Ship of Fools: Name that kitten

Thread: Name that kitten Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

To visit this thread, use this URL:
http://forum.ship-of-fools.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=70;t=028205

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :

On the Various Islands thread in All Saints, St Gwladys has posted this:

quote:
We are having a silver Abyssinian kitten in about two months and can't think of a suitable name which all three of us like. Has anyone any suggestions? (We won't guarantee to take them up!)

Your suggestions are welcome...

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :

Arian
Hi Ho
Zinnia
Katzi

... or depending on its personality,

Mog
The Thug
Buster
Sir Eatalot

Posted by Wesley J (# 6075) on :

What about Koyaanis Katzi (

Posted by Bene Gesserit (# 14718) on :

Oedipuss (because Oedipuss dat lives here...)

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :

Former Abyssinia place names are an absolute treasury of cat names - Bonga, Axum, Lalibela, Tullu Milki.

Either that or Sir or Madam as appropriate.

Posted by Palimpsest (# 16772) on :

Alexandria after the place the breed progenitor came from.

Posted by St. Gwladys (# 14504) on :

The kitten is male. We already have a 6 month old usual female called Arianwen - which ironically, means "silver white". Our previous kitten was Gwenllian, previous male Aby's have included Mordecai and Safadin (already named when we had him)

Posted by Teilhard (# 16342) on :

Much to my everlasting annoyance, a few years ago the international authority on binomial nomenclature changed the long accepted name of the familiar domestic cat from "Felis domestica" to "Felis catus" …

*sigh* … So in honor of what the proper name should still have been, I suggest naming the kitty, "Domestica" ...

Posted by Jengie jon (# 273) on :

Keeping with the male names how about Tiglath. My father has always wanted to name a cat that.

Jengie

Posted by Lothlorien (# 4927) on :

One son and his wife have had a series of Abyssinians. They suggest observing behaviour for a while before settling on a name.

One was Dennis, after Dennis the Menace.

The last one was Sweetpea who died at a ripe old age a few months ago. The name was originally a nickname which stuck.

Another was named after the model Claudia Schiffer. Somewhat empty headed although beautiful, the name was changed to Claudia Shitter as poor Claudia could never work out which part of her body was supposed to overhang the litter box.

[ 09. March 2015, 20:27: Message edited by: Lothlorien ]

Posted by no prophet's flag is set so... (# 15560) on :

Names for cats from history in my family: Turnip, Kitticato, Pussicato, Stew, Mumma Puss, Alfred Hitch-chat, Fritzoff Del Snoral, Twinkles, Bipolar, Flop Mop, Cherry Whiskey, Damn Spot, and Kommst Du. Kommst Du was later shortened to Stew, and he did come when called, stopping after he had a bladder infection and had to take female hormones until he had to be put down because he peed down all of the floor furnace ducts (forced air heating). Fritz was epileptic. Bipolar was rather high energy.

Posted by St. Gwladys (# 14504) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Jengie jon:
Keeping with the male names how about Tiglath. My father has always wanted to name a cat that.

Jengie

Darllenwr saw this and suggested Tiglath Pillager [Devil]

Posted by Hedgehog (# 14125) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Lothlorien:
The last one was Sweetpea who died at a ripe old age a few months ago. The name was originally a nickname which stuck.

It has occurred to me that my cat, Lissa, doesn't actually know that that is her name because, 95% of the time, I am calling her "sweetie".

I find it impossible to properly name a cat until I see him or her. A name needs to fit the personality.

Posted by Cottontail (# 12234) on :

If I ever get two kittens, I have vowed to name them Adiaphora and Ephemera. Addie and Effie for short.

Posted by balaam (# 4543) on :

Is this thread designed to generate Famous Last Posts?

Posted by Graven Image (# 8755) on :

Cat.

to be pronounced See a tea.

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Teilhard:
Much to my everlasting annoyance, a few years ago the international authority on binomial nomenclature changed the long accepted name of the familiar domestic cat from "Felis domestica" to "Felis catus" …

*sigh* … So in honor of what the proper name should still have been, I suggest naming the kitty, "Domestica" ...

They were right to so pronounce. F. catus was described by Linnaeus in 1758; F. domestica is a junior synonym from 1777 and as such is invalid.

Posted by Sipech (# 16870) on :

As a child of the 80s it is my obligation to point out that the only two possible names are Jess and Cringer.

Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :

My disaster prone orange kitty was named Catastrophe after one too many trips to the vet for stitches. Some cats just fall into those situations.

