances so he stayed with us.

Anakin is very much my son's cat and was named by son, a Star Wars fan!

Jennie my sister's cat, now at the bridge, was called Jennie because she couldn't think of a name for her. She was calling her Ionee but it just didn't suit her or stick and we started being daft and called her Jennifer and it just stuck and she was Jennie, then later lengthened to Jennie-Leigh.

[random]

How lovely all these stories are!

[angieh]

Smashing stories - I have enjoyed reading them.

[pookyandjo]

aren't they just!! :)

[pinklizzy]

Imogen's name has a slightly odd story behind it!
She was born by c-section in the practice and needed supplemental oxygen while the affects of the GA wore off. I chose her to be my baby when she was a few minutes old and held her wrapped up in a blanket while giving her oxygen. Kirsty (also on here) and another nurse joked that she should be called 'Oxygen' but we were worried it'd be shortened to 'oxy'-OH said it sounded like a spot cream! :roll:
Imogen was our compromise although Kirsty still calls her Oxygen!

[dandysmom]

This is a great thread; please keep the stories coming!

[PoshPuss]

Posh came to us as a stray. She turned up on the doorstep late one November evening it was pouring down with rain. When my grandson opened the door, she walked into the house as if she owned the place, she shook her long fur out and sat and mewed at my feet. She had amazing blue eyes and perfect little pink feet. Although wet and thin and full of fleas, she seemed a right little madam, used to getting her own way.The first words I said to her were, " You can't be a stray, you're far too posh!"
The name Posh sort of fitted straight away because she was a persian, a bit special, very princess like and thin... and not a million miles away from a certain Mrs Beckham :D

[cats' staff]

My first cat was Herod because he slaughtered innocents (mainly mice)

Kotka (sp?) means cat in Chzech and a friend named her by muttering that to her when she was weeney

Hick was named by en ex who was cricket mad

Charlie- it just suited Charlie boy- bit of a 'wide boy' kitten

Of the current lot
Cleo was a regal looking kitten and it fitted
Izzy (Cleo' sister sadly left home 2 years ago but I'm sure has found another one) -a haughty looking tortie who we named Isadora
Smudge has a black smudge across her nose
Tolly is actually Ptolomy to go with Cleo.

[onekidney]

Slippers - Like sleeping in mine
Slappers - Had lots of kittens before 'the op'
Baby - Slappers youngest from last litter
Munchie - Character in Dragon Quest 'The Cursed King' PS2 game
Tidus - Main character in Final Fantasy X11 PS2 game

[jan]

eat stories! My puss cats names

Clara Bell - short haired black kitten found in leicester in the car park of the office I worked in. One of three kittens along with their Mum who was a stray - the RSPCA was called and managed to rescue one kitten who was stuck down a ditch. I had Clara. Named cus my Dad called me Clara Bell as a nickname. Lived to be 14 and is buried in my garden.

Wendy, it just suited her - tabby and white short haired sweetheart I got from the rspca - she was amazing. I took her daily on the bus with me to work (I worked in a shop in town ) and she had the run of the upstairs for a few months. I could get her out of her basket and she would sit on the bus on my knee looking out the window to the other passengers amusement. She would lie on the rear parcel shelf in my car too and enjoyed a ride out. She adored me and lay cuddled up to me every night. She went out one night a year and a week to the day I had her and she came back the next day terribly injured. I still cry to think about it. She had claws missing, a chunk out above her lip and dog dirt down one side - I rushed her to the vets and she had internal bleeding. I have a horrible hunch a fox attacked her but we will never know. She died at home that night. I was so heartbroken as she was a very special puss I lost half a stone in one week pining. She is the only puss I had cremated at the pdsa as i only had a tiny garden then. I regretted it tho.

I had Prudence then, Pru for short, tabby short hair also from the rspca. She was killed on the roads one saturday morning near to where we lived. She was not quite two. My daughter was 11 weeks old and I received a phone call to tell me. Apparently no one had bothered to pick her up and she had been run over many times. My husband was at work and the lady who phoned me said her husband and son would bury Pru in the spinney at the bottom of our road and I asked for her collar. It was covered in blood and I threw it away. I was so incensed and disgusted I wrote a letter to our local paper which was printed berating the drivers who didnt avoid her and thanking the kindness of the people who did.

I moved a few weeks later to my current house bringing Clara with us who had crossed safely that main road many times much to my horror. We have a golf course at the back of me thats why I moved here. I then had

Fliss (short for Felicity!) kitten short tabby - she had a strange temper and my children grew up having to be warned to not mess her about. She lived to be 16 and a half and is also in my garden. She used to raid dustbins looking for tit bits and bringing strange things home like wrapped up chicken carcasses.

I had Tabs then - short for Tabitha, also from the rspca but I seemed fated with puss cats from there. She was a beautiful cat, rescued from an empty council house, mum abnd two kittens left to starve. She was eight weeks old and beautiful markings, a real sweetheart, another one who adored me and got away with murder! Sadly, she was run over one evening and killed outright. No one stopped til a neighbour found her and knocked the door. She was also not quite two. I pined for weeks. Again she is asleep in my garden.


Max (now not in the best of health and almost 17) I had when he was six weeks old, went to meet him when he was two weeks old and the size of a hamster - we had Tabs a few weeks before I had Max so they were two kittens together. Great fun! Maccy Moos is what we call him but Adam my son, then six, named him after a friend at primary school. (he s 23 now lol ).

Harvey I had as a kitten, tabby boy, short hair from a farm. Lovely cat, took against Felix when we had him tho and beat him up on a regular basis. I used to get him in most times but this one morning I left him out and I reckon my daughter whistled him in (my cats all came to a whistle at one time) and he dashed across the road and the chap couldnt stop in time, he got out to look for Harvey but he didnt find him as Harvey managed to get up next doors drive but dropped dead half way up. Massive head injuries the vet said. Again Harvey is in my garden and I now no longer let any of my cats out. I cant bear the heart ache.


My boyfriend at the time came in one night with a present for me when Tabs and Max were about ten months old, an old crate - stand back, it might bite! he said. Out flew a tabby and white puss, straight from the farm, one of ten running about and the farmer caught him and put him in a crate! Poor Smudge, (named as he had a smudge like effect on his beautiful nose) he must have been terrified in the back of a car in a crate. However, after a few days hiding away and trying to dash out the patio door (closed, he had a heck of a bang to the head!) he calmed down and became a beautiful cat, albeit one who bought rats, mice, birds galore back to me. He had so many fights although he was neutered was constantly covered in abcesses and bites and could nt be kept in. He had scrape after scrape including hanging onto the ivy under the house opposites upstairs window, one morning, presumably chasing a bird or a mouse, and then letting go when the neighbour offered to open the window and grab him (Noooooooo) he landed unharmed that time. He came in covered in blood one morning, unruffled, quite calm (we werent!) and when rushed to the vets he had a bite to the chest cavity so deep they werent sure it hadnt damagfed his heart! He recovered just fine. He was put to sleep when he was 13 as he had cancer and was very poorly. I could nt stay in I said goodbye and left him purring away as they prepared him, now I wish I had, but I was so upset I didnt want him to sense my distress? Does that make sense? He s in my garden. Bless him.

I have Tessie who is almost 15, short hair tortie, just a name similar to Tabs really as I missed her so much and daft as it no doubt sounds prayed that she would come back and find me and I purposely left it til a friend told me about some kittens. She snuggled in my arms and never cried in the car once on the way home yet after that any time I took her in the car she never stopped! She is devoted to me and snuggles up at night. She also bought a frog in and dropped it at my feet the very first time she went out - yet never did again. I always told my family that if Tabs came back anyhow she would do that to prove it. Very strange and makes me sound daft too. But it s true. Tabs bought umpteen live frogs in to me and dropped them at my feet she collected them! Tess will go in the garden but you have to leave the door open or she panics so we tend to leave her be. She s very artiritic and stiff with how she walks now and a bit over weight which probably doesnt help.