Another one with a special 'look' was Fuzzy Butt.

A physical feature may give a clue to the kitty's True Name™.

Posted by Stercus Tauri (# 16668) on :

Our first cat was unusually small, weak and timid when he arrived. He needed an antidote to all that and so was named Hercules. He grew up to become the village terrorist.

Posted by Joan Rasch (# 49) on :

I once posted on a list requesting cat names, but ended up considering my cat: Jeoffry

cheers from Boston [where I hope the snow will melt in good order..]

Posted by Porridge (# 15405) on :

I once had intermittent custody of a young ginger tom I tried to name MacGregor.

He would turn up hungry (always), hang around for a few days stuffing himself and sleeping, and then disappear for a week or 10 days. Just as I'd give him up for lost, he'd appear again.

In the fall, when all the neighbors were out raking leaves one afternoon, the subject of cats came up. It turns out this cat had acquired six or seven part-time "owners," each of us christening him with a different name.

We knew we couldn't change this leopard's wandering spots, but we did decide on a common name: Interkitty.

Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :

In the initials lot, we had TC (That Cat) and VP (Vicious Puma).

Posted by teddybear (# 7842) on :

my two are Butch and Lady. in the past I have had: Tom, Anna, Rosa, Joe, Squeak, Lea, Lily and then the triplets Moe, Larry and Aloysius.

Posted by Nicolemr (# 28) on :

T S Eliot "The Naming of Cats"

[ 10. March 2015, 01:40: Message edited by: Nicolemr ]

Posted by Piglet (# 11803) on :

[tangent]

quote:
Originally posted by Joan Rasch:
... ended up considering my cat: Jeoffry

Thanks JR - I now have a rather classy Benjamin Britten earworm. [Big Grin]

[/tangent]

If it's a white cat, how about Catablanca?

Sorry - that was the best I could come up with. [Two face]

[ 10. March 2015, 02:05: Message edited by: Piglet ]

Posted by RuthW (# 13) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Joan Rasch:
I once posted on a list requesting cat names, but ended up considering my cat: Jeoffry

My first two cats were Jeoffry and Selima -- Selima was Horace Walpole's cat and the subject of Thomas Gray's "Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes."

Posted by Egeria (# 4517) on :

Kushite royal names (remember, Kush was "Ethiopia" to classical writers: Taharqa (the king who set up an ultramarathon for his soldiers, with a course from the Faiyum to Memphis); Shabako; Kashta.

Other ancient notables that come to mind when considering cat names are Ptolemy (particularly Ptolemy I) and Darius.

Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :

We looked after a pretty silver Abyssinian, called Pussy Willow, for my aunt when she was abroad when I was a child. She was a very nervous cat who didn't like our rumbustious household and spent most of her stay being rescued from situations she didn't like such as visiting dogs, building work, ladders she thought looked interesting, initially.

I had a cat that adopted me for a while, having walked 16 miles to return to "his street". He came with a name but was mostly known as Thug as he ran the street and Six-Dinner Sid. He was big enough to not fit the standard cat boxes for his trips to the vet and had particularly good Scottish Wildcat markings. His big fluffy coat needed brushing regularly; a hazardous exercise: he would tolerate it for as long as he was enjoying it, but the second he had enough he would attack the hand with the brush, claws unsheathed.

He wasn't quite as bad a thug as my grandmother's rescue cat. He was found in a ditch left to drown as a poor sad waif of a kitten but grew to be a brute and outlived the grandmother. He was renamed as Gorbachev by my sister when she looked after him for a year or so and The Cat by my parents who then gave him house room when my grandmother's bungalow was sold. Neither could face calling something that looked like a big Sylvester and got into as many scrapes, Dotty, as my grandmother had named him.

For those who have wandering cats who visit others, the children's book Six Dinner Sid is worth reading. In the book Sid was very happy eating six dinners but not so impressed by six visits to the vet.

Posted by Uncle Pete (# 10422) on :

All cats should have the name Spawn of Satan That said, there is one cat here which goes by the name of OUT

Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :

Tiddles

[Big Grin]

Posted by Ann (# 94) on :

My father-in-law named at least two of their cats "Choux".

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :

If you're thinking along those lines, Bogoff might do, or Leavit Alloan.

There's always Furball, Hairball, Nitwit, Snatcher, or Dandelion.

The Pocket Peril if it's small. Greymalkin if it seems mysterious, or unoriginal though it is, Smoky.