We have Felix, found in Leicester too, about 9 weeks old long haired black and white full of fleas very thin (Hmmm you should see him now he s HUGE!) he was stuck in 95 degrees in the hot summer of 2003 in a garage had fallen in the roof, some idiot had stuck a blue collar on him and let a wee kitten out in the middle of a city! He was meowing pitifully and was heard by a nine year old boy who managed to get him out and I had him that evening as I knew the family who found him. He s beautiful, thinks he s a dog, really wants to go out to chase the birds but is only allowed out with us in the garden from time to time. Lol, he jumps out windows and hides under the first bush cus it s all alien territory to him. Love him daft sausage he is and he s Felix cus he s black and white and it suits him!

Finally, Maisie, short hair tortie almost three, timid beyond belief and not very playful except when she plays tag with Fe who she adores. Hides from anyone and everyone, but seems happy enough. Maisie was just a sweet name for a sweet little kitty.

Wow! Sorry to harp on so long. Had a trip down memory lane too, bitter sweet. Jan x

[angieh]

Such a wonderful story Jan. So many well loved cats, so many happy memories, tinged of course with sadness. Thanks so much for sharing.

[Leesy]

Loved reading those storys Jan, like Angie said happy memories but tinged with sadness, thanks so much for sharing them with us Xxx.

[northern lass]

You all make Max and Oli seem fairly boring !

Oliver Frances - a black and white tux who was originally Olive Frances and named after my daughters best friend but had a sex change (the cat not the friend) after a couple of weeks of having him. - Also known as Oli boli boo - not very manly but he is soft as butter with a tiny squeak of a meow.

Max Apple - named by my son and originally Laura Apple after a Lobster he adopted in Padstow two years ago, again like his brother Oli, subject to renaming following a sex change. - also know a sous chef for his habit of sitting on the side in the kitchen as soon as anyone starts to cook or goes near the fridge or Max pax after the drinks machine at work !!

Weird thing is we now have Max and Oli the same names a one of my old colledge friends children and we didn't even realise til a few weeks ago.

[pookyandjo]

[QUOTE=jan;549117]
I now no longer let any of my cats out. I cant bear the heart ache.


Hey Jan.. good to see you online again was wondering where you had got to... i perfectly understand your comment about indoor cats..

John was my last outdoor cat.. when he was killed after his second collision with a car.... I swore that any future babies would be indoor!(his first collision with a car resulted in a REALLY badly dislocated hip that that right hind leg joint wouldn't stay in.. so they removed the head of the femur and he was fine after that for about 2 years... until his date with destiny..

loved reading about all your babies... can imagine the amusment of fellow passengers on a bus.. watching a cat sit there looking out the window... and of course being a cat...she probably had a look on her face which said something like... "what are you all looking at??? haven't you ever seen a cat before??"".. lol had my giggle for the day

Jo, George and Harri

[Luke]

Clementine was due to the small but very vivd orange patches in her coat; no surprises:wink:
Maxwell, a member on here Het had a beautiful siam with this name and I fell in love as it had such a ring too it, when Bella gave birth to him I knew straight away maxwell suited him. A dignified and very individual character, of no social requirements other than what he may choose!
William, also born here, was Dexter for a long time but as he grew older there was something far more simplistic to his character, far too undignified and robust in purrsonality for such a name; he was is and always shall be "Just William":wink:
We had an Elsa because she looked like a wee wild cat n I always loved Born Free, and i'm not quite sure where Bella came from. Years ago one of the many cats was a beautiful ginger tabby tom with a white tum n feet, named Shermann as he would stomp around the house in such an abbraisive manner and was truly made of steel; like a little Sherman tank:) The usual has never been accepted when it comes to the subject of naming cats in this house!

[Phoenix]

Family cat Smudge was named because she had a smudge on her nose.

Beauty was named Beauty because in the rescue she was called Enid and she and I didn't think much to the name so I called her Beauty once and she responded - she also responded to "sugar pie" as well.

Dylan because that's the name he had in the rescue and he won't respond to anything else (apart from "handsome boy" when he wants a change)