Posted by Bob Two-Owls (# 9680) on :

Have you asked him what he wants to be called. I asked my late sofa buddy and apparently she was called Melf.

A friend of mine has a cat called Seefer, a dog called Deefer and a fish called Effer.

Posted by Cottontail (# 12234) on :

Cats do change names as they grow. We had a tortoiseshell farm cat called Sarah, but when she had her first kitten, she became Mum-Puss. Then a later kitten of hers, whom we named Allsorts, grew up and had kittens of her own. Inevitably, she became Wee Mum-Puss.

[ 10. March 2015, 11:32: Message edited by: Cottontail ]

Posted by Sipech (# 16870) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Cottontail:
Cats do change names as they grow.

Or as you check more closely. My mum's cat, Holly, was originally named Ollie but after the vet broke the news, she thought a change was appropriate.

Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :

We had a beautiful black cat named Agnes.

It suited her perfectly, she was a beautiful, regal, haughty cat.

We got her as a young adult from the Cats Protection League. Sometime later we realised that her former name must have been "Beauty" because she responded to it.

Posted by Pearl B4 Swine (# 11451) on :

Take the time to read this fairy tale. It is a great one. I have a collection of Grimms' stories I have treasured since early childhood, and this one was told to my boys countless times. In fact the last phrase "and that is the way of the world" is often said.
The Cat and the Mouse in Partnership

If I tried to shorten the story by leaving out some details, I was corrected forthwith. They wanted it word for word. And giggled every single time at the names of the so-called kitten god-children.

Posted by St. Gwladys (# 14504) on :

Part of our problem is that we will need to have a name for the kitten to be registered before we have him.

Posted by Hedgehog (# 14125) on :

I suppose "Matelot" is out of the question? [Smile]

Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on :

Haile as in the late emperor Haile Selassie seems an appropriate moniker for an Abyssinian moggy.

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :

The true test of a suitable name for a pet is whether you might feel self-conscious standing there bellowing it across the back garden.

Posted by Porridge (# 15405) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Sipech:

quote:
Originally posted by Cottontail:
Cats do change names as they grow.
Or as you check more closely. My mum's cat, Holly, was originally named Ollie but after the vet broke the news, she thought a change was appropriate.

Yes; a cat from my childhood was hastily re-named Gustricia after depositing 6 newborn kittens in a desk drawer not long after taking up residence with us.

Posted by sharkshooter (# 1589) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Cottontail:
Cats do change names as they grow. ...

Of course. When a kitten they are called "Appetizer". As they fatten up, they are called "Dinner".

Posted by John Holding (# 158) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
The true test of a suitable name for a pet is whether you might feel self-conscious standing there bellowing it across the back garden.

Ah yes...the evenings several decades ago when I stood on the back porch calling "Meow, Meow" -- the cat had been named "Meowser" by our then 3 year old son. And the wretched animal never failed to come galloping in when I called.

John

Posted by Lyda*Rose (# 4544) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Jengie jon:
Keeping with the male names how about Tiglath. My father has always wanted to name a cat that.

Jengie

The ancient king sounds horrible in the Wiki article, but Tigleth is still a damned fine name for a cat.

Posted by churchgeek (# 5557) on :

My friend's late cat was named Flannel. That was the most adorable cat name ever, and he lived up to it - cuddliest little thing. My girl cat, who might live forever out of spite, looked a lot like Flannel, so, given her abrasive personality, I call her Taffeta. Vets' assistants - invariably female - always try to pronounce it "taf-FEET-uh." By contrast, my choir director (a man) got it right away: "As in prom dress?"

But I do recommend Flannel, at least if it's a cuddly or affectionate cat.

Most of my friends have had either themes for their multiple pets (from one friend who simply numbered them, to an Evangelical philosopher who named them after famous atheists, to my sister, whose cats were named for women artists). My favorite pet name for comedic value was the stray hamster my friend took in during the winter. Because the little guy was coming into a household with 4 cats and a snake, it got named "Dinner." Happily, its name did not become its fate.

I don't really know how else to give suggestions other than these anecdotes and examples, so I hope you don't mind.

Posted by JoannaP (# 4493) on :

quote:
Originally posted by John Holding:

quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
The true test of a suitable name for a pet is whether you might feel self-conscious standing there bellowing it across the back garden.
Ah yes...the evenings several decades ago when I stood on the back porch calling "Meow, Meow" -- the cat had been named "Meowser" by our then 3 year old son. And the wretched animal never failed to come galloping in when I called.

John

Just think how much worse it would have been if it did not come...

At least with cats, it is only in the back garden. I have discovered that standing in a field yelling "Reckless" tends to be regarded as a conversation opener by other walkers.

Posted by georgiaboy (# 11294) on :

The cats of my childhood were Tiger and Tea Moss -- the latter my attempt at 'Maltese.'

The cats of my adult years were 1) Miss Catherine Alexandra Climpson, 2) Eloise (who lives at the Plaza) and 3) Jeoffry.

#1 would only 'answer' to 'Miss Climpson,' disdaining either 'Catherine' or horrors! 'Kitty.' #2 was acquired as a kitten to keep #1 from being lonely when we were out of the house, and was a holy terror -- hence her name. #3 was big and black and semi-Persian, adopted on a very cold night. His name always had to be explained to non-musical visitors.

Posted by Brenda Clough (# 18061) on :

I have a black cat and an orange one, siblings. I named the black Ashurbanipal and the orange Tiglath-Pileser, which I still think are perfect. My school-aged daughter, disgusted, renamed them Cineza and Fuego, because she was taking Spanish at the time. Both sets of names cancelled each other out, and they defaulted to the lowest common denominator names, Little Black and Tiger.

Then we acquired a Scottish Fold. This time I was sensible, and decreed that all Folds in my life should be named after Scottish single malt whiskeys. So he is named Tobermorey. If I ever acquire another Fold (and he is a dark tabby) he will be named Talisker. An orange cat will be properly named Glenmorangie.

Posted by Enoch (# 14322) on :

quote:
Originally posted by L'organist:
Haile as in the late emperor Haile Selassie seems an appropriate moniker for an Abyssinian moggy.

I agree.

Or if you want a pun, Pushkin, who was descended inter alia from an African, though he may not have come from Ethiopia.

Posted by BessLane (# 15176) on :

When I was a child, my mother raised show quality Cornish Rex cats. After much pleading and begging, my younger brother and I were allowed to name a litter of kits *all by ourselves* As a result my mother had the dubious honor of registering one Caiystane's Electric Woodpecker with the CFA [Snigger]

. We were not allowed to name any more kittens...

Posted by Eigon (# 4917) on :

When we had cats, we got the kittens from a friend who insisted on the TS Eliot method of naming - so three names, which he entered into the family history. The mother of our two had the everyday name of Mole, so the boys were surnamed MacMole (nobody knew who daddy had been, though he may have been a silver tabby. Grandad Imran Khan was a full Siamese). So our silver tabby was Cathcart-King Greebo MacMole (after an archaeologist who surveyed Welsh castles and Nanny Ogg's cat from Discworld - and cath is Welsh for cat) and the other was Kingston Blackmalkin MacMole (Kingston Black is a local cider apple and Blackmalkin is the helpful cat from The Midnight Folk). We had wanted a 'King' and a 'Queen' - Malkin's original name was Regan, until we found he was a little boy.

Posted by ArachnidinElmet (# 17346) on :

A Kitty of my former acquaintance was called Cooking Fat, so that its owners could express their displeasure at it in front of the children.

As a slightly more sensible suggestion, perhaps Frost for a silver cat?

Posted by basso (# 4228) on :

My mother named most of our family cats. We had Floyd ("such a pretty boy" - he was but that was about all he had going for himself), Jud ("pore Jud is daid" and he was all but that when he started hanging around the house), Tazzy (as in Tasmanian Devil, and an even greater waste of catflesh than the others). All of those cats were rescued from the street.

Mom's best name was for the all-white cat she got as a kitten during the Olympics one year. We were watching a lot of the running, and a real star of the year was the great Kenyan Kip Keino. So her white kitten was named Kit Keino. Years earlier we'd had an all-black cat that my sister named Pinky. (He had a pink tongue, natch.)

Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :

quote:
Originally posted by ArachnidinElmet:
A Kitty of my former acquaintance was called Cooking Fat, so that its owners could express their displeasure at it in front of the children.

Okay, I'm slow on the uptake.

Posted by St. Gwladys (# 14504) on :

Thanks to evryone for their suggestions - we've finally decided to call the new kitten Solomon, which, apparently, is an Ethiopian name meaning "peaceful", according to the list of Ethiopian boy's names I found on the net. Let's hope he lives up to his name!

UBB.classic^TM 6.5.